Pittsburgh’s Cornerstone Prep and northeastern Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley Christian School took the top prize in the 2021 Grove City College BEST Robotics competition.
Fifteen regional public, private and homeschool teams brought their robot building A-game to Grove City College for the competition in October. The winners are:
- BEST Award – 1st, Cornerstone Prep; 2nd, Cuyahoga Valley Christian School; 3rd, Union Area High School.
- Game – 1st, Cuyahoga Valley; 2nd, Cornerstone; 3rd, Mentor Christian School; 4th, Franklin Area Jr/Sr High School.
- Engineering Notebook – 1st, Union; 2nd, Cornerstone; 3rd; Dubois Area High School.
- Team Exhibit – 1st, Christian Life Academy; 2nd, Cuyahoga Valley; 3rd, Redeemer Lutheran School
- Marketing – 1st, Cuyahoga Valley; 2nd, Cornerstone; 3rd, Franklin.
- Critical Design Review – 1st -- Cuyahoga Valley; 2nd, Christian Life; 3rd, Family Instructors of the North Suburbs (FINS).
- Founders Award – 1st, Riverside; 2nd, Cuyahoga Valley.
- Most Robust Robot –Christian Life.
- Video – 1st, Cranberry Area School; 2nd, FINS.
- Best T-Shirt – Dubois.
Cornerstone Prep, Cuyahoga Valley Christian School and Mentor Christian School teams advanced to the regional championships this weekend.
Grove City College BEST Robotics tests middle- and high-school students’ problem-solving abilities and engineering skills while encouraging students to find the fun in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education, according to Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Dr. Mike Bright, who also serves as president of the national BEST Robotics board of directors.
With supplies provided by the Elliott Group, a Jeannette, Pa.-based company that designs, manufacturers and services turbomachinery for a global clientele, student teams design and build robotic devices to accomplish this year’s Demo Daze game-day scenario. The winners are determined by how they play the game with their robots and how they show their work through design, engineering and marketing efforts.
Grove City College supports BEST Robotics to provide high- and middle-school students an opportunity to learn more about engineering and technology and enables them to see that in addition to the design work, engineering also involves marketing, teamwork and detailed documentation. Hosting the competition also enables hundreds of students to visit and experience the Grove City College campus and interact with student volunteers who staff the competition.
For more about Best Robotics at Grove City College, visit gcc.edu/best. For more about the national program, visit bestrobotics.org.
