Students Work Together To Build Robot That Cleans Up The Ocean
DENVER (CBS4) - If you believe the children are our future, then this may be the sport of the future. Saturday, that future was on display on the Auraria Campus at the Auraria Events Center.
Twenty-seven teams took on the challenge of building a robot, but it had to be able to cleanup the ocean.
"We have to use our robot and grab ducks. We have to grab cans just trash balls to simulate cleaning the ocean," said MaryKate Berg, a member of the Aurora Quest Team.
Hundreds of students, friends and families cheered on middle and high school students from across Colorado at the BEST Robotics Rocky Mountain BEST Hub Game. It's a competition put on by BEST Robotics, a national organization that delivers a free STEM education program and competition to students.
Elias Wheatfall from DSST Stapleton High School's Brute Force team says, "It's really fun. Super exciting. I love to be here."
It's through this fun that parents and educators hope to teach important lessons in science and life. Elias has really enjoyed the technical challenge.
"A lot of math with torque and speed and making sure everything accomplishes what we need it to do," he said.
MaryKate says she also learned about how to work as a team.
"Listening to other people because, like a lot of people at my school, we like to be in charge and stuff and I think it's just like we each have different parts and working together and listening to each other," she said.
"It is amazing how they learn to work together as a team, thinking outside the box problem solving. It's just been an incredible experience," Tammy Endicott, a parent, said.
Michael Abeyta is a 4th generation Coloradan and a Multimedia Journalist for CBS4. His stories can be seen on CBS4 News at 5 & 6. He is on Twitter! Follow him @AbeytaCBS4.