HANCEVILLE – Schools from all over North Alabama gathered at Wallace State’s coliseum on Friday to compete for the title of BEST Robotics Team. BEST – Boosting Engineering Science and Technology, is designed to excite students about science, technology and engineering through a hands-on, sports-like competition. BEST is less about building robots and more about teaching students how to analyze and solve problems.
The schools that participated in Friday’s event are Hartselle Jr. High School, Cullman Middle School, Arab High School, Holly Pond High School, Cullman High School, Good Hope High School, Meek High School, Good Hope Middle School, Fairview High School and Cullman Area Career Center. Excitement was thick as students met in groups and talked about their projects while demonstrating their unique robots. Each robotics team acts as a company trying to sell their product or robot.
“Our company is called RaiderStorm and we are composed of sixth, seventh and eighth graders,” said Makala Cone, Good Hope eighth grader. “Our CEO is Luke Self, the Head of Engineering is Trey Middleton and Micah Beard is the Head of Publicity. We advertised our company by going into the elementary school and recruiting fifth graders for next year. We want to thank all our sponsors because that’s why we’re here. Everything here is by sponsorship.”
This year BEST robotics asked the schools to design a moving robot that is able to maneuver and transport structures of great length and weight to an assembly line without affecting America’s transportation system in a negative way. There were logistics challenges to conquer prior to assembly and transportation of wind turbines. Students had to work together as a team and problem-solve like champs. In the end, in the big picture, everyone here was a winner.
