Alabama Robotics Competition
Competition Date: April 6, 2013 (initial registration deadline March 22, 2013)
The 2013 contest is now over. Please visit here for the results, photos, and contest problems.
Come test your computer programming skills and compete with other Alabama students for cool prizes! A fun day is planned with educational experiences, food and social activities. The Alabama Robotics Competition is an event where students write programs that navigate their robot across a series of obstacle courses. Awards will be given out in several categories across multiple grade levels (elementary school, middle school, and high school).
The initial flyer describing the event is available here. Please use the navigation bar above for additional information.
Why another robotics competition?
There are several excellent robotics competitions that already exist, such as the popular BEST Robotics events in Alabama and the world-wide FIRST Lego League competitions. This new contest complements these other events by filling in missing gaps of participation. After hearing from various K-12 teachers, it has been observed that a competition is needed in Alabama that met the following goals:
- A competiton that is open to all grades in K-12.
- An event in the Spring that offers students studying robotics additional activities to pursue throughout the entire school year (rather than just a Fall focus).
- An emphasis on programming skills, resulting in autonomous robot control, rather than a robot that is maneuvered by a remote control. Points are scored in this new competition based on the clever solutions of student programs, rather than the skill of a teammate with a remote control.
- A registration fee that is affordable - only $20 per participant (several Lego competitions have registration, fees, and kit costs over $1000).
Essential Details
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The competition is open to all Alabama students (public, private, or home schools) across all grade levels (elementary, middle, high schools).
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Teams consist of 2-5 participants. We have space for approximately 30 teams. The registration fee is $20 per participant.
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The contest will feature several obstacle courses that must be navigated over a three-hour period by an autonomous robot that is programmed by each team.
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Robot programs to navigate the obstacle course may be written in any language (e.g., Mindstorms LabView, Java/Lejos, RobotC, C#, etc). It is assumed that participants already know how to program in their selected language prior to the contest.
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Students will use their own robots and their own computers to compete in the contest. Robots should be assembled in a base configuration prior to the competition.
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Each registered student will receive lunch, snack break, contest bag, T-shirt, and a certificate of participation.
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Prizes and awards will be given to the top-four teams in each division (Elementary School, Middle Scool, High School).
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Teachers, parents and family are encouraged to attend (please let us know on the registration form). In addition to viewing the competiton, special sessions will be provided to visitors during the event.
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Registration Details:
- Each school may submit two team registrations - a Primary team and an Alternate team. Each team will have its own registration (i.e., both Primary and Alternate teams must be registered separately). We are accepting registration for both types of teams, but not able to comment on the space availability of the Alternate teams until after March 22.
- We will invite all Primary teams to the contest, up to the 30-team limit (if we have more Primary teams than availability, we will invite Primary teams on a First Come/First Serve basis until we are full).
- By March 22nd, if we do not yet have 30 Primary teams, we will begin to invite Alternate teams on a FCFS basis.
- After registering, participants will be sent instructions on how to pay their registration fee.
Important Dates
- March 22, 2013: Registration Deadline for Primary Teams before Alternates are Invited (Registration closed - maximum Primary teams registered)
- April 6, 2013: Alabama Robotics Competition
Other Events in the Department: 2013 Summer Camps
The Department of Computer Science is also hosting three weeks of summer computer camps (1 week of middle school for commuter students and 2 weeks of dorm/commuter camps for high school). The camps are focused on Java, robotics programming, and Android programming. For 2013, we will continue to offer a new middle school camp for commuter students. More information about the 2013 Summer Camps is available here.
Sponsors
We gratefully acknowledge the following sponsors for providing support to the 2013 Robotics Competition:
