Bloomsburg Children's Museum 'BattleBots' competition draws crowds and competitors

Bloomsburg, Pa. — The Bloomsburg Children's Museum's fourth "Battle in the Burg" robot fighting brought out a big crowd and standout performances from Bloomsburg students.

This year's tournament outgrew the museum's capacity, moving to the Bloomsburg YMCA to accommodate the 45 competing robot teams and 230 spectators.

The competition, held on Aug. 24, attracted robotics teams from six different states. The museum entered its own team comprised of area students ranging from middle schoolers to college students.

“Our students did very well this year,” Weibel said. “We came away with a 2nd, 5th, 6th and a pair of 17th places in a very competitive field.”

Four years ago, the competition only had about 20 robot entries. Now, it's more than doubled.

“It’s one of our favorite events of the year,” Ginny Weibel, director of the museum, said. “It’s amazing to see the engineering that goes into each robot design.”

A recording of all of Saturday's robot action is available to watch on YouTube.

Every two-minute match had Ant Weight (one-pound) or Beetle Weight (three-pound) robots fight. The specially reinforced arena used in the competition came from Kirk Marshall (Bloomsburg High School), who recently fabricated it for use in his tournament “Rage in the Cage,” which occurs every spring.

The event was sponsored by Dyco Inc., The PPL Foundation, Sekisui Kydex, and Fingertech Robotics.