Transporting wind turbine components to a construction site and assembling a wind turbine is the challenge that Red River Area Learning Center’s robotics team will tackle at this year’s Bison BEST robotics competition sponsored by NDSU’s College of Engineering on Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at NDSU’s Shelly Ellig Indoor Track and Field Facility.
The Red River ALC team has had six weeks to design, build and test a radio-controlled robot. On Nov. 1 between 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., the team will compete against 19 other teams from the region to complete the wind turbine task. Supporters are encouraged to attend and cheer on the Red River ALC team to help the team earn sportsmanship points.
Teams participate in rounds to complete tasks such as acquiring an oversize/overweight permit, transporting turbine components, avoiding damage to prairie chicken environments and assembling turbine components into towers. Eight highest-scoring teams move on to semifinal and final rounds.
BEST, which stands for “Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology,” is designed to inspire students to consider careers in those fields. Besides the robotics competition, the student teams compete for the BEST Awards, which include a project engineering notebook documenting all work they’ve completed, a marketing presentation, the team exhibit and interview, and spirit and sportsmanship.
On Oct. 31, Red River ALC’s team will give its marketing presentation and will be interviewed at the team exhibit. This year’s exhibit theme is based on wind energy and endangered species.
This project involves students in a variety of ways from fundraising to marketing to robot construction and design.
“Students are able to earn English, science and elective credit depending on what they need and what parts of the project they work on,” said Aura Lee Mohror, language arts teacher and team advisor.
As part of the BEST program, engineers, university faculty members or other technical professionals from local industry serve as team mentors, advising and guiding students throughout the design and construction of their robot. The Red River ALC team’s mentors are Glen Meyer and Kirk Ogden, engineers at John Deere.
The robotics team has done fundraising by busing tables at a Pizza Ranch night and selling tickets for “It’s a Wonderful Night” at West Acres Shopping Center to raise funds to purchase supplies for the team exhibit and tools. On Oct. 25, team members were out at West Acres Shopping Center with the other robotics teams, practicing with their robots.
For more information about Bison BEST robotics visit http://www.ndsu.edu/coe/k_12_outreach/best_robotics/bison_best/.
