Volume 2019-06 / June 2019
Rocky Mountain BEST Volunteer Newsletter
Rocky Mountain BEST's 10th Year !
LOOKING BACK over the years ...
2012 Warp XX + 2013 Gatekeeper Games
2012 Warp XX Educational Theme: Space Elevator
Teams are tasked with relocating various cargo and equipment located around the ground and space areas of the space elevator system. The field consists of four ten-foot tall space elevators arranged in pairs with a beam across the top of each pair. Near each elevator assembly, there are items that can be either taken into space or brought back from space via the elevator. Halfway up the tower is a mark that defines where the Space Zone begins and the Ground Zone ends. Activities that are allowed in the different zones are described later.

The tower includes a rope which may be manually attached to the robot. At the start of the match, the robot must be in contact with the starting platform located at the base of the tower and must be able to fit within a 24x24x24-inch space that has no specific orientation relative to the field. A field-supplied safety cable must be used to tether the robot to the tower n the event of an unfortunate occurrence. There are no requirements regarding the use of the rope or the tower; the designers of the robots may choose how to use these items.
The cargo ship (attached to the rotating hula hoop) is used to transport cargo to and from the robot. The cargo ship is manipulated by the Spotter via the hoop-shaped handle.  The Spotter is also responsible for moving Cargo Balls between cargo ship and the spotter rack. 
2013 Gatekeeper Educational Theme: Logic Design / Semiconductor
Teams are tasked with building central processing units (CPUs) by collecting and converting components in three fabrication processes:
  1. Collecting and placing transistor containers to create electronic gate (AND, OR, NOT, NAND) circuits.
  2. Placing gate circuits in the correct combination into production to create integrated circuits (multiplexer, adder, decoder, data-latch).
  3. Placing the correct integrated circuits (ICs) into a template to create a CPU.
The electronic components are represented by various game pieces: Dowel rods represent transistor containers, hangers of different colors represent the gate circuits, and foam-board shapes represent the integrated circuits. Each of the fabrication processes is located in a distinct area of the game field. As components are fabricated, they are tracked (virtually) in software and are available as soon as they are fabricated and until they are consumed in creating a higher-level component. Although each team has its own virtual inventory, the field is always reset to the same configuration at the start of each match. There are no penalties for placing components that are not in a team’s inventory.
2019 OFF THE GRID Game - SCHEDULE

We will be bringing the OFF THE GRID game created by BEST Robotics Inc. and Texas Instruments to Colorado schools this fall.

PLEASE SAVE THE DATES.

GAME FIELD ACTIVITIES

Cut Day
  • Friday,19 July (tentative) Southeast Denver. No experience needed, help cut sheets and boards and other materials for the game fields. Power tool skills are helpful, but we also need help organizing the pieces into kits for different builders - stay 1 hour or up to ~8 hours
Game Field Components Build -
  • Mid-July - early September No experience needed. Builders needed to build one or more field pieces. We match the game field piece to each builder’s space, tools, and abilities..

TEAM SUMMER TRAINING

Teacher / Mentor Institute
  • Tuesday - Thursday 16-18 July @ Seventh Street Classroom Building MSU Denver
Electronics Workshop (IR Sensor) -
  • 3 August @ Seventh Street Classroom Building MSU Denver

Email me at Linda.King@bestinc.org to get more information on these summer volunteer activities
OFF THE GRID FALL COMPETITION

Kickoff Event
  • Saturday 14 September
  • STRIVE Prep - RISE 18250 E 51st Ave, Denver, CO 
Practice Day Event
  • Saturday 19 October
  • STRIVE Prep - RISE 18250 E 51st Ave, Denver, CO 
Game Day Event
  • Saturday 26 October 
  • Auraria Event Center Downtown Denver

DENVER BEST Regional Championship 
  • Currently discussing approach for Saturday/Sunday 7/8 December
  • Crowne Plaza Denver Airport Convention Center @ 15500 E 40th Ave, Denver
We continue to sign up schools for our 2019 competition events.

Please ask interested teachers to contact us to signup to compete in the fall competition.

A school needs to be signed up to compete in our 2019 competition for teachers and students to participate in summer training.

Signed Up School / District

  1. Abraham Lincoln HS / Denver
  2. Aurora Frontier P-8 / Aurora
  3. Bishop Machebeuf HS / Archdiocese of Denver
  4. DSST: Byers / Denver
  5. New Vista High School / Boulder Valley
  6. Pinnacle Charter High School * / Charter School Institute
  7. Skyline High School / St. Vrain Valley
  8. STRIVE Prep – RISE / Denver
  9. Valley High School * / Weld County
*Rookie Team
2019 bESTology 12 Postings Completed
bESTology is a resource for schools (teams) participating in the nationwide BEST Robotics Program to learn educational and workforce development concepts revolving around the 2019 game – OFF THE GRID! bESTology Link

Final 3 Postings

Saturday, 28 September 2019, at East High School in Denver, Colorado

2019 Outreach with Energy Day Colorado Festival
Rocky Mountain BEST is planning to participate in the third annual Energy Day Colorado Festival as one of our outreach events.

Please save the date for this FREE, family festival designed to promote and encourage excitement and interest in energy, environment, sustainability, science, robotics, technology, engineering & mathematics to inspire students into STEM studies. 
Other Ways to Participate by Donating
Donations 
You can donate ANYTIME at  Rocky Mountain BEST at ColoradoGives.org
Benevity
If  your company has gift matching through Benevity, Rocky Mountain BEST is one of the eligible non-profit organizations. Please check with your company about gift matching! Thank you for the $1350 donation in 2018.
King Soopers Loyalty Card
Use your King Soopers Loyalty Card or Kroger Plus Card account to assign Rocky Mountain BEST as your non-profit for us to receive quarterly Kroger Community Rewards. (NOT "Rocky Mountain Robotics")
The payout is more than $2.5 million each quarter. Rocky Mtn BEST will receive the percentage of spending when compared to all others enrolled.
Amazon Smile
Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Rocky Mountain BEST whenever you shop on AmazonSmile.
Amazon Smile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same service.
Visit our Amazon Smile Sign In Page Thank you, your spending helped us raise a record $79 in the final quarter of 2018.
Wondering what to do with your used car or truck? 
Donating your old vehicle to ROCKY MOUNTAIN BEST is convenient, easy, and may qualify you for a tax deduction. And best of all, your donation of a used car or truck will make a big difference in supporting ROCKY MOUNTAIN BEST.
Why not donate your vehicle today? All you need to do is to complete our SIMPLE ONLINE FORM or call 1-866-628-2277 and we'll take care of the rest. We will pick up your vehicle, arrange to have your donation towed, and provide you with a tax-deductible receipt, all at no charge to you. 
Build a robot in six weeks;
inspire a youth for a lifetime
THANK YOU for making it possible!