Robots (and a small army of smart kids) rule the UAFS campus
by December 5, 2009 3:47 pm 136 views
With the BEST Robotics competition now having a finals competition, there was more pressure than normal for the more than 1,000 students competing in the Frontier Trails BEST regional to place in the top four.
The regional tournament had 40 teams representing 10 local hub competitions in Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota. The competition was held Dec. 3-5 at the Stubblefield Center on the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith campus and the Fort Smith Convention Center.
The robotics competitions are held nationwide under the BEST heading, which stands for Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology. (Link here for more information about the nationwide organization, and link here for the River Valley BEST hub info.)
Theme for this year’s competition is “High Octane,” focusing on renewable energy sources. Each team designs, manufactures and operates a remote-controlled robot, which is then used to complete the game objective of collecting and employing “molecules” and essential resources to complete a series of chain reactions. Points are awarded based on completion of the tasks.
“This game this year is the most fun for the kids. That’s the comment we hear most from kids is how fun it is. And that (making learning fun) is what this is about,” said John Martini, assistant professor at UAFS and director of the competition.
Teams are also judged on a number of areas in addition to the robot’s performance. Other judging areas include a project summary notebook, table display and interviews, oral presentation, team Web page, T-shirt design, and spirit and sportsmanship, as well as several robot design awards, with points given in the various categories.
Martini estimated as many as 2,000 students, advisors and family attended the 3-day event.
And for the first time since the competition began in 1993, BEST teams will have a finals. The event will be held April 23-24 in Dallas, Martini said. (The City Wire will update this post with winners of the Frontier Trails event.)
The hubs and schools competing in this year’s Frontier Trails BEST competition are:
• Bison BEST of Fargo, N.D.: Breckenridge High School, Breckenridge, Minn.; Climax-Shelly School, Climax, Minn.; Watertown High School, Watertown, S.D.; West Fargo STEM Middle School, West Fargo, N.D.
• Crowley’s Ridge BEST of Jonesboro: Buffalo Island Central, Leachville; Hillcrest High School, Strawberry; Mid-South Community College, West Memphis; West Memphis Christian School, West Memphis.
• Golden Lions BEST of Pine Bluff: Little Rock Central High School of Little Rock, Ridgway Christian School of Pine Bluff; Watson Chapel High School of Pine Bluff.
• Heartland BEST of Alva, Okla.: Fairview High School, Fairview, Okla.; Lawton Academy of Arts and Sciences, Lawton, Okla.; Noble High School, Noble, Okla.; Payne County Christian Home Educators, Stillwater, Okla.; Shattuck High School, Shattuck, Okla.
• Hot Springs BEST: Arkadelphia High School, Arkadelphia; Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, Hot Springs; Bauxite High School, Bauxite; Poyen High School, Poyen.
• Kansas BEST of Wichita, Kan.: Ambassadors for Christ Academy, Bentonville; Campus High School, Wichita, Kan.; Circle High School, Towanda, Kan.; Wichita Home School, Wichita, Kan.
• Little Rock BEST: Benton High School, Benton; Bryant High School, Bryant; J.A. Fair Systems Magnet High School, Little Rock; Pulaski Heights Middle School, Little Rock.
• Northark BEST of Harrison: Conway High School, Conway, Mo.; Heartland Home Schools, Warrensburg, Mo.; Lebanon High School, Lebanon, Mo.; Lewis and Clark Middle School, Jefferson City, Mo.
• OK Best of Oklahoma City: Hidden Valley Academy Homeschool, McLoud, Okla.; Indiahoma Jr. High School, Indiahoma, Okla.; OKC Homeschool, Edmond, Okla.; Tulsa Engineering Academy at Memorial, Tulsa, Okla.
• River Valley BEST of Fort Smith: Chaffin Jr. High, Fort Smith; J.D. Leftwich High School, Magazine; Metro Homeschool, Blue Springs, Mo.; Western Arkansas Technical Center, Fort Smith.
