Middle and high school students from throughout the region will soon converge in Fargo to determine whose robot is best. NDSU is scheduled to host the Northern Plains BEST Robotics regional competition Dec. 7-8 at the Fargo Civic Center.
This year’s competition, Warp XX, revolves around a space mission and the concept of a “space elevator.” The students’ robots must transport cargo, retrieve and refill fuel bottles and install solar panels.
The competition is free and open to the public on Saturday, Dec. 8, at the Fargo Civic Center. The opening ceremony is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Robot matches are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with an awards ceremony at 4:30 p.m. The event also can be viewed online at www.bestinc.org.
Teams from Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota were given six weeks to design and build a robot to compete against other schools. A total of 24 teams advanced from local competitions and earned a spot to compete in the regional championship in Fargo.
Teams advancing to the regional competition either had the top-performing robot in their hub or won the BEST Award, which includes the delivery of a marketing presentation, design of a team exhibit, the writing of a project engineering notebook and a spirit and sportsmanship component.
BEST stands for boosting engineering, science and technology. Its mission is to inspire middle school and high school students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math through participation in a sports-like, science and engineering-based robotics competition.
The local competition sites included Bison BEST at NDSU; Wildhawk BEST at North Dakota State College of Science, Wahpeton; Blue Hawk BEST at Dickinson State University; Jackrabbit BEST at South Dakota State University; and Minnesota BEST at New London-Spicer School District. NDSU’s College of Engineering and Architecture hosted the Bison BEST Robotics Competition Oct. 19 and 20 at NDSU.
For more information, contact Nancy Rossland at 701-388-3124 or nancy.rossland@ndsu.edu.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.