Organization and BEST Robotics

[JaneYoung]

Thank you for your kind words, Paul.

Garrett is right, BEST isn't easy but man, is it fun!

[blankgw]

I am the Executive Director of BEST Middle and High School Robotics (www.bestinc.org), a free program for schools. We license our game to organizations, colleges/universities - any group that is willing to start and sustain a "hub" (local competition site). BEST is a fall competition and many BEST schools also do FIRST - but we've never polled our 750-plus participating schools to get a count. We welcome FIRST schools/teams to participate in BEST - they can then have a year-round robotics program!

This fall we have 33 hubs in 13 states. Our long-term goal is to grow BEST across the country, particularly in communities where schools cannot afford to compete in FIRST.

George Blanks
Director of K-12 Engineering Outreach
Ginn College of Engineering
Auburn University (AL)

[xitaqua]

tanguma26,

You are right BEST Robotics is good to get teams warmed up, I have also found out that it is a good platform to teach adult mentors since you can have more employees engaged by having multiple small teams instead of one big team working on robots.

This year we have 3 teams of employees working on 3 robots, aproximatlly 15+ employees learning how to work tools such as a jigsaw to make a robot wheel.....

We had our first demo at the community a week ago :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFBIQFdsQ2M

[JaneYoung]

I've always hoped to see more teams get involved in both programs. They each provide excellent opportunities. One point that I would stress is that BEST is not FIRST and FIRST is not BEST. That would need to be fully understood and respected by teams that participate in each program.

Further thought - many teams that only compete in FRC, spend time organizing and jelling as a team during the FRC build/competition season. Competing in BEST helps with that in some ways. Not all of our students participate in BEST and not all of our students participate in FIRST, but enough do to help us identify what we need to work on and tweak as we move into the FRC season. Also, over time, we have developed into a team that is year round - spending our off season from BEST and FIRST on fundraising, outreach, and working on team organization/management. What we have to watch for is burnout. For LASA Robotics, both competitions demand the best the team has to offer in several areas, not just the robot competition. Constantly working to improve and develop is challenging, exciting, and draining. So, we watch for that and try to keep everything in perspective, setting realistic goals. Dream big yet have a respect for reality - finding that balance.

Jane