Bellefontaine High School’s Team Kickin’ Bots of Reid Gleason, Ryoma Kawakami and Dustin VanBuskirk received 13th place out of 558 teams from around the world at the recent Vex World Robotics competition in Louisville, Ky.
Bellefontaine High School’s Team Kickin’ Bots members Reid Gleason, Ryoma Kawakami and Dustin VanBuskirk received 13th place and placed highest among their Ohio division of teams at the Vex World Robotics Competition. (PHOTO | BELLEFONTAINE CITY SCHOOLS)
The pupils finished in the highest placement in their division of the Ohio teams, and also improved upon their performances at the last two world competitions, where they received 30th place in 2015 and 36th place last year.
They competed against students from a number of different countries, including New Zealand, China, Japan, Chile, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Philippines, Taiwan, Bahrain, Macau, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Singapore, Russia, Malaysia, Guatemala, South Korea, Ethiopia, Paraguay, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Lebanon. The teams represented the top 1 percent of the 28,000 teams that compete around the world.
The team is already preparing for next year’s challenge, titled “In The Zone,” their adviser Sandi Chervenak said.
Local sponsorship was provided by Honda Transmission Manufacturing, DMG Tool & Die LLC and Bellefontaine City Schools, which made it possible for the team to compete in Louisville this year.