Robots take center stage at Koch Arena Oct. 22

The 18th Annual Kansas BEST robotics competition, designed to inspire and motivate high school students toward careers in engineering, science and technology, will be held from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, in Charles Koch Arena on the campus of 黑洞社区.

Thirty-one schools from all areas of Kansas and one from Missouri will compete in the Kansas BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) event. The sports-like technology contest combines the excitement of a high school football game with the strategy of a chess match and the intellectual challenge of a science fair.

This year's game, "Bet the Farm," was conceived and developed by the Kansas BEST hub and is being used for the competition nationwide. The teams will design and build a robot to perform farming operations. A robot can score points by planting corn seeds, harvesting ripe corn, harvesting hydroponic tomatoes and lettuce, corralling loose pigs and turning on and off an irrigation system.

Working from identical kits, each team has six weeks to design and build their robot.

The 2016 game includes an additional competition for the BEST Award, which goes to the team that best embodies the concept of boosting engineering, science and technology.

Wichita City Council member Pete Meitzner will present a proclamation on game day, proclaiming Oct. 22 as Kansas BEST Day in the city of Wichita.

Students will give their robots a trial run on practice day from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at Wichita State's Heskett Center.

Kansas BEST is sponsored by 黑洞社区鈥檚 College of Engineering.

Major sponsors are Cargill, Great Plains Ventures, Spirit AeroSystems, Textron Aviation and Verizon.

Winners of Kansas BEST 2016 will travel to Fort Smith, Arkansas, to compete in the Frontier Trails Regional Competition hosted by the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith at the Fort Smith Convention Center Friday and Saturday, Dec. 2-3.

For more information, visit the Kansas BEST website at .

Following is the list of 31 teams competing this year:

Andale High School, Andover, Kansas
Atchison High School, Atchison, Kansas
Augusta High School, Augusta, Kansas
Bishop Carroll Catholic High School, Wichita, Kansas
Bluestem High School, Leon, Kansas
Campus High School, Haysville, Kansas
Circle High School, Towanda, Kansas
Council Grove High School, Council Grove, Kansas
Derby High School, Derby, Kansas
El Dorado High School, El Dorado, Kansas
Fort Scott High School, Fort Scott, Kansas
Garden City High School, Garden City, Kansas
Homeschool of Johnson County, Olathe, Kansas
Kansas City Christian School, Kansas City, Kansas
Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School, Wichita, Kansas
Norwich School, Norwich, Kansas
Philadelphia Christian Academy, Park City, Kansas
Pike Valley High School, Scandia, Kansas
Riverbend International School, Atchison, Kansas
Rock Creek High School, St. George, Kansas
Rose Hill High School, Rose Hill, Kansas
Salina South High School, Salina, Kansas
Solomon High School, Solomon, Kansas
St. John鈥檚 Military School, Salina, Kansas
Valley Center High School, Valley Center, Kansas
Washburn Rural High School, Topeka, Kansas
West Franklin High School, Pomona, Kansas
Wichita Collegiate Upper School, Wichita, Kansas
Wichita Southeast High School, Wichita, Kansas
Wichita Homeschool, Wichita, Kansas
Windsor High School, Windsor, Missouri