Rome High crew paces third in robotics competition

Tuesday, November 5, 2024–8:40 a.m.

-News Release-

Rome High School’s SkillsUSA/Engineering team recently placed third at the Georgia BEST Robotics Competition.

“BEST Robotics is a challenging six-week competition where students have to prototype a robot with very few pre-made parts. This year’s competition was themed around designing a lunar rover and colonizing the moon. They are given electronics, plywood, screws, and other hardware and must fabricate all structural components from scratch. This year’s competition involved an incredibly complex competition field,” Rome High School Engineering and Technology Instructor Scott Hansen said.

“Despite some challenging difficulties with the field communication system and some mechanical failures early on, they managed to push through and finished third for the overall BEST award. The marketing team got top scores for their presentation of the team’s robot design and sales pitch for the marketing exhibit,” Hansen said. “They did a great job for a new team that had never before competed at BEST. I’m proud of their work.”

Team members include Giana Fernandes, Liam Fernandes, Sam Hard, Karly Nguyen, David Orellana Martinez, Tonya Pham, Joe Rutledge, Jason Whelchel and Colton Williams.