Seven universities are training for a very different type of basketball tournament this March.
A robotics team from the University of Minnesota will square off against a half-dozen other teams of engineering students from across the country in a live, high-stakes game of H-O-R-S-E hosted by Land O' Lakes.
Other participating schools include the University of Florida, Iowa State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Purdue University, South Dakota State University and North Carolina A&T.
The competition, called Bot Shot, was born out of Land O' Lakes' desire to educate consumers about the technological advancements and automation used in modern agriculture.
Bot Shot participants are tasked with designing and building a robot to compete in a series of basketball shooting drills. The teams will compete for a $10,000 grand prize and a chance to face off with NBA legend David Robinson in a final shoot-out in Minneapolis on April 7.
"My passion is to help provide educational programming for young people, and Land O' Lakes Bot Shot is a unique way to raise awareness for STEM learning and careers in agriculture," Robinson said in a statement. "I'm excited to see the creativity of the teams and performance of their robots and hopefully make a few shots myself."
This is far from the first time that a robot has found its way onto the basketball court. Last year, Toyota-developed bot called CUE managed to sink a series of 10 free throws with 100 percent accuracy. That's better than the NBA average of 77 percent, and even better than the record of Stephen Curry, whose 90.3 percent career average is among the top active players in the NBA.
The competition begins this month with a virtual qualifying round when each team's robot will need to compete in a series of basketball skills. Judges will select four finalists to compete in the Minneapolis championship in April.
