MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The WVU Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources will host its first-ever VEX Robotics Competition Saturday and Sunday in the Engineering Sciences Building Atrium on the Evansdale campus, according to outreach coordinator Julie Gruber.
VEX Robotics competitions and programs are managed by the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation (RECF). The RECF mission is to get learners of all ages interested in science, technology, engineering, and math. The organization releases the “game” in advance of the tournament so teams can build, troubleshoot, and prepare their robot.
“VEX Robotics is a worldwide organization, and these teams of students build robots to participate in a game, and the game is the same throughout the nation,” Gruber said.
VEX competitions challenge young people all over the state and nation, with the top teams competing for the national title in April.
“These competitions happen all over the state,” Gruber said. “Our competition is composed of middle and high school teams. “So, we have high school teams competing on Saturday and middle school teams competing on Sunday.”
The student teams have to be proficient in writing and troubleshooting code, developing the mechanical components, and working as one unit toward a mutual goal.
“The judges interview teams, so they have to have good interview skills and people skills to be able to talk to judges and show off what the robot can do,” Gruber said. “It’s really character building.”
The event is open to the public.