San Antonio BEST Overview Terry Grimley SA BEST Executive Director/Volunteer Principal Engineer Southwest Research Institute

What is BEST? BEST stands for Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology. BEST is a program designed to foster interest in engineering and other technical areas by showing students that science can be fun. Teams are given a task, materials and 6- weeks to complete the design, construction and testing of a radio-controlled robot.

BEST History BEST was started in 1993 by two Texas Instruments engineers in Sherman, TX – they formed North Texas (NT) BEST. San Antonio BEST became the second hub when it was founded in The top teams from SA BEST and NT BEST met for the first Texas BEST competition in The BEST organization (Best Robotics Inc.) currently consists of 19 hubs in 8 states (11 hubs in Texas). Approximately 475 teams, and about 7000 students will participate in 2002.

BEST Principles Students do the work. Adult coaches/mentors are part of the team, but must be careful to allow the students to make the decisions and build the machine. Any student can participate. Students with a wide range of academic skills and interests can all contribute to the team. Teams compete at no cost. There is no entrance fee to participate. BEST provides the materials; teams provide facilities and other organizational support.

Mentors SA BEST actively recruits mentors for all areas of the city, but cannot guarantee mentors. Mentors do not have to be engineers or other technical professionals. Teams should attempt to recruit interested parents to help with the program.

Two Aspects of the Program Robot Competition – playing the game. BEST Award Competition –Notebook that documents: 1.Use of the engineering process 2.BEST concept promotion 3.Community and school involvement 4.Use of technology – Competition day evaluation: 1.Sportsmanship 2.Interviews 3.Spirit 4.Non-paper documentation

BEST Kickoff BEST starts with a “kickoff” where teams receive materials and rules of the game they will play 6-weeks after the kickoff. The game field is set up to give the students a chance to examine the field and the game is demonstrated. The game changes each year. Information on past games is available on the SA BEST web site.

Robot Materials Teams receive a “return” kit and an “expendable” kit. –The return kit consists of radio control equipment – a transmitter, receiver, servos, speed controllers, motors, etc. –The expendable kit contains raw materials to be used in construction of the robot – wood, PVC pipe, screws, metal, hinges, etc. Machines can only be built from materials provided (and on the materials list).

Competition Day All day long event. Free to the public. Teams are encouraged to bring Bands, Cheerleaders, Mascots, etc to add to the sports-like atmosphere. All teams play multiple matches (at least 8 matches in 2002) in a seeding competition. The top seeded teams play in a round- robin tournament to determine the winner.

Regional Competition The top BEST Award team(s) and the top team(s) from the competition advance to a regional competition that is held about 4-weeks after the hub competitions. Currently, there is only one regional competition, although more are anticipated in the future. Texas BEST is held at, and partially sponsored by, Texas A&M. A total of 50 teams compete at Texas BEST. The number of teams advancing from each hub varies from year to year. SA BEST sent four teams in 2001.

Other Events Demo Day: held roughly one week prior to the competition. It gives teams a chance to test their machines on the actual field and compete against other teams. Practice Days: open practice time on the game field is normally available during the week preceding the competition. Machine Check-in: held the night before the competition. Machines are checked for rules compliance. Illegal machines must be modified in order to compete.

Team Expectations The team organization should: –Provide a place to work: usually classroom space initially for planning and then shop space when the building starts. –Provide supervision: two teachers are suggested to share the load. –Provide transportation to events. –Expect to meet 2-3 (or more) times per week for 6 weeks, to design, build and test the robot. –Attend kickoff, demo day, machine check-in and the competition. –Take care of the “return” kit and return it at the end of the program.

Preparing for BEST Secure shop use and material storage space. Teams should meet prior to the kickoff. Pre-kickoff activities: –Organize students, put structure in place. –Train students to work in the shop safely. –Train students on proper use and capabilities of tools. –Simple teambuilding activities (e.g. building a mousetrap-powered car).