The Boosting Engineering Science and Technology Robotics competition will be held at UNA this year. For the last 20 years, the competition has been held on Auburn University’s campus. The competition is regional for the Southeast, which includes Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.
UNA secured the bid to hold the competition earlier this year. It is set to take place on December 1-3. Middle and High schools are eligible to compete.
The teams are given everything they need to construct their robots free of charge. Each team is given a returnable kit and a consumable kit and the 85 page rule book is available for download online. Rules for construction as well as other general rules and regulations for each part of the competition are listed.
Julie Taylor, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management, said “it’s multifaceted- there’s a marketing competition where students will do a shark tank type presentation where they will present their robots and present it, there’s also another competition component. It would be the engineering notebook. The students will put together a notebook where they write down the intricacies of their robots.”
The Engineering notebook facet of the competition is similar to a career portfolio, just where they record the entire process from start to finish.
Michele Eubanks, Director of University Media and Public Relations, said “[The themes] are STEM related, but also STEAM related. One year they did space, where they helped astronauts perform outer space-like activities.”
The local hubs will start competing around this time of year and they have to progress and qualify to compete at UNA. The multi day competition is known for being very high energy and schools bring cheer sections and bands to support their respective teams.
Taylor said, “This really is the culmination of all the students’ work, the regionals.”
UNA students are encouraged to volunteer with the event. If interested, contact Ms. Julie Taylor at [email protected].
