(Video above: Students from all over Northwest Alabama participated in a robotics competition “game day.” )

MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. – It was game day in Alabama Saturday, but not only the kind you might think, when Northwest Alabama hosted the BEST Robotics Competition Game Day.

“Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology,” or BEST, is a robotics competition that allows middle and high school students to work in teams to build robots. For the competition, teams are given a box filled with basic items and use those items to then build a functioning robot that can complete certain tasks.

According to their website, “BEST is a workforce development program, cleverly disguised as a robotics competition!”

And this robot competition is called “game day” for a reason. The atmosphere for the competition is hyped, and BEST says it’s “more like a championship basketball game with crowds and cheering and mascots and music and dancing … and robots!” Students gather together in a gymnasium and dress up as a team while cheering on their teammates as they perform tasks with their robot.

Nationally, over 11,000 students participate in the BEST competitions each year. While the BEST robotics competition is about robotics, it’s also a STEM program aimed to “demystify engineering,” said Stephanie Newland with the Shoals Chamber of Commerce.

For more information, visit nwalabamabest.org.

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