Alabama school teams meet to build better robots

MUSCLE SHOALS, AL (WAFF) - Hundreds of middle and high school students spent their Saturday in the Shoals building and showing off robots.

They were participating in the BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) Robotics competition at Northwest Shoals Community College.

Students work together in teams to build a functioning robot.

Organizers say the competition helps students' build teamwork, problem-solving and leadership skills.

"They try to make this like an athletic event, and our kids can really relate to that because most of our team is athletes," said Leah Torisky, sponsor of the Red Bay Tiger Tech team. "This is right up our alley as far as handling pressure of the crowd and getting excited. That's definitely a strength of our team."

Red Bay's team is one of six new competitors among the 24 schools from across Alabama that were represented at Saturday's meet.

BEST is a non-profit, volunteer organization at Auburn University.

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