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Annual BEST robot competition goes buggy
Robots will battle it out for world supremacy as young scientists square off against each other Oct. 29 at the University of West Florida Field House. No, it’s not the latest Will Smith sci-fi movie. It’s the fifth annual Emerald Coast BEST Robotics middle and high school competition sponsored by Gulf Power Company. The event pits teams from 20 Northwest Florida schools in head-to-head competition to teach teamwork, problem-solving, project management and pride in task completion. BEST Robotics Inc. is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization whose mission is to inspire students to pursue careers in engineering, science, and technology through participation in a sports-like, science and engineering-based robotics competition. “Gulf Power believes the competition teaches students practical engineering, science and math skills, which are critical for their future,” said Jeff Rogers, Gulf Power spokesman. “But the event also teaches the students to work together as a team, to organize projects, to market their work and to creatively solve problems.” Each student team has six weeks to design and build a remote-controlled robot to solve a problem or perform a specific function. The year’s theme, BUGS, refers to a conceived disaster of genetically engineered bugs escaping from a BEST lab. The goal for the robots is to recover and contain the bugs before they create a potential health and environmental crisis. Each team is judged on its robot performance, marketing presentation, team exhibit, technical notebook and spirit and sportsmanship. The 20 schools from across Northwest Florida will participate in the University of West Florida Emerald Coast BEST hub with the top schools advancing to regional competition at Auburn University. Area schools have been competing in BEST since 2004, when Gulf Power sponsored eight local teams to compete in the BEST hub in Mobile, Ala. The funding of hub operations depends entirely on corporate and individual sponsorships. Materials kits to build the robots are provided to the teams by the hub. No fees are paid by students or schools participating in BEST robotics. Competition: Saturday, October 29, 2011, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., UWF Field House 2011 Teams:
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