MUSCLE SHOALS-Northwest-Shoals Community College (NW-SCC) will host students from 11 area schools for the 2021 Northwest Alabama BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) Robotics Game Day this Saturday, November 20th, in the Patriot Center (gym) on the Shoals Campus. Spot®, the robotic dog that has become a YouTube sensation, is scheduled to make a guest appearance from Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry Nuclear plant.
Game Day will begin with the team parade and opening ceremonies for fans at 9 a.m. and conclude at approximately 5 p.m. with the awards ceremony. It will be FREE and open to the public.
The BEST Robotics season kicked-off Saturday, September 25th, on the Shoals campus for all area teams. The theme for this year’s competition is Demo Daze 2021. This year’s competition is focused on construction safety and demolition in an environmentally safe way. Middle and high school student teams have been working on their robot design & engineering process for six weeks. The top four winning teams will advance to South’s BEST Regional Championship at Auburn University, December 4-5, 2021.
In addition to the Robotics game challenge, the students must compile a comprehensive Project Engineering Notebook, and are encouraged to develop an entire “company” around their product. The teams have the option to compete in an oral marketing presentation, to design and build a trade show exhibit, a website, a video commercial for their product, t-shirt designs and more. Many components of the competition are done throughout the week. Saturday will be the finale of the 2021 Northwest Alabama Hub’s BEST season. Both the robot performance and team exhibits will be judged on Saturday.
Area schools participating in the 2021 Northwest Alabama BEST Robotics Game Day include: Brooks High School, Central High School, Covenant Christian School, Creekside Academy, Lexington High School, Lincoln County High School (TN), Rogers High School, Russellville High School, Tharptown High School, Trinitas Classical Academy, and Wilson High School.
Northwest Alabama BEST Robotics is a workforce development partnership between the Shoals Chamber of Commerce and Northwest-Shoals Community College. Each fall, over 850 middle and high schools and over 18,000 students participate in the competition nationwide. For more information visit https://www.nwalbest.com.
Media Release/Trent Randolph
Public Information Officer
Northwest-Shoals Community College
