BEST ROBOTICS

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BEST ROBOTICS

BEST Robotics, Inc. is a non-profit, volunteer organization whose mission is to inspire middle through high school students to pursue careers in engineering, science and technology through participation in a sports-like, hands-on, real-world engineering-based robotics competition. BEST was started by a couple engineers from Texas Instruments in 1993. The BEST website is http://www.bestinc.org . An overview video is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHZxq7BFDEk . A video of the 2011 Wolverine BEST competition is avaiable here

Game Day

Thanks to all for another great event. All the teams competed well and the house was rocking! Thanks to the over 80 volunteers who judged, refereed and generally made things flow smoothly. A special thanks to Martin Luther King and Overbrook for driving all the way from Philadelphia! This year's winners are:

1st place BEST award - Cornerstone Christian Prep

2nd place BEST award - Mercer High School

3rd place BEST award - Dubois Area High School

1st place Robot Game - Cornerstone Christian Prep

2nd place Robot Game (tie) - FINS and Mercer High School

4th place Robot Game - Dubois Area High School

Founders Award for Innovative Design - Dubois Area High School

Most Robust Robot (tie) - Clarion Area High School and Harbor Creek High School

BEST Middle School - St. Philip School

1st place Engineering Notebook - Dubois Area High School

BEST Marketing Presentation - Cornerstone Christian Prep

BEST Team Exhibit - Mercer High School

BEST Spirit & Sportsmanship - Cornerstone Christian Prep

Game Day pictures are here. Robot pictures are here. There are videos of a seeding round, a final round and part of the flash dance. Finally, here is a blog post from one of our mentors.

21 teams participated this year: Clarion Area High School, Cornerstone Christian Preparatory Academy, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, Eden Christian Academy, DuBois Area High School, Family Instructors of the North Suburbs, Glenoak High School, Grove City High School, Harbor Creek High School, Hickory High School, Jamestown High School, Lakeview High School, Martin Luther King Promise Academy, Mercer High School, Overbrook High School, Punxsutawney High School, Ridgeway High School, Saegertown High School, Slippery Rock Middle School, St. Philip School and West Middlesex High School.

Sponsors

The Wolverine BEST competition is offered to schools at no cost to the school. Grove City College sponsors the venues and provides much of the people power to make this happen. Materials to build the robots, materials to build the fields and operational costs are provided through the generous support of the sponsors. The 2012 sponsors are:

Premier Sponsor - ANSYS, Inc.

Diamond Sponsor - Grable Foundation

Platinum Sponsor - Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc.

We want to acknowledge national sponsors of BEST Robotics - Texas Instruments, MathWorks, Vex, Igus, SolidWorks, HSMWorks,Intelitek, Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy and InspirTech.