Thirteen teams of middle- and high-school students will put their robotics skills to the test next weekend at Grove City College’s annual BEST Robotics Competition.
On Friday, Oct. 20 student teams display their robots and present marketing and team exhibits from 4 to 7 p.m. in IM Room of the Physical Learning Center on campus. They’ll put their robots to work for game day from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21 in the PLC’s Arena.
The student teams are from local schools including Altoona, Christian Life Academy, Clarion, Cranberry, Creative Learning Christian School, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, DuBois, Family Instructors of the Northern Suburbs, Franklin, Grove City Middle School, Mentor Christian School, Mercer, and Redeemer Lutheran.
BEST Robotics is a national robotics competition that exposes students to STEM concepts in a fun, hands-on experience. The competition requires the students to problem-solve and use engineering skills.
Each year the competition has a different themed game. This year’s game is titled “Incision Decision.” The teams are challenged to build robots that can perform surgeries on SimBody, which is a training platform for minimally invasive surgery. The teams can choose what surgery they would like to perform, whether it be brain biopsy, cardiac valve repair, coronary artery bypass, cardiac ablation, pacemaker electrode connection, arterial plaque removal, cardiac angioplasty, vein harvesting, or internal hemorrhaging damage control. Only the most capable robots demonstrated will be selected to advance.
This year’s competition showcases the advancement of robotics working in tandem with medical care. Robotics can be used to assist surgeons in performing complex surgeries with minimal invasiveness to the patient. The robots enter the body through small incisions and aid the surgeon in performing otherwise complex tasks requiring great precision.
More volunteers are needed to help judge during the event. No technical experience is required. Volunteers can choose whether they would like to judge for a few hours, a day, or the entire competition. For more about volunteering, contact Brandon Zimmerman at zimmermanbs@gcc.edu with your name and the times you are available to participate.