BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Five Central Alabama high-school robot-building teams and a sixth alternate team were named award winners at the annual University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Blazer BEST robotics competition and will go on to compete in the BEST robotics South Region competition in Auburn in December.
The Blazer BEST robotics 2009 High Octane event held its Game Day competition inside UAB Bartow Arena Saturday, Oct. 17. Teams from 26 middle- and high-schools participated in the event, which was attended by hundreds of team supporters.
The BEST Award winners were selected based on a combination of their Game Day competition scores and evaluation of team management and robot design development before the contest. All three BEST Award winners will compete in the South Region competition.
The overall event winners that received BEST Awards were:
- 1st Place: Spain Park High School, Hoover
- 2nd Place: Shades Valley Technical Academies, Jefferson County
- 3rd Place: Oak Mountain High School, Shelby County
The Robotics Award was given to the teams that scored the most points during the Game Day competition. The top two scoring teams will move on to the South Region competition while the third place finisher will be an alternate.
The Game Day competition scoring leaders that received Robotics Awards were:
- 1st Place: Homewood High School, Homewood
- 2nd Place: Briarwood Christian School, Shelby County
- 3rd Place: Hewitt Trussville High School, Trussville
About UAB Blazer BEST
Blazer BEST, the local contest hosted at UAB in conjunction with the national BEST Robotics competition, is a non-profit endeavor, providing free materials for teams to develop and build competition robots in the six weeks preceding the contest. Parties interested in volunteering future Blazer BEST events should contact Lyn Lewis at 205-975-2425 or llewis@uab.edu.
About the UAB School of Engineering
The UAB School of Engineering offers students real-world experience while they train in one of its degree programs, which include the only undergraduate biomedical engineering program in Alabama. Students experience cutting-edge research opportunities, industry co-ops and unique internships generated by the school's commitment to interdisciplinary learning.