Submitted report
The Dripping Springs High School robotics team placed second in a 10 team field at the Capitol Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology (BEST) regional competition at Round Rock High Oct. 29.
With the second-place finish, Dripping Springs advances to the state competition Dec. 8-10 in Dallas, which is the first time in school history that has been accomplished in robotics.
This year, the BEST state competition will serve as the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Robotics State Championship. The local BEST competition sites (hubs) in Texas are the team qualifying events for the UIL championship.
The BEST competition is a robot-building challenge that also includes aspects in marketing and community outreach. Teams are given a kit of materials and a challenge that includes performing multiple tasks six weeks before the competition.
Students design and build a robot based on their strategy to score points in competition. In addition to head-to-head competition with other schools, they also are judged on a marketing presentation and booth, spirit and community outreach, and an engineering journal.
This year’s challenge was “Farm” and included tasks such as sowing seeds, turning on water spigots, and picking up corn husks.