Middle and high school students from New Hampshire and Vermont will descend upon NHTI on Saturday, Feb. 28 for the NH-VT State VEX Robotics Competition. Forty teams that have previously qualified will come together for a non-stop, action-packed day of competition in which they will battle against each other with robots created from the VEX Robotics Design System. Participants will square off in the game Skyrise, developed by VEX Robotics, Inc. and the Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation, leaders in educational and competitive robotics.
Practice rounds and skills challenges take place from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Qualifying rounds and finals will be held from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Schools participating in this year’s competition include Trinity High School (Manchester), Pembroke Academy, Pinkerton Academy (Derry), Nashua Christian High School, Thetford Academy (Thetford, Vt.), White Mountain High School, Kennett High School, Rivendell Academy (Orford), and Legacy of Learning 4-H Club High School (Pelham).
The NH-VT State VEX Robotics Competition is one in a series of tournaments supported by the REC Foundation and various national, regional and local sponsors. The competition season culminates each spring, with the top performing teams from local and state competitions facing off at the VEX Robotics World Championship, which takes place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. At the World Championship, these exemplary teams will have the opportunity to challenge their top-ranked peers from other countries around the world, including Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, India, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain and the United Kingdom.
“This will be our third year hosting a major New England VEX Robotics Competition at NHTI,” says Robert Arredondo, NHTI’s Department Head of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. “The VEX Robotics platform is an ideal vehicle for promoting activity-based STEM education integrating mechanical, electrical and software engineering principles. The competition format is an exciting and fun event for the students. They learn and apply teamwork and communication skills at the competition, along with the technical skills they acquire while designing, building and testing their robots.”
For further information, contact Arredondo at 271-6484, ext. 4105, or rarredondo@ccsnh.edu.
