The annual Kansas BEST robotics competition — designed to inspire and motivate high school students toward careers in engineering, science and technology — will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1 in Charles Koch Arena at Wichita State University.

The event is sponsored by WSU's College of Engineering. Admission is free and open to the public.

The BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) competition challenges students to build a remote-controlled robot that accomplishes a defined task within a competitive setting. Professional engineers and teachers volunteer to coach teams through the engineering design process.

The sports-like technology contest combines the excitement of a high school football game with the strategy of a chess match and the intellectual challenge of a science fair. Using only the materials in the BEST-provided kits, students have eight weeks to design, develop and test a robot that can outperform their competitors. The weeks of hard work culminate in a spirited, day-long competition held annually every fall.

Participation in Kansas BEST is free, thanks to sponsorship by Textron Aviation, Spirit Aerosystems and the WSU College of Engineering. All equipment is provided to participating teams. The only cost to teams is their transportation to events.

A total of 17 Kansas schools will compete in the event. This year's game is called Factoids, and the theme is AI and machine learning. The robots are challenged to gather various pieces of information called Factoids and try to sort the true ones from the false.

The following schools plan to compete in Kansas BEST:

• Wichita Collegiate High School
• Moundridge High School
• Council Grove High School
• Kapaun Mt. Carmel Catholic High School
• Wichita Homeschool
• Republic County High School
• Rose Hill High School
• Central Christian Academy
• McHomes Homeschool Co-op
• South Central High School
• Garden City High School
• Rock Creek High School
• Life Preparatory Academy
• Valley Center High School
• Berean Academy
• Stafford Middle School/High School
• Wellington STEM

Five teams will be asked to represent Kansas in the regional competition on Dec. 6-7 at the Garvey Center at Friends University.

If you have interest in the program — whether it is as a participant, sponsor or a volunteer — please visit kansasbest.org.

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Wichita State University is Kansas' only urban public research university, enrolling more than 25,000 students between its main campus and the WSU Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology (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 National Science Foundation ranked WSU No. 1 in the nation for aerospace engineering R&D, No. 2 for industry-funded engineering R&D and No. 8 overall for engineering R&D.

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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