Robots of all shapes and sizes will invade Michigan State University’s Jenison Field House this Sunday.
The robots, and their young creators, will participate in the VEX Robotics state championships from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Twenty middle school teams and 40 high school teams from around the state will be competing for the right to advance to the world championships in Louisville, Kentucky, April 15-18.
The students build innovative robots and then compete on a 12-foot by 12-foot playing field. The competition is designed to inspire students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or the STEM disciplines.
“This state tournament is a wonderful and exciting way to challenge future engineers and designers to strengthen their skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” said Drew Kim, assistant to the dean for recruitment, scholarship and K-12 outreach in MSU's College of Engineering. “And as we saw with last year’s world championship excellence award, this tournament produces world-class competitors.”
The event is free and open to the public.
MSU is the largest university sponsor of VEX Robotics in Michigan. MSU sponsors 33 teams from around the state, many of them from underrepresented schools. MSU students help team members learn the principles of engineering as they design and build their robots for competition. Four of the MSU-sponsored teams qualified for the state tournament this year.
Texas-based VEX Robotics is a leading provider of educational and competitive robotics products to schools, universities and robotics teams around the world. Its competition program is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing competitive robotics programs for elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges.
For information visit http://www.vexrobotics.com/competition/.