BVA kids get robot lessons from soldiers

By Mon Valley Independent

By Kaylie Moore

kmoore@yourmvi.com

Belle Vernon Area High School students may have an advantage in an upcoming robotics competition, thanks to a visit last week from U.S. Army soldiers.

BVA STEM teacher Michael Pappas’ Project Lead the Way students are in the midst of building their own Battlebot robot for the annual Southwestern Pennsylvania BotsIQ Competition at California University of Pennsylvania.

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. BotsIQ is an educational robotics competition which requires students to build a custom robot and battle other districts’ creations in a special arena to win prizes.

To help students prepare for battle, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Brian Spurgeon, 1st Sgt. Dustyn Miller and Sgt. Frank Gyovai stopped by Pappas’ robotics lab — with a Talon 4 bomb disposal robot in tow.

To read the rest of this story, please see a copy of Monday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at https://e.monvalleyindependent.com.

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