Robotics tournament draws future inventors

More than 20 robots and their student designers visited the University of Mississippi in March for the inaugural FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics Tournament hosted by the Center for Mathematics and Science Education.

The tournament pitted student teams from across Mississippi against one other in a game called Ring It Up! During the game, students piloted their robots to pick up rings from dispensers and place them in a grid to score points. All robots were designed within set dimensions and used a Lego Mindstorm NXT robot “brain” to maneuver the device.“This whole competition starts as an afterschool program for students,” said Mannie Lowe, the center’s program manager and coordinator of the event. “When each team began in September, they started from square one. They got to imagine their robot and see it come together and now see how it performs against others.”

The event took place at the university’s Jackson Avenue Center. Two Mississippi teams, the Techno Warriors Advanced from Brandon and the Team Purple Thunder from Mt. Olive, will move on to compete in the FTC World Championship in St. Louis on April 24 against 126 teams from around the world.

Most teams included 10 students ranging from seventh to 12th grade. Students worked alongside mentors to design and build robots using mathematics and science concepts. Teams competed on the regional level before coming to the state competition.

This year’s event marks more than just the first state-level robotics tournament in Mississippi, explained Lowe, who previously coordinated the state FTC tournament in Georgia. The tournament shows a dramatic increase in awareness for the program across the state. The number of registered Mississippi teams has risen from four to 23 in just one year.

The FTC tournament is supported by the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, or FIRST, organization based in Manchester, N.H. Founded by inventor Dean Kamen, the nonprofit’s mission is to inspire an interest in mathematics and science in young people. This season, an estimated 2,500 FTC robotics teams will compete in events in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Russia and the Netherlands.

For more information about the tournament and the organization, visit http://www.usfirst.org.