News

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville hosted approximately 15 teams during the Botball Workshop on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 9-10 in the Morris University Center (MUC) on the SIUE campus.

The teams are preparing for the 17th annual Greater St. Louis Botball Tournament to be held Saturday, April 13 in the MUC’s Meridian Ballroom. The workshop is an opportunity for the teams to discuss the rules of this year’s tournament and to learn tips on building and programming their robots. Members of SIUE’s Autonomous Robotics Club (ARC) student organization will be volunteering their time to help.

“The Botball program is all about problem solving,” said Colin Wilson, instructor and outreach specialist in the SIUE STEM Research Center, and regional event organizer. “Developing critical thinking skills is a fundamental aspect of the Botball mentorship model that focuses on students creating and implementing solutions to problems.”

Per the organization’s website, the Botball curriculum is aligned with Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.

The teams received a kit with hundreds of parts such as sensors, motors and structural pieces. Students are free to be as inventive with the kit components as possible. The game board is set on an 8’ x 8’ table, with various PVC and material components. The result is a fleet of unique robots that allow the students to see the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches, especially in head-to-head competition.

Botball is coordinated through the KISS Institute for Practical Robotics. The tournament event pits teams against one another in two-minute rounds. A team’s student-created robot must demonstrate its ability to perform a number of tasks worth varying points. The regional competition is open to the public and typically draws approximately 200 spectators with teams from Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Kansas and Arkansas.

Photo: Spectators watch the annual Botball Tournament at SIUE’s Meridian Ballroom.