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24-Hour Robotics Competition Kicks Off in Morgantown

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High school teams from all over the country are pitting their robots against each other in a series of events designed to test their ability to work together and endure.

In an effort to give kids a taste of real-world circumstances, high school robotics teams are challenged to raise funds, design a team “brand,” and build and program a robot to perform prescribed tasks against a field of competitors—all with limited resources, and time limits.

Their regular season begins in February and culminates in the world championships in  late April. But this week a special off-season event is being held in Morgantown, hosted by Mountaineer Area Robotics, team 2614. And the competition is unique.

“We’ve decided to do the world’s first endurance test,” says Earl Scime, the Mountaineer Area Robotics team’s mentor (each team has one).

Scime is also Associate Vice President for Research and Economic Development at West Virginia University. He says the winning teams in this competition will each get to nominate one of their teammates for a full scholarship to WVU.

The competition is being streamed live.