3m Dell NI Luminex IBM Houston Robotics Round Rock ISD

The BEST Competition

Since our club's humble beginnings we've been participating in the Capitol BEST (Boosting Engineering Science and Technology), an annual competition in which we're given a kit of parts to build a robot that completes a specific task. Unlike FIRST, the robot is only a fraction of what goes into the BEST competition. Teams are required to create a notebook which includes numerous essays and information about the robot, as well as how they applied science and engineering principals to get the job done. Outreach also plays a large role in the competition, and teams must explain how they have given back to their communities. The overall mission of BEST is to get kids motivated about engineering careers and show them what all is involved through annual competitions which apply engineering skills. We used to compete solely in the BEST competition, but we've branched out since into the more competitive FIRST competition. BEST is still a big deal for us, and it provides a great transition into the strenuous building schedule we maintain during FIRST. For newer members it is a great introduction to what we do, given the learning-friendly atmosphere and simplified robot design, and it gives us a great incentive to do many of the outreach projects and demonstrations we take part in. We plan on continuing to participate in this event in future years. Oh, and if you want to find us there, we'll be the school with the cardboard box robot costumes which we've become so famous for!