Faculty and staff from UALR’s Donaghey College of Information Science and Systems Engineering – the CyberCollege – conducted a two-day workshop for middle- and high school students and their teachers in central Arkansas schools on Jan. 12 and 13 in preparation of this year’s “Botball” season.

Botball, a creation of NASA veterans of the Mars Rover project, is an intellectual team sport that uses computer programming and artificial intelligence skills pitting each team’s robot into an intense competition to complete a task. The competition promotes an interest in math and science and requires teamwork, logic, problem-solving skills, and engineering ability.

As educational coordinator for the region’s Botball competition, UALR CyberCollege faculty use the event to promote higher-thinking math and engineering skills and to recruit promising students to the CyberCollege program.

The tournament is the culmination of the Botball Educational Robotics Program through the KISS Institute for Practical Robotics in Norman, Okla.

For more information about UALR’s CyberCollege programs, contact Howard Walker at (501) 569-3333.