BEST Robotics
BEST Robotics (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) is a middle and high school robotics competition whose mission is to engage and excite students about engineering, science, and technology as well as inspire them to pursue careers in these fields.
Through participation in this project-based STEM program, students learn to analyze and solve problems utilizing the Engineering Design Process, which helps them develop technological literacy skills. It is these skills that industry seeks in its workforce.
Each fall, over 850 middle and high schools and over 18,000 students participate in the competition.
The idea for a BEST competition originated in 1993 when two Texas Instruments (TI) engineers, Ted Mahler and Steve Marum, were serving as guides for Engineering Day at their company. Together with a group of high school students, they watched a video of freshmen building a robot in Woodie Flowers' class at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The high school students were so interested that Ted and Steve said, "Why don't we do this?" With enthusiastic approval from TI management, North Texas BEST was born. The first competition was held in 1993 with 14 schools and 221 students.
Through participation in this project-based STEM program, students learn to analyze and solve problems utilizing the Engineering Design Process, which helps them develop technological literacy skills. It is these skills that industry seeks in its workforce.
Each fall, over 850 middle and high schools and over 18,000 students participate in the competition.
The idea for a BEST competition originated in 1993 when two Texas Instruments (TI) engineers, Ted Mahler and Steve Marum, were serving as guides for Engineering Day at their company. Together with a group of high school students, they watched a video of freshmen building a robot in Woodie Flowers' class at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The high school students were so interested that Ted and Steve said, "Why don't we do this?" With enthusiastic approval from TI management, North Texas BEST was born. The first competition was held in 1993 with 14 schools and 221 students.
Interested in starting your own public, private or homeschool team?
Promotions
This season, ARCHER has visited students, presented to local business leaders, and interviewed firefighters to inform the people about BEST. At these presentations, we educated our audience about different robotics opportunities and the benefits of the program.
On September 15th, we presented to Beacon Homeschool Co-op with the goal of communicating how educational and enjoyable the BEST program has been for us. We decided to introduce the information to teens who would be interested in starting their own team. We shared basic information about BEST and our team to the group and made it clear that the program is not only about the building and programming of a robot, but also has a marketing component. During our time with them, we made a point to explain that anyone even remotely interested in joining can be a beneficial member of the team. After our presentation, students were able to drive one of our programmed robots.
Later that week, we presented to some local business owners at our meeting space. During that time, we gave our potential sponsors information about the BEST organization and our team. We informed them about the different parts of the competition such as engineering, marketing, and spirit and sportsmanship. After listening to us talk, they were able to ask questions about our team, robot, and BEST in general. As a result of this networking meeting, we were able to secure donations from two additional sponsors.
This season, ARCHER has visited students, presented to local business leaders, and interviewed firefighters to inform the people about BEST. At these presentations, we educated our audience about different robotics opportunities and the benefits of the program.
On September 15th, we presented to Beacon Homeschool Co-op with the goal of communicating how educational and enjoyable the BEST program has been for us. We decided to introduce the information to teens who would be interested in starting their own team. We shared basic information about BEST and our team to the group and made it clear that the program is not only about the building and programming of a robot, but also has a marketing component. During our time with them, we made a point to explain that anyone even remotely interested in joining can be a beneficial member of the team. After our presentation, students were able to drive one of our programmed robots.
Later that week, we presented to some local business owners at our meeting space. During that time, we gave our potential sponsors information about the BEST organization and our team. We informed them about the different parts of the competition such as engineering, marketing, and spirit and sportsmanship. After listening to us talk, they were able to ask questions about our team, robot, and BEST in general. As a result of this networking meeting, we were able to secure donations from two additional sponsors.