Center for STEM+eXcellence to host Robot Gladiator Melee competition
The Center for STEM+eXcellence at Morehead State will host a Robot Gladiator League Melee competition Friday, July 21, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Laughlin Health Building.
The event concludes the center's Robot Gladiator League Training Camp—a two-week residential camp for students interested in engineering in ninth or tenth grade. The program combines science, mathematics, engineering, and convergent media elements as participants plan, design and build their own fighting robots. Camp participants will battle their custom-built robots, with a champion being named at the end of the elimination competition. The camp is a collaboration between the Center and Newton’s Attic, an engineering education program based in Lexington.
Twenty-four students attended the camp, representing six Kentucky high schools. Once they return to school in the fall, the students will work with coaches leading them in a season of robot battle competitions throughout the school year. Dr. Leeann Akers, assistant director of the Center for STEM+eXcellence, said students gain a wealth of skills from the camp.
"The students are learning teamwork, engineering, robotics construction and design, strategic planning, video editing and production, marketing, and branding," she said, adding the event will be fun to watch.
"The event will feature a huge arena constructed inside the Laughlin gymnasium. Lights, fog, sparks, a professional emcee, think live studio audience for a battle competition. It's unlike anything seen in Morehead in quite some time. This event will showcase STEM+X outcomes that represent the potential right here at MSU."
Free concessions will be available.
The Center for STEM+eXcellence, a program within the Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics, offers informal STEM+X education opportunities for Kentucky students in grades K-12. Programs are offered during the summer and throughout the year.
Learn more by emailing Program Coordinator Brenda Porter at b.porter@moreheadstate.edu or calling 606-783-2300.
Photo caption: Participants in the Robot Gladiator League Training Camp will battle their custom-built robots at a melee event on Friday.
