SPHS Engineering Academy to compete in robotics competition

With the start of fall, many high school campuses are buzzing with the excitement of football season. In Spain Park High School’s Engineering Academy, however, a completely different buzzing is going on — one of motors and power tools. 

This month Spain Park’s Engineering Academy will compete in the annual UAB Blazer B.E.S.T. (Boosting Engineering Science and Technology) Regional Robotics competition. The competition focuses on the students’ ability to employ science, technology and engineering build to program a fully functioning robot out of nothing but a box of parts. The students are not given building instructions, only a set of robot specifications and their imaginations. 

Spain Park Engineering Academy Director and Robotics Team Sponsor Scottie Wilson experiences first-hand the effort her students put into the competition. 

“The six week process is amazing,” Wilson said. “It’s very tiring, but it’s great to see how analytical these kids become. They put thoughts into action, put their knowledge onto paper and ultimately build what they’ve envisioned.”

Each participating team is also required to build a creative marketing booth based on each year’s game theme. This year’s theme, Blade Runner, focuses on the transportation and construction of wind turbines. On game day, the 25 teams will compete with each other to gain points by controlling their robots to perform certain tasks.    

The action takes place on Oct. 4 from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at UAB’s Bartow Arena. For more information, visit uab.edu/engineering/home/school-profile/best-robotics.

-Submitted by Jordan Nakayama