EDMOND — Edmond North High students will be joining 39 other teams in a robotics tournament in February.
The students will be participating in the Ninth Annual Botball Educational Robotics Competition Feb. 28 at the Science Museum Oklahoma (formerly the Omniplex).
The KISS Institute for Practical Robotics in Norman announced the program that engages middle and high school-aged students in a team-oriented robotics competition based on the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) educational principals.
Stephen McKinley, physics teacher and team adviser, will be directing the six students from North who will be competing.
A former teacher at Lawton MacArthur High School, McKinley worked with Botball for five years there; this is his first year at North.
“There are three robotic competitions,” McKinley said, “FIRST, Botball and BEST. We participate in BEST in the fall. The entry is free and materials are provided then returned. In the spring we will be competing in Botball.”
“Botball is one of the easier competitions to build for,” McKinley said. “Legos are used to design and redesign while working with computer programming. It is also cheaper to enter and safer.”
Botball teams consist of five to 20 middle and high school students, who learn how to design, create and program two autonomous (no remote control) robots out of Legos, sensors and motors to complete this year’s game challenge based on the theme of Alternative Energy.
“The team, comprised of freshmen through seniors, will be using computer science technology, mathematics based with physics and engineering skills,” McKinley said.
The 2009 season marks the largest Oklahoma Regional Botball Robotics Tournament to date, hosting 40 teams. Teams from north Texas, Arkansas, New Mexico and 30 Oklahoma teams will compete on Feb. 28. The regional tournament is free and open to the public. Seeding begins at 10 a.m. and double elimination rounds will begin at approximately 2 p.m.
Team leaders and student participants began their 2009 season at the Botball Educator’s Professional Development Workshop on Jan. 9 at the University of Oklahoma.
During this two-day professional development workshop, teams received their reusable robotics kit. Each kit will be used for competition and can be integrated into the classroom. This ensures that schools will be able to continue to grow their science, math and technology curricula through robotics after the Botball season is over.
All teams who participate in their regional workshop and tournament are eligible to participate in the International Botball Tournament taking place this summer in Leesburg, Va., during the Global Conference on Educational Robotics on July 1-5.
For more information about Botball in Oklahoma, go to: www.botball.org/oklahoma or contact: info@kipr.org.
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