Blog Post: BattleBots Re-engineering Interest in Arizona's Aerospace and Precision Machining Industry

BattleBots IQ (BBIQ) is an educational program created by the producers of the wildly successful BattleBots television series (in which homemade, remote controlled robots face-off in competition). As the television show grew in popularity, so did the number of student fans who wanted to build competitive robots of their own. It soon became evident that this activity, the sport of robots in competition, had the unique potential to impact middle school, high school and college students in a powerful and positive way: Through the process of robot building, student's imaginations are captured as they design, build and compete with their own robotic creations; and through this hands-on effort students gain practical knowledge of math, science, engineering and manufacturing.    

In 2001, the creators of BattleBots started BattleBots IQ, the educational program comprising of: A Robotics Curriculum based on the National Curriculum Standards and Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) mechanical engineering methodology; Teacher Training; and a National Competition where students showcase their custom built robots, and compete for top honors. The reception to the BBIQ program in the educational, manufacturing and technology communities has been overwhelming. What started as a program for middle and high schools has grown to include post secondary schools and institutions. Manufacturing and technology sectors have been impressed with what BBIQ has done for workforce development, and creating an awareness of Industry that until now was lackluster.    

AZ Battle Bots IQ is aimed at Middle School through college students across the state. AZBBIQ seeks to ensure equal opportunity to compete and is available to all interested students, regardless of location, gender, race or social-economic background. BattleBotsIQ has specifically chosen the 15 pound class to promote as it offers the optimum learning for the cost of involvement. It is estimated that teams can field a competitive robot for under $1000 and robots can be continually upgraded and re-entered into competitions. AZBBIQ is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to bringing the BattleBotsIQ program to Arizona. It is a co-operative effort between industry and the education community and is sponsored by the Arizona Tooling and Machining Association.    

Results from the competition on April 1st-

First Place: SlabCrab from Williams High School, Larry Gutshall
Second Place: RoboReaper from Highland Jr High, Fred Lewis 
Third Place: Jigsaw from EVIT, Rich Smith  

Coolest Bot - Jigsaw (EVIT Rich Smith)
Best Engineered - Jigsaw (EVIT Rich Smith) 
Best Sportsmanship - Hooked on EVIT (Ivan Tomkins)    

The next competition is November 2, 2007!    

For more information please visit their website at www.azbbiq.com