On Saturday, April 14 the Watauga SumBot competition was held in Appalachian State University's Holmes Convocation Center.
"Robotic sumo is a competition where two robots, known as sumo-bots, attempt to push each other out of an arena using sensors, clever programming, and innovative design. The arena for the contest is a 4-foot diameter circle, and the time given for each round is 3 minutes. Your goal is to create a sumo-bot, using entirely Lego made components, that can push its opponent out of the arena before being pushed out of the arena by the competing sumo-bot," according to the NC Science Festival website.
There were over 145 teams registered to compete in the elementary school, middle school, high school, and adult categories.
There were a total of 50 volunteers from a combination of the computer science department, the math department, and the physics and astronomy department.
Teams had two chances each round to come out victorious and progress forward. If issues arose, the help desk was available to work through calibration issues and get teams back on their feet to compete again in the afternoon rounds.
The event was free to spectators with demonstrations from the App State Solar Vehicle Team, the App State Physics and Astronomy Department and the Watauga High School Robotics Team.
Students participating in SumoBot 2018
