From staff reports
Thirteen teams of middle and high school students, including those from Venango and Clarion counties, will put their skills to the test this weekend at Grove City College’s annual BEST Robotics Competition.
Student teams will display their robots, and present marketing and team exhibits, from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday in IM Room of the Physical Learning Center on campus. They’ll put their robots to work from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in the PLC’s arena.
The student teams are from Christian Life Academy, Clarion, Cranberry, Franklin, Grove City, Mercer, Altoona, Creative Learning Christian School, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, DuBois, Family Instructors of the Northern Suburbs, Mentor Christian School and Redeemer Lutheran.
This year’s game is titled “Incision Decision,” which will showcase the advancement of robotics working in tandem with medical care. The teams are challenged to build robots that can perform surgeries on SimBody, which is a training platform for minimally invasive surgery.
Robotics can be used to assist surgeons in performing complex surgeries with minimal invasiveness to the patient. The robots enter the body through small incisions and aid the surgeon in performing otherwise complex tasks requiring great precision.
More volunteers are needed to help judge during the event. No technical experience is required.
Volunteers may choose whether they would like to judge for a few hours, a day or the entire competition.
For more information about volunteering, contact Brandon Zimmerman, at zimmermanbs@gcc.edu, with their name and times they are available.
