Engineering, math, computer science and robots will be on collision courses at two robotics competitions.
More than 1,000 students from neighboring school districts will make precise mathematical calculations, match wits and flex robotic muscles. The first opportunity will come Monday, April 25, at the seventh annual Robot Expo at the Fairplex in Pomona. Another round of battles will be staged Friday, May 6, in the 10th annual Robot Rally at Cal Poly Pomona.
In the two competitions, students will put the robots through challenges that require using mathematics to program the machines to execute precision turns and also take aggressive and evasive maneuvers. The robots also must cover certain distances and speeds. The students have to understand and work with decimals, fractions, proportions, angle and linear measurement.
The robotics competitions are designed to spark passion, interest in STEM and engage students with math required by the Common Core standards. Students also are able to see the relevance of mathematics and promote their own success in higher math, which is essential for college and high-tech careers.
The College of Education & Integrative Studies' Robot Expo is part of its School Robotics Initiative. The Robot Rally is part of the College of Engineering's Robotics Education Through Active Learning (REAL) program.
Both the Robot Expo and the Robot Rally provide robotics instruction training to local teachers, who return to their schools, share their new knowledge with peers and incorporate what they learned into the class curriculum.