The 18th Annual Kansas BEST robotics competition, designed to inspire and motivate high school students toward careers in engineering, science and technology, will be held from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, in Charles Koch Arena on the campus of Wichita State University.

Thirty-one schools from all areas of Kansas and one from Missouri will compete in the Kansas BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) event. The sports-like technology contest combines the excitement of a high school football game with the strategy of a chess match and the intellectual challenge of a science fair.

This year's game, "Bet the Farm," was conceived and developed by the Kansas BEST hub and is being used for the competition nationwide. The teams will design and build a robot to perform farming operations. A robot can score points by planting corn seeds, harvesting ripe corn, harvesting hydroponic tomatoes and lettuce, corralling loose pigs and turning on and off an irrigation system.

Working from identical kits, each team has six weeks to design and build their robot.

The 2016 game includes an additional competition for the BEST Award, which goes to the team that best embodies the concept of boosting engineering, science and technology.

Wichita City Council member Pete Meitzner will present a proclamation on game day, proclaiming Oct. 22 as Kansas BEST Day in the city of Wichita.

Students will give their robots a trial run on practice day from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at Wichita State's Heskett Center.

Kansas BEST is sponsored by WSU’s College of Engineering.

Major sponsors are Cargill, Great Plains Ventures, Spirit AeroSystems, Textron Aviation and Verizon.

Winners of Kansas BEST 2016 will travel to Fort Smith, Arkansas, to compete in the Frontier Trails Regional Competition hosted by the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith at the Fort Smith Convention Center Friday and Saturday, Dec. 2-3.

For more information, visit the Kansas BEST website at www.wichita.edu/kansasbest.

Following is the list of 31 teams competing this year:

• Andale High School, Andover, Kansas
• Atchison High School, Atchison, Kansas
• Augusta High School, Augusta, Kansas
• Bishop Carroll Catholic High School, Wichita, Kansas
• Bluestem High School, Leon, Kansas
• Campus High School, Haysville, Kansas
• Circle High School, Towanda, Kansas
• Council Grove High School, Council Grove, Kansas
• Derby High School, Derby, Kansas
• El Dorado High School, El Dorado, Kansas
• Fort Scott High School, Fort Scott, Kansas
• Garden City High School, Garden City, Kansas
• Homeschool of Johnson County, Olathe, Kansas
• Kansas City Christian School, Kansas City, Kansas
• Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School, Wichita, Kansas
• Norwich School, Norwich, Kansas
• Philadelphia Christian Academy, Park City, Kansas
• Pike Valley High School, Scandia, Kansas
• Riverbend International School, Atchison, Kansas
• Rock Creek High School, St. George, Kansas
• Rose Hill High School, Rose Hill, Kansas
• Salina South High School, Salina, Kansas
• Solomon High School, Solomon, Kansas
• St. John’s Military School, Salina, Kansas
• Valley Center High School, Valley Center, Kansas
• Washburn Rural High School, Topeka, Kansas
• West Franklin High School, Pomona, Kansas
• Wichita Collegiate Upper School, Wichita, Kansas
• Wichita Southeast High School, Wichita, Kansas
• Wichita Homeschool, Wichita, Kansas
• Windsor High School, Windsor, Missouri