Chattanooga, TN (November 24, 2015) --- Students in grades 9-12 from East Hamilton, Ooltewah, and Central high schools participated in a Chattanooga State sponsored VEX Robot Competition on November 13. The same three schools participated during May 2015, and it was evident that students had retained some of the lessons learned from that earlier competition to build better robots this time around. East Hamilton High scored highest and won the competition. Second place honors went to Ooltewah High.

Robots are built from parts that resemble erector set pieces. Once built, the robots are programmed and ready to compete on a playing field that consists of a raised floor made from plywood. An area enclosed on three sides holds tennis, golf and ping-pong balls. When time begins, the robot must pick up and drop as many balls as possible onto the playing area. During this competition, students from the winning team tried using a box created like a scoop on a backhoe, affixed it to the pincers, and were able to scoop up more balls thereby creating more chances to set the balls into each of the five holders on the playing field.

Competitors had eight minutes to maneuver their robots to place the balls onto the grid, enter the playing field, pick up the balls and place them in one of five holders with varying degrees of difficulty on the field.

Students also toured the Center for Advanced Technology and the Center for Engineering, Technology and Applied Science to see other aspects of engineering Technology. Some of the highlighted areas were 3-D printing, nuclear simulation, welding and non-destructive testing.

Lyn Potter, Coordinator of Engineering & Information Technologies worked with Lynda Pickett, an adjunct instructor and high school career and technology teacher at Ooltewah High on the competition.

For more information about Engineering Technology or future VEX competitions, please contact Lyn Potter at 423.697.3121 or visit https://www.chattanoogastate.edu/engineering-information-technologies.