Students prepare to take part in robotics competition

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Hundreds of students are getting ready to compete in one of the biggest robotics events in the state of Alabama.

The competition, which will take place Saturday, Oct. 26, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. is called BEST, which stands for Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology. FOX10 News dropped by the Mitchell Center on the University of South Alabama's campus, where the competition will take place to get a sneak peek at some of the robots Friday afternoon.

For more than a month, the students there had prepared to compete.

Their assignment? To design and build a machine that can perform a task in less than three minutes.

"So we unveiled the game back in September and now all these kids have been working around the clock for 42 days," said Robin Fenton, director of the Hub. "They are here at the Mitchell center now, this weekend, to show us what they have created.”

The competition, which is free to attend, will be set-up like a trade show. Students will showcase their robots and explain why they believe their invention is the best.

Davidson High School’s team, dubbed Robotex, hopes to re-claim their regional championship title. First, the team has to make it through the local competition on Saturday.

Their idea this year is literally out of this world.

"It's created as a way to efficiently transport cargo from the ground into space. It's supposed to work because it reduces the cost of using things like rocket engines,” said Delaney Thull.