VW to host regional robotics competition

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

High school robotics teams from five states will be at Van Wert High School over the weekend for the first-ever Van Wert Northwest Ohio Robotics Competition. The local completion is one of six competitions to be held in Ohio this year.

The robotics teams will arrive from Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and other parts of Ohio on Friday night and will prepare for Saturday’s robotics competition, to be held at the high school.

“After the basketball game is over (on Friday), the commons and high school gym will be transformed into a robotics competition area,” said Bob Spath, one of two advisors, for the VWHS Robotics Club.

Inspections of each team will take place Friday night, while judging begins with set-up and judging interviews at 7 a.m. Saturday. The event is free and open to the public and begins with opening ceremonies at 10:15 a.m. in the high school gym with Dr. Eric T. Baumgartner as keynote speaker. Dr. Baumgartner is dean of the T.J. Smull College of Engineering at Ohio Northern University and worked on the Mars Rover robotic arm at NASA.

Immediately following opening ceremonies, competition matches will begin and run all day on two competition fields. The public is welcome to visit the “pit” areas in the commons and come and go during the day to view competition matches.

Semifinals and finals will start soon after qualification rounds end and closing ceremonies will be held in the Niswonger Performing Arts Center at the completion of the competition.

The competition corporate and post-secondary sponsors are Central Insurance Companies, A&P Tooling out of Hicksville, and Ohio Northern University. Field sponsors are Van Wert Federal Savings Bank, First Federal Savings & Loan, Vancrest Health Care Centers, and Indiana Institute of Technology in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Spath said he and the VWHS Robotics Club are very appreciative of the financial donations given to enable it to enter competitions this school year. Last year, the club’s robotics team won state and regional competitions and finished 12th at an international competition that featured robotics teams from all over the world.