MSU Mankato hosts 75-team Vex Robotics competition

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - Competitive Vex Robotics is a growing activity for local middle and high school students.

Friday saw 75 of those local robotics teams bring their toughest robots to MSU Mankato for a holiday tournament. Teams spend weeks getting their robots and game plans together for the event.

Coaches said the rise of robotics as an extracurricular has done a lot for the students who might otherwise struggle to find social and developmental outlets.

“Some kids aren’t always in athletics so it’s a good program for that. It kind of gives them a career direction too because they might get a focus,” Mankato West robotics coach Mark Zenk said. “Kids that maybe didn’t think they’d go into engineering or manufacturing are going into those fields now.”

That career pipeline is something of particular interest to MSU in their role in hosting the event. Bringing so many students onto campus to meet with faculty can give students a head start on their college and careers.

Organizers called that a difference maker in many students’ lives.

“That could be applied to almost any discipline in almost any field,” MSU’s Aaron Budge said. “Whether it’s the medical industry, whether it’s the agricultural industry, whether it’s manufacturing things, there are a lot of different ways that automation and robotics apply. They’ve learned the basic skill set to be able to do that.”

Click here to download the KEYC News Now app or our KEYC First Alert weather app.