SATURDAY: High-School Kids Battle Their Bots in UC s Fifth-Annual Bearcat BEST Competition

Each year, the Bearcat BEST Robotics Competition hosts teams of junior- and senior-high students who spend six weeks designing and constructing their robots from pre-packaged kits of materials, provided to them by the University of Cincinnati. Each year’s robots differ, based on the scenario provided by BEST Robotics, Inc. And here’s this year’s challenge:
 
After taking a year off to solve the laundry quandary, BEST Robotics, Inc. (BRI) returns to space! In 2007, the Mars Rovers — Opportunity and Spirit — began their fourth year of searching for signs of life on Mars. In 2021, a Martian base has been assembled using construction robots and is now receiving supplies before the arrival of astronauts. Automated Supply Vehicles (ASVs) land at the Martian base and must be unloaded using robots. Because of the harsh environment on the Martian surface (temperatures can reach as low as -155 °F), the robots have three minutes to perform the following tasks:

• Exit the base and drive across the Martian surface.
• Drive up onto the ASV and load supplies. 
• Drive off the ASV and store the supplies in a storage bin at the Martian base.

The exits on the Martian base dictate that robots must be within certain size and weight constraints.

NASA issued a request for proposals for robots to unload the supply ships. BRI has submitted a proposal and won the contract to provide robots for unloading ASVs!

At the Sept. 8 kick-off, UC provided all materials — boxes containing nuts, bolts, wheels, motor parts and other sundry useful items — to the competing schools, through generous sponsorship of the Goodrich Corporation. This is the second consecutive year that Goodrich has helped provide the materials to all competing teams.

In September, the teachers and students heard this year’s scenario for the first time. The teams were then given six weeks to design and test their robots. Mentors from UC and area professionals teamed up with the schools to provide guidance and answer questions, but the students themselves had to design and construct the robots.

On Mall Day, held at UC on Oct. 13, the teams got to see the actual game floor for the first time. Then they had a week to tweak their designs before the big event. The competition culminates Saturday with a day-long, sports-like competition on Game Day, from which the winners advance to the BEST regionals at Auburn, Ala.

Hundreds of high-schoolers from Ohio, Indiana and Michigan convene in Cincinnati on Game Day to see whose robot is the BEST.

“When we first began in 2003 we started off hosting seven teams,” says Anant Kukreti, UC’s associate dean for engineering educational research in the College of Engineering. “And this year we have grown to 18 teams competing, with nine teams that had to be put on the waiting list, because financial resources and space availability this year restricted us to not be able to accommodate everyone who responded.”

Each year the rules for the competition are different and they are released to the teams on the same day nationally. Thus, the teams have only five weeks to build, test and enter into the competition on the Game Day. This is a daunting task.

Besides participating in the BEST Robot competition on the floor on the Game Day, each team can also participate in two of the following additional categories: 1) BEST Poster Display showcasing the building of their robot; and 2) BEST T-Shirt Design.

“We have sent up to four teams to Auburn, Ala., to compete against at least 33 other hubs in the South’s BEST Regional Competition,” says Kukreti.
 
BEST’s mission is to use exciting, sports-like technology competition to encourage students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM). BEST’s goals are to

1. Help students understand technical concepts and principles.
2. Provide students with fun, real world engineering and team-building experiences.
3. Inspire and encourage abstract thought, self-directed learning and decision making by students.
4. Provide mentoring from volunteer professionals, UC students and UC faculty.
5. Promote good sportsmanship and ethical conduct.

Julie Burdick, director of preadmissions for UC's College of Engineering, says that the technical merits of the BEST competition include helping students use their math and science skills to solve real-world problems.

“They learn how to use teamwork for problem solving and also become familiar with different engineering disciplines,” she adds. And she hopes that when it’s time for these students to think about college they’ll be giving her a call.

But even beyond getting students on campus, the broader results by participating in the BEST competition are that students learn how to identify and resolve mistakes and unexpected setbacks.

"Student experiences from working on teams provide insight into their fundamental strengths and weaknesses, which helps them choose an appropriate career path," says Ken Simonson, director of UC's Emerging Ethnic Engineers program.

This is the fifth year that the University of Cincinnati’s colleges of Applied Science and Engineering have collaborated to sponsor the competition locally, with the financial support of the Goodrich Corporation.

Game Day Schedule
8–9 a.m. Robot Check-In and School Display Set-Up at Duke Energy Center, Downtown Cincinnati (open and free to the public)
9 a.m. — Welcome
10 a.m. – 4 p.m. — Competition
4 – 5 p.m. — Awards
 

Awards will be given in the following categories:
Table Display
Spirit And Sportsmanship
T-Shirt Design
Most Robust
Most Creative Design
Most Photogenic Machine
Most Elegant Machine
Game Award
BEST Award

About BEST Robotics, Inc.
BEST is the acronym for Boosting Engineering Science and Technology, a non-profit, volunteer organization whose goals include increasing the “pipeline” of future engineers, scientists and technical professionals. Each fall more than 8,000 students (representing more than 700 middle and high schools) participate nation-wide.

About Goodrich Corporation
Goodrich Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, is a global supplier of systems and services to aerospace, defense and homeland security markets. With one of the most strategically diversified portfolios of products in the industry, Goodrich serves a global customer base with significant worldwide manufacturing and service facilities. Goodrich has not made or sold tires in more than a decade. Goodrich sold its interests in the tire business in 1988. MNA, Inc. now makes and sells BFGoodrich™ brand tires.

For more about past Bearcat BEST competitions, check out these related links:

They Came; They Saw; They Sorted Laundry! Bearcat BEST 2006 Results
Dozens of high-school students showed they weren’t afraid to wash their laundry in public at Saturday’s Bearcat BEST.

SATURDAY: UC’s 2006 Bearcat BEST Robotics Tasks Area High-School Students to Solve "Laundry Quandary"

Bearcat BEST Over the Years: Here's a look at the awards that UC has given out over the past few years of hosting Bearcat BEST.

SATURDAY: Area Schools’ Future Engineers and Scientists Gather in the Armory Fieldhouse on UC’s Uptown Campus — To Talk Laundry??
The fourth annual Bearcat BEST kicks off this Saturday, Sept. 9, with more than a dozen Tristate-area schools vying for the title of robot king of the laundry pile.

UC Holds Third-Annual Bearcat BEST Robotics Competition
Sixteen high-school teams put their BEST “feats” forward as robots go head to head in competition.

No Rodney or Ratchet, But Robots Rule!
The competition heats up as high-school teams come from as far away as Michigan to compete in UC’s Third-Annual Bearcat BEST Robotics Competition.