CIAA meets Claflin University robotics

                                                              Image via Robotics Guide

“We are trying to keep up with where the rest of the world is, and to do that, our job is to expose and to educate about robotics,” an academic chair at Claflin University said.

Dr. Karina Liles, department chair of Mathematics and Computer Science, is preparing to launch a robotics tournament. The tournament will be introduced at this year’s CIAA.

The tournament is virtual and is open to high school juniors and seniors of all interests. Teams will register during CIAA week and confirm their teams.

Teams must complete three challenges. Once a team's answers are submitted, a panel of judges will score the responses. The judges will be a mix of people from the technology industry and academia, as well as non-technology specialists.

Claflin faculty and staff, as well as other university faculty, will also serve as judges.

The winning team will advance to the finals, a two-hour challenge conducted via Zoom. The winners will receive scholarship money and a signature VIP private tour of Claflin.

A few Claflin University students are a part of the Robotics Research/Outreach group and will assist during the tournament.

“They are the ones doing the planning and executing of this competition,” Liles said.

The students are the “golden pieces of this project” because they will serve as mentors to the high school students, Liles said.

 Promotional materials and program guidelines are completed, according to Liles. Work still has to be done, but pacing is the goal as of now.

“So we’ve just been pacing ourselves so that we’re not overwhelmed,” Liles said.

The robotics competition is not new to Liles, as she sought to create a competition to build interest.

“We saw an opportunity where we could access a lot of high school students and hopefully pique their interest with the robotics competition,” Liles said.

The competition also serves as outreach and helps the robotics department at Claflin not be limited to just displays.

“We are now allowing for the participants to interact with the robots in a different type of way,” Liles said.

If the high school students do not want to pursue robotics after this competition, students will still gain skills that can be used in life, Liles said.  She also hopes the students enjoy the competition and see that they can overcome challenges.

“From them enjoying it, they can see that they can do something challenging and achieve it,” Liles said.

The Claflin students assisting with this competition will also gain leadership skills as they interact with high school students and work through the competition's logistics, Liles said.

Further details about the competition are forthcoming.