UND And Bifrost Manufacturing Host First VEX Robotics Competition

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (KVRR) — VEX Robotics competitions are the largest and fastest growing program worldwide for students in middle school and up. This year UND wanted to bring that excitement to its doors.

“We’ve been planning this event for over a year. And we’re just excited to get all of these kids together to do robotics, compete with one another, and just have a great experience,” said Brian Tande, Dean of the College of Engineering and Mines at UND.

The engineering challenge brings 40 groups of students together to build innovative robots. At each competition, a challenge is presented in the form of a game for teams to solve together.

“They’re working on picking up rings and putting them on stakes and getting them through goal posts, stuff like that. It’s a good challenge for young students to get involved in and getting into problem solving some of the engineering-related questions that come up in life,” said Killian Erickson, Founder and CEO of Bifrost Manufacturing.

The competition was put together by UND and Bifrost Manufacturing to garner the minds of students in the STEM and engineering fields. Both present opportunities for students interested in learning more.

“The world needs more scientists and engineers and that includes North Dakota and our entire region. And so these are the kids that are going to grow up and hopefully pursue a degree in engineering or science and contribute to the North Dakota economy and develop the new technologies that we need to make the world a better place,” said Tande.

“As adults, we’re getting into building like you know robotics and automation stuff for more industrial use so it’s just a good way to show these kids what they can get into in life and maybe give them some hands-on with what that looks like,” said Erickson.

The competition continues tomorrow with up to 20 groups battling it out.