Wichita Homeschool won both the BEST Award and the Head-to-Head Robot Performance awards at the Kansas BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) competition Oct. 28.

The event was held at Wichita State University and sponsored by Textron Aviation, Spirit AeroSystems and ROTC. WSU's College of Engineering was a partner for the event.

Kansas BEST is designed to inspire and motivate students toward careers in engineering, science and technology. This year's games was “Incision Decision,” and the theme was robot-assisted surgery. 17 teams from around the state of Kansas participated in the competition.

Four of the top competitors qualified for the regional Championship in Denver, Dec. 16-17.

Accompanying Wichita Homeschool will be: Garden City High School (2nd place BEST Award), Rock Creek Jr/Sr High School (2nd place Robot Performance, 2nd place Most Robust Machine), and Kapaun Mt. Carmel Catholic High School (3rd Place Robot Performance, 3rd place Founder's Award).

The BEST Award is based on a project notebook, oral presentation, table display and interviews, in addition to the robot head-to-head competition. The Robot Performance Award is based on a Critical Design Review and the points scored in the robot head-to-head competition.

Other top awards from the 2023 Kansas BEST competition:

• The Founder's Award for Creative Design by Textron Aviation: Wichita Homeschool
• Most Robust Machine Award by Spirit Aerosystems: Wichita Homeschool
• Army ROTC Judges Choice Critical Design Review: Republic County High School
• The Top Gun Award for most points scored in a single match: Wichita Homeschool

A complete list of all the awards presented can be found at kansasbest.org and video of the presentations on Facebook at @KansasBESTRobotics. 

The event was made possible with the help of WSU's Barton School of Business marketing department, WSU ESports and many volunteers.

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Wichita State University is Kansas' only urban public research university, enrolling more than 23,000 students between its main campus and WSU Tech, including students from every state in the U.S. and more than 100 countries. Wichita State and WSU Tech are recognized for being student centered and innovation driven.

Located in the largest city in the state with one of the highest concentrations in the United States of jobs involving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), Wichita State University provides uniquely distinctive and innovative pathways of applied learning, applied research and career opportunities for all of our students.

The Innovation Campus, which is a physical extension of the Wichita State University main campus, is one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing research/innovation parks, encompassing over 120 acres and is home to a number of global companies and organizations.

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