Hamilton Southeastern High School won third place at the Lipscomb/Nissan Music City BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) Robotics Competition held Nov. 2 at Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena, and the team will advance to the South’s BEST Robotics Competition at Auburn in December.
The team also won first place in the Competition Awards and Best Marketing Presentation. Nearly 400 middle and high school students from Middle Tennessee participated in the national robotics competition that allows students to apply the math, science and technology they learn in the classroom to the design and construction of their robot through teamwork and real-life problem solving.
Nearly 400 middle and high school students participated in the national robotics competition, sponsored by the Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering, that allows students to apply the math, science and technology they learn in the classroom to the design and construction of their robot through teamwork and real-life problem solving.
This year, 14 schools participated in the BEST competition. Over the past six weeks, students designed and built robots to carry out a specific task. The 2019 BEST theme was “Off the Grid.” Students imagined a world where the national power grid has been destroyed, debris litters the ground and robots are needed to clean up the litter and repair the equipment.
The students, a new generation of “power linemen,” acted as pilots of the robots, directing them to load “payloads and equipment” to be installed on “the grid.” The BEST pilot/robot teams work together to rebuild the local power grid by reinstalling power lines, picking up debris and installing power transformers in residential neighborhoods and at the substations.
The massive game field was spread out over the majority of the arena floor. Cheerleaders, mascots, pep bands, and up to 2,000 friends and family members cheered on the competitors. The public was also invited to watch the competition. Many schools set up colorful, interactive display booths exploring timely engineering themes.
“Walking into a BEST Robotics competition, you first see the game field featured on a stage with four teams competing at once with their teammates and all the parents and mentors cheering them on like any other sports event,” says Mary Metelko, Lipscomb’s Music City BEST hub director. “All this excitement and energy to celebrate and enjoy their engineering achievements! As an engineer myself, it is fantastic to see young engineers in the making.”
About the BEST Program
BEST robotics is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization whose mission is to inspire students to pursue careers in engineering, science and technology through participation in a sports-like, science and engineering-based robotics competition. It began in 1993 with 14 schools and 221 students, and today it has over 850 middle and high schools with over 18,000 students participating.
In addition to the robot contest, teams compete for the best engineering project notebook, marketing presentation, team exhibit and interviews, as well as spirit and sportsmanship. Only three teams will move on to the regional competition in December at Auburn University.