YOUNG INNOVATORS GEAR UP FOR LOCAL VEX ROBOTICS COMPETITION IN BEMIDJI

Bemidji, MN – More than 200 leading middle and high school VEX Robotics students and mentors from Minnesota will unite at the Dream It. Do It. Northern Minnesota VEX Robotics Tournament on December 5 at the John Glas Fieldhouse at Bemidji State University. The tournament is hosted by Bemidji State University. The action-packed tournament will feature 36 teams who will compete with and against other teams in a series of back-to-back robot challenges. The public is invited to attend, with qualification rounds scheduled to start at 10:15 a.m. and final rounds scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m.

Participants will compete for the championship title by strategically executing the VEX Robotics Competition “Nothing But Net” game, driving robots they designed, built and programmed from the ground up using the VEX Robotics platform. VEX Robotics Competition’s “Nothing But Net” game is played by scoring colored balls in high and low goals and by elevating your robot in a designated climbing zone. The “Nothing But Net” game was developed by VEX Robotics, Inc. and the Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation, leaders in educational and competitive robotics.

The Dream It. Do It. Northern Minnesota VEX Robotics Tournament is one of a series of VEX Robotics Competitions taking place internationally throughout the year, including three other Dream It. Do It. Minnesota regional tournaments and the Dream It. Do It. State VEX Robotics Tournament. VEX Robotics is the world’s fastest growing competitive robotics program for elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges around the world, with more than 12,000 teams from 33 countries that participate in more than 1,000 VEX Robotics events worldwide. The competition season culminates each spring, with the highly-anticipated VEX World Competition, uniting top qualifying teams from local, state and international VEX Robotics events.

“It is great to see so many students building robots and competing in VEX Robotics tournaments,” said Lyle Meulebroeck, tournament coordinator and professor in the Technology, Art and Design department at Bemidji State University. “We are excited to offer this STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) opportunity and expose youth and their parents to related educational and career opportunities in advanced manufacturing.”

Dream It. Do It. Minnesota and 360 Manufacturing Center of Excellence has led VEX Robotics in Minnesota, helping youth connect their interest in robotics to career opportunities in modern manufacturing. Dream It. Do It. Minnesota is also supported by Minnesota Precision Manufacturing Association and Tri-State Manufacturers’ Association. Minnesota Precision Manufacturing Association is also a platinum sponsor for VEX Robotics through Dream It. Do It. Minnesota, providing kits to local teams.

The VEX Robotics Competition is managed by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation and serves as a vehicle for students to develop critical life skills such as teamwork, leadership and project management, honed through building robots and competing with like-minded students from the community in an intense and exciting environment. VEX EDR was built from the ground up and designed to be an affordable, accessible and scalable platform used to teach science, technology, engineering and math education worldwide.

To learn more about the Dream It. Do It. Northern Minnesota VEX Robotics Tournament, contact Lyle Meulebroeck at 218-755-2733 or lmeulebroeck@bemidjistate.edu. To learn more about Dream It. Do It. Minnesota, visit dreamitdoitmn.com. More information about the VEX Robotics Competition is available at RoboticsEducation.org or at RobotEvents.com.

About Dream It. Do It. Minnesota

Dream It. Do It. Minnesota, led by 360 Manufacturing Center of Excellence, inspires the next generation of manufacturing talent and collaborates with industry to promote careers in manufacturing in Minnesota. To learn more about this program, visit dreamitdoitmn.com.

About 360 Manufacturing Center of Excellence

360 Manufacturing Center of Excellence is a consortium of 15 institutions led by Bemidji State University and includes 14 technical and community colleges, including Northwest Technical College. 360 is designing a 21st century education system that prepares individuals to have rewarding careers in manufacturing and meets the dynamic, evolving needs of the region’s manufacturing employers through an enhanced pipeline and industry-driven curriculum. 360 is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system and received a National Science Foundation grant in 2012 to become an Advanced Technological Education Regional Center. To learn more, visit 360mn.org.

About the REC Foundation

The REC Foundation seeks to increase student interest and involvement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by engaging students in hands-on, sustainable and affordable curriculum-based robotics engineering programs across the U.S. and internationally. Its goal is to provide these programs with services, solutions, and a community that allows them to flourish in a way that fosters the technical and interpersonal skills necessary for students to succeed in the 21st Century. The REC Foundation develops partnerships with K-12 education, higher education, government, industry, and the non-profit community to achieve this work so that one day these programs will become accessible to all students and all schools in all communities. For more information on REC Foundation, visit RoboticsEducation.org.