The Hardin County School System is preparing to host a group of international robotics teams ahead of a major competition next week in Louisville.
The VEX Robotics World Championships are being held Wednesday through Saturday at the Kentucky Expo Center and Freedom Hall. The competition features teams from elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as colleges from all across the world.
Some Central Hardin High School robotics team members will get some special practice before they head to Louisville for the championships.
Jason Neagle, with the Hardin County Schools Early College and Career Center, says fifteen teams from China and Singapore will spend Monday and Tuesday in Elizabethtown, where they will practice their robotics and engineering programs.
“Our students are going to get the opportunity to work alongside with them. The Chinese teams are some of the top-ranked teams in the world, and we have some Top-30 ranked teams as well.”
Teams competing in the VEX events build robots that perform pre-programmed maneuvers, which are scored by judges, before competing against another team’s robots. For example, one team’s robot may attempt to gather certain objects in the field of play, while another team’s robot tries to block its competitor.
Neagle says the competition offers students a fun, hands-on opportunity to learn more about science and technology.
“The students are learning programming skills, problem-solving, keeping up with an engineering notebook, team collaboration, all of the many things and aspects of a year-long project.”
Four teams from Central Hardin High School will compete in next week’s championships in Louisville. A Central Hardin team came in third overall at last year’s championships in Anaheim.
