Liberty hosts robotics competition

Liberty University’s school of engineering and computational sciences hosted a VEX Robotics Competition from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 3, for high school students across Virginia.

“This program is specifically tailored to bring the magic of robotics competition into the classroom. Robotics is an engaging way to integrate all facets of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education into the classroom and head-to-head competition is a natural way to capture students’ attention,” the VEX Robotics website said. “During the excitement that comes with building and competing with their robots, students had too much fun to realize they’re learning important STEM concepts and life skills.”

So far, 26 teams have signed up out of 36 and each team has a range of member entering into the competition. Each school can have as many teams as they want to compete.

“What’s neat about it is it gets kids not only excited about math, engineering and science but gets them to apply the things they are learning,” Director for SECS & OATS/EMC Labs Engineering Technology Scott Pleasants said.

The students come up with the designs and their robots are required to perform specified tasks within a playing field for the competition. According to the VEX Robotics’ website, the design the students come up with should have the objective of identifying a problem and creating the solution. Students need to do research to explore ideas for the competition to create prototypes before their final robot creation is able to compete.

According to Pleasants, it is important to get high school students interested in STEM areas of study.

“Our country is in a shortage in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. We’re in a crucial part of history with an aging work force … And we’re not getting a lot of young people to go into these programs,” Pleasants said.

According to Pleasants, there were roughly 500 to 600 contestants competing in the competition Saturday but for those who advance to California, the contestants number in the thousands.

According to the VEX Robotics website, the competitions are held not only in the U.S. but internationally throughout different cities.

“Students, with guidance from their teachers and mentors, aimed to build the most innovative robots possible and work together to obtain the most points possible,” VEX Robotics website said.

Liberty University’s school of engineering is providing around 40 students within their program who volunteered as part of their Christian community service. Students from the school of engineering were also responsible for mentoring students within the competition.

According to VEX Robotics’ website, official VEX Robotics competition tournaments have been held internationally from June 2011 until March 2012.

“In addition to just having a great time and building amazing robots, through their participation in the VEX Robotics Competition and their work within their team, students will learn many academic and life skills,” VEX Robotics website said.

The event is free and open to the public. More information can be found on VEX Robotics’ website.