When I went off to college and I stated to people I was on a robotics team everyone normally assumed I was on a BEST robotics team. I am not familiar with this group. All I know is that they basically do what we do here in FIRST.
So I wanna know your guys opinions of BEST. Lets hear them.
BEST is a good program, but is not as big as FIRST. The missions are similar, to get students interested in Science and Engineering. BEST robots are similar in size and complexity to FTC bots, teams are also required to keep an engineering notebook like they are in FTC.
I think that best is a good lower cost competition. I don’t think it competes with FIRST directly (different build seasons?). Ultimately the two programs have the same goal, any success one has will help the other.
I believe there is some overlap in teams, it might be worth posting somewhere other than Chit Chat if you want more info but don’t get many responses here.
There is a press release about BEST’s use of VEXNet here: http://www.vexrobotics.com/news/
The article also contains a little background info about BEST.
we compete on a BEST robotics team as well as in FIRST
In BEST you are given a kit of wood,pvc,and other random things and you must complete a challenge that relates to a problem that engineers are trying to solve in the real world. The challenges are usually intricate and involve a lot more strategy than just a good robot. Some years its better to not score some in order to get a higher overall score. the BEST season goes from mid september to late december depending on how far you get in the competition but most of the higher level competitions are in texas so its not very accessible to northern based teams. Our team has been doing very well stacking BEST and FIRST and we enjoy both competitions.
FIRST: Sport type challenge to interest everyone
BEST: Engineering type challenge to interest engineers