Bevill State Hosts Robotics Competition

October 31, 2016

BEST Robotics, Inc. has chosen Bevill State Community College’s Fayette campus as a hub for their local competition this October. The competition will be held at the Fayette Campus on Friday, October 28th and Saturday, October 29th. Ten different teams from area middle and high schools will be competing in this year’s competition including: Bankhead Middle School, Berry Middle School, Fayette County Enrichment Program, Fayette Middle School, Hubbertville Middle & High Schools, Huffman High School, Northside Middle & High Schools, and Winfield Middle & High Schools.

The BEST Robotics theme this year is “Bet The Farm.” The teams will be judged on their exhibits, marketing presentations, team notebooks, as well as the practical robotics competition. Winners from this competition will go on to a regional competition and could eventually compete in the national competition.

BEST stands for Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology and their mission is to engage, excite, and inspire students to pursue careers in engineering, science, and technology through participation in sports-like science and engineering-based robotics competitions.

The Fayette Campus of Bevill State has been chosen as one of the 47 hubs in 16 different states. “What BEST does is challenge the students to work as a team to apply the engineering design process to build a robot to perform specific tasks. It has them essentially form a company that will include not only the engineering side but also the business side,” said Ken Swinney, Bevill State Math & Physics instructor & local BEST Competition faculty organizer.

The goal of BEST is to get the students to understand what engineers do and for the profession to be demystified through practical applications. “Bevill State is happy to be a BEST Robotics hub and to help students use science and math to solve real-world problems and boost their interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics,” said Dr. Larry Ferguson, president of Bevill State. “We have partnered with local industries to help support this initiative and are appreciative to have local engineers and other technical professionals volunteering to serve as judges for the competition.”

The BEST Robotics Competition is open to the public on both October 28th and 29th in the Bevill Auditorium & Gymnasium on the Fayette Campus. For more information, please visit www.bscc.edu/best-robotics or call (800) 648-3271, extension 5146.