The Kent State Robotics team is hosting four other schools for a scrimmage at 10 a.m. on Saturday to practice for an upcoming competition at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Fifty schools participate in the yearly NASA Robotic Mining Competition, including Kent State. The team placed seventh last year, according to Sarah Rosenbaum, a sophomore German literature, culture and translation major as well as part of the 15-member robotics team. 

Rosenbaum said that each team will create a robot to dig and move 10 kilograms of rocky material in environments made to simulate those found on Mars.

The scrimmage will be judged by representatives from Cleveland’s Glenn Research Center, Rosenbaum said. The judges will give feedback to the teams representing Kent State, Iowa State University, Virginia Tech, Case Western Reserve and the University of Akron.

Spectators can support the Kent State Robotics team by watching the livestream of the event from the Governance Chambers on the second floor of the Student Center, starting at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Ariel Reid is a sciences reporter for The Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected]