Botball Madness Comes to USD

Botball Madness Comes to USD

The University of San Diego hosts its  own version of “March Madness” this Saturday, March 19 with the annual Southern California Botball Tournament.

The tournament features 31 students teams from grades 7 – 12  from all over Southern California who will compete using the robots they have worked on for seven weeks. Because the robots are light-sensitive, the best times for filming are the practice sessions between 8:30 to 10 a.m. and noon to 1:30 p.m. Finals for the competition will be at 4:30 p.m. with an awards ceremony to follow. The competition takes place at USD’s Sports Center, just east of the main campus entrance at the top of Linda Vista Road.

Botball involves using autonomous robots without remote controls to complete a series of tasks such as gathering and collecting objects in a limited amount of time. Sensors and cameras give input to the robots which help identify scoring objects.

Botball is an educational program organized by the Norman, Oklahoma-based KISS Institute for Practical Robotics that emphasizes learning basic principles of engineering and computer programming through direct experience with working robots. KISS is a National Partner in Education of the NASA Robotics Education Project. USD’s Institute of College Initiatives and the USD Engineering Programs are co-sponsors of the event.

The University of San Diego is a Catholic institution of higher learning chartered in 1949; the school enrolls some 7,800 undergraduate and graduate students and is known for its commitment to teaching, the liberal arts, the formation of values and community service. The fall 2007 establishment of the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies brings the University\'s total number of schools and colleges to six. Other academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences and the schools of Business Administration, Leadership and Education Sciences, Law and Nursing and Health Sciences.


About the University of San Diego

Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.