SARTELL -- Many future engineers gathered in Sartell this weekend. Students from around Minnesota competed in the 4th annual Sabre Vex Robotics Tournament on Saturday.

The 80 teams included 44 middle and high school blended teams and 36 at the elementary school level.

The competition is broken down into two-minute alliance matches, where teams score points for completing tasks in the game.

At the beginning of each season, the worldwide game is announced, and teams get to work building their machines.

Luke Miller is Sartell Middle School’s Vex Robotics Advisor. He says the process is that of trial and error.

What goes into building the robot is you design it to the game, and you use Vex approved parts. Hopefully, as the season goes on, your robot gets better and better with the same game.

This year’s game consists of flipping caps, stacking caps, shooting balls, toggling flags, and climbing onto a podium.

Miller says S.T.E.M. activities, such as robotics, open up many opportunities for students.

The kids that we attract are kids that like to invent, design, create, that would like to work with people. A lot of this leads to careers.

 

 

Miller has been with the team for four years and hopes to see the program continue to expand.

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