BotBall

BotBall is an educational program that focuses on engaging middle and high school-aged students through the use of team-oriented robotics competitions, which attract thousands of children and young adults per year.

Description:

Initially hailing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), BotBall is an international robotics competition for children and young adults. It initially started out as a campus contest, but it quickly gained popularity due to the efforts of MIT students. Due to the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) educational method that was being implemented in the United States at the time, BotBall was pushed into the middle and high school educational system with its content design revised to more closely align with the US National Science Education Standards. The University of Oklahoma (OU) Department Of Aerospace Engineering, University of North Florida (UNF) Department Of Artificial Intelligence, and many more university research departments lent their guidance to the synthesis of the competition.

Over the past 20 years, it has become extremely influential in the US, as well as overseas. Its regional divisions include some of the most prestigious school districts in the US, and many regions in Europe and Asia. Its sponsors include many companies in the field of science and technology; in particular, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), iRobot Corp., The US Naval Research Laboratory, as well as The University of Oklahoma. Each year, the BotBall competition helps more than 10,000 middle and high school-aged students achieve success in various STEM fields. Students who have been trained and educated through the BotBall competition are usually recognized by North American universities; and is a prestigious accolade to have include their university applications.

Currently, teams from countries such as Austria, China, Egypt, India, Japan, Kuwait, Poland, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Zimbabwe, Mexico, (to name a few) are participating in the BotBall competitions.

The BotBall contest itself prompts students to create a solution using limited time and resources, while simulating a real-life challenge in robotics/engineering.. It stresses on fairness of play, as all teams must use standard equipment that is provided by the organizer. The theme and content of each year’s BotBall competition are published annually by the organizing committee. Teams are required to work together to complete the challenge, during which players will need to use a controller, motors, sensors, and structural parts to build an autonomous robot. The teams will also need to complete a series of project reports, which build skills that generate a profound and lasting impact on the participant’s future.

For more information, click on this link:

https://www.kipr.org/global-conference-on-educational-robotics

Past Contests

2016 BotBall

Date: May 2016

Location: Science World

BotBall

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