What is MACH Robotics?

MACH is the Mobile Area Coalition of Homeschoolers.  MACH Robotics is our local homeschool division of BEST Robotics.  BEST stands for Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology.  It is a nationwide program designed to inspire students to pursue careers in engineering, science, technology, and math through participation in a sports-like science- and engineering-based robotics competition.

MACH Robotics is a student led-organization in which 6th-12th grade students participate in a 6-week competition in the fall of each year.  The competition this year begins with a kick-off on September 20th and ends with game day at the Mitchell Center on November 1st.  During the 6 weeks in between, students will work together to complete certain tasks.

Here’s how it works.

The team will meet in late August to choose a meeting time and location, vote for a president, sign up for individual teams, and choose captains of those teams.  Teams include:

Robot – designs and builds a robot to complete designated tasks

Presentation – creates a business presentation to “sell” the robot to a panel of judges

Notebook – prepares an engineering notebook which details the making of the robot

Display – designs and builds a display detailing the work of the team and the “business”

Spirit – encourages the team and supporters to get involved on game day

Media – prepares a scrapbook and creates a newsletter, website, and commercial

We meet as a whole team one day each week and then break off into individual teams.  Some of the teams (robot and presentation especially) will need to meet at other times during week also.  All meeting times will be decided at the first meeting in August.  We do our best to accommodate as many people as possible.

On September 20th we will attend kick-off day at Davidson High School.  BEST will reveal the playing field for game day and let us know what tasks our robot will have to perform.

In the 6 weeks that follow kick-off, our team will become a mock company.  They will build a robot, create a presentation to sell our company’s robot, design and build a display to tell all about the company and its product, design and maintain a website, and complete other tasks as well.

On October 31st and November 1st, it all comes together!  We compete and earn points for all our different areas of participation.  If we score well enough at the local level, we continue on to the regional level which is held in Auburn in early December.

How can you get involved?

Sign up at our first team meeting!  We would love to have your student on our team!  We charge $25 per family and will collect this fee at our first meeting in August.  We also need parents who are gifted and/or willing to mentor each team.  We need a location where we can meet for the duration of the program.  It must accommodate the whole group as well as the smaller teams.   Know of anywhere???  PLEASE let us know.  We have to raise all our own funds.  It costs about $3000 for the season.  Got any great ideas?  Let us know!

Need more information?  kylekendralane@aol.com, Kendra Lane 251-377-6716, Kyle Lane 251-709-9287