BCIU holds robotics competition

Berks Career & Technology Center students, from left, Isaac Kremer, 18, from Daniel Boone, Jonah Mininger, 18, from Boyertown, and, Josh Wiest, 17, a BCTC Student from Twin Valley, compete in the land challenge portion of Berks County Intermediate Unit’s Sea, Air and Land Challenge on Thursday at tech center in Bern Township. (Courtesy of BCTC student Julieanna Campos)

High school students got a chance to show off their engineering know-how Thursday during a competition at the Berks Career and Technology Center in Bern Township.

The Sea, Air and Land Challenge was hosted by the Berks County Intermediate Unit.

The competition gives students 12 to 16 weeks to learn about the engineering process by designing and constructing a robotic system. The program culminates with a challenge day when those robotic systems are put to the test.

The students use their robots to complete tasks that mimic missions encountered by the military, national security agencies and first responders.

Eight teams competed in the land challenge, three teams competed in the sea challenge and six teams competed in the air challenge.