With the idea of "inspiring students, one robot at a time," a robotics competition will test the talents of about 500 fourth- through sixth-graders at Chattanooga's Volkswagen plant on Saturday.
Some 40 teams mostly from Hamilton County but also ranging from Upper East Tennessee to Georgia are included in the competition, said Charley Spencer of the nonprofit group Tennessee Valley Robotics.
"They've already built robots, programmed them, and will be driving the robots to perform certain tasks within a finite amount time and scoring points," he said of the competition called the "TN Valley Robotics Squared Away Tournament."
Spencer said the teams will compete for spots in a state tournament held in Brentwood, Tennessee, in February or March. The state champion will then go to the world competition in Louisville, Kentucky.
For VW, this is the second year it has partnered with Tennessee Valley Robotics, he said, noting that robots are common in the German automaker's Chattanooga assembly plant.
"In the VW production process, robotics is an integral part," Spencer said. "When I went to them, it was like preaching to the choir."
He said that the Hamilton County Department of Education, TVA and EPB also are partners which see the value of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education.
"We all need to be doing everything we can to promote these activities," said the TVA retiree.
For the students taking part, they're learning the value of STEM, he said.
"These are the future leaders in Chattanooga and Hamilton County and they're getting the knowledge and training necessary for the highly technical jobs coming down the pike," Spencer said.
Tennessee Valley Robotics was started in 2017, according to its website. It said the goal is to support robotics in education and teaching students the STEM skills needed to prepare them for the future job market.
VW's Chattanooga plant over a year ago rebooted a key training initiative, its Robotronics Program, to keep up with the technology upgrades the automaker is cramming into new vehicles.
More computer programming, increased hands-on learning in the plant and boosting the daily teaching time would be hallmarks of the program, said Ilker Subasi of VW at the time.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.