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To inspire and interest students in engineering, science, and technology through participation in an exciting sports-like technology contest.

Our Goals

• Help students understand technical concepts and principles.
• Provide a real-world engineering challenge that includes limited time and resources.
• Offer an academic experience that encourages abstract thought, self-directed learning, and decision-making.
• Provide mentoring for students by accomplished professionals from the business, industry, and academic sectors.
• Provide team-building experience.
• Promote good sportsmanship and ethical conduct within a competitive environment.
• Encourage students to think about the complete business process (such as marketing and packaging).

How It Works and What It's All About

The BEST competition challenges students to build a remote-controlled robot that accomplishes a defined task within a competitive setting. Using only the materials provided, students have six weeks to design, develop, and test a robot that can outperform their competition. During this time, the students experience the same problems, challenges, and breakthroughs that an engineering team encounters when it takes a product to market.

The weeks of hard work culminate in a thrilling day-long competition where teams go head-to-head to achieve BEST performance. The inspiring event combines the excitement of a high school football game with the strategy of a chess match and the intellectual challenges of a science fair. Top-placing teams from Brazos BEST and other local contest sites advance to the Texas BEST Championship in early December at Texas Tech University.

The heart of BEST is the experience of solving a seemingly overwhelming task using basic engineering methods and old-fashioned teamwork. Thanks to this experience, students who participate in BEST are better prepared to meet the challenges of the Technology Age.

BEST Hub Timeline Every Year

The BEST competition occurs during the fall, but Brazos BEST and other BEST hubs operate on a year-round schedule.

• Fund-raising: Ongoing
• Ordering Kit Supplies: March to April
• Developing Prototypes: June to July
• All Functions: August to November
• Kickoff: Early September
• Practice Day: Mid October
• Game Day: Late October
• Texas BEST Championship: Early December

During the six week period between kickoff and competition day in the fall, teams can expect the following time expenditures:

Kickoff

Kickoff is the starting day of the competition process. Teams gather at a central location to hear about the game task and rules (held secret until this day), and receive the same kits of odd parts to use in building their robots.

Practice Day

Five weeks after the kickoff, teams at each local site have an opportunity to test their robots on the playing field in a mock competition.

Competition Day

Six weeks after the kickoff, teams compete in local contests for awards. Top-placing teams advance to the Texas BEST Championship a few weeks later at Texas Tech University.

It takes a lot of people to make this organization work.

What role could you play?

As a Volunteer:

• BEST Board of Directors
• Recording Secretary
• Financial Committee
• Fund-raising
• Bookkeeping
• People Relations Committee
• School Coordinator
• Mentor Coordinator
• Mentor
• Kit Committee
• Kit Procurement
• Kit Assembly
• Kit Official at Game
• Game Committee
• Game Committee Chairman
• Field Development Team
• Prototype Development Team
• Awards Judge
• Referee
• Pit Boss
• Scoring
• Floor Boss
• Master of Ceremonies
• Publicity Committee
• Hub Identity Development
• Web Page Development
• Media Coverage
• Publications
• Event Committee
• Coordination of Three Key Events: Kickoff, Practice Day, and Competition Day

As a Hub Sponsor:

Several categories of support are available in supporting a local hub organization. Because a key tenet of BEST is for schools to participate at low cost, funding needs for our HUB range from an absolute minimum of $10K upward.  In order to implement our ideal plan, we need about $30K in cash and in-kind donations.

As a Team Coach:

The role of a coach is to mentor, guide, and motivate students. A coach does not take over the process, force ideas, or build the robot.

BEST Games from the Past:

1993 PVC Insanity
Task: Take a short piece of PVC pipe from the edges of the playing field and place it on a goal in the center of the field. Scoring was determined by the placement of the pieces on the goal.

1994 Bumble Rumble
Task: Gather bumble balls and place them into a scoring area. Each team had a high and low scoring area. The high scoring area was elevated and slanted so that if bumble balls were left unattended, they would bumble out.

1995 TOTALly aweSUM
Task: Gather long, tubular, foam noodles and place them in the positive area or in the opponents negative scoring area. The team with the most positive scores was the winner.

1996 Block-N-Load
Task: Score points by capturing squares on the playing field. A square was captured by placing game pieces in it.

1997 Dynamite Duel
Task: Remove sticks of dynamite from an abandoned mine field by placing them into an explosive-proof bucket at the top of the mine. The amount of dynamite was measured by mass and not by the number of sticks.

1998 Toxic Troubles
Task: Pick up garbage and place it in or below a collection containment vessel. Points were also scored by returning the special game piece to the spotter who then placed it on the machine.

1999 Alien Escape
Task: Help aliens escape from a dying planet. Robots captured and moved alien pods (fuzzy balls) or multiplier game pieces onto the field rocket or other scoring locations on the floor.

2000 Pandemonium in the Smithsonian
Task: Enter the Smithsonian to retrieve technical artifacts, reset fire alarm switches, and return to a safe location. Drivers had to rely on their spotters to see the game floor.

2001 RAD to the Core
Task: Save an overheating Nuclear Power Plant by removing fuel rods from the reactor.

2002 Warp X
Task: In celebration of BEST's 10th anniversary.  Build a robot that will traverse the rotating black hole and rescue game pieces from all the previous 10 years of BEST games.

2003 Transfusion Confusion
Task: Safely transport as many blood cells as possible into your Cell Saver used for blood transfusions.  Eliminating the diseased cells is a plus.

2004 BEST Fever
Task: Squeaky has the genetic disorder "BEST Fever".  Your robot (Polymerizing Enzyme) is to enter his cells, denature the DNA and use the Primers to resequence his DNA.

2005 Mission to Hubble
Task: The Hubble space telescope is an invaluable tool for astronomical research, yet the challenges with the shuttle program causes NASA to seek robotic solutions to performing routine maintenance.  Robots are flown into place by the shuttle arm where they extract old batteries and gyros and insert new ones.

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General Dates to Remember for a Season
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Brazos BEST Kickoff
Early September
A&M Consolidated High School

Brazos BEST Practice Day
5 weeks after kickoff
Post Oak Mall

Brazos BEST Competition Day
6 weeks after kickoff
A&M Consolidated High School

Texas BEST Championship
Beginning of December 
Texas Tech University

Email us at info@brazosbest.org for more information on how you can volunteer your time!

About Brazos BEST

Its no secret that science, engineering and technology will define the future of the modern world. Unfortunately, survey after survey of Americas youth confirms the U.S. is falling behind in these fields. For America to maintain its status as a world leader in the 21st Century, our next generation must be excited by engineering, science, and technology.

Brazos BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) is a group of professionals in the Brazos Valley whose goal is to inspire and motivate students towards careers in engineering, science and technology through participation in a sports-like technology contest. Student teams from local high schools are assisted by community leaders to design and build a remote-controlled robot that accomplishes a defined task in an exciting and competitive setting. If you could combine Texas football with a science fair, the result would be Brazos BEST!

It is inspiring to know that so many adults are interested in investing their time and resources to train future leaders for our nation. Brazos Valley community involvement remains high from year to year.

Texas A&M University Staff: 10
Texas A&M University Students: 15-45
High School Administrators: 40
Community Organizers/Participants: 75
Student Participants: *400+
(20-24 schools)
*School Participation includes students at all grade levels.

Simulating a Real World Environment: The BEST robotics competition simulates a real world business and engineering environment.

Time Period: The game is limited to a six-week period, to simulate a product time-to-market constraint.

Resources: Each team receives an identical kit of odd parts, fasteners, materials, and radio controllers. In the real world, a product must be built within budget. In the game world, the machine can only be built with kit parts.

Specifications: Game objectives change each year and each team receives a detailed description of the new competition and machine specifications during the BEST kickoff meeting. In the real world, a new product must meet customer requirements. In the game world, the machine must meet size and weight requirements while accomplishing the game objectives.

Mentoring and Training: Each team receives training and coaching from technical professionals. In the real world, a company may hire a consultant. In the game world, the student teams may receive guidance from experts but are ultimately responsible for the planning and production of the machine.

Interested in Becoming Involved? Anyone can help Brazos BEST reach more students: Support the students as a spectator at the competition. Be a sponsor and provide financial resources of in-kind services. Volunteer to serve on the organizing committee, coach one of the school teams, or help at one of the three-day events.