RM BEST Teacher / Mentor Newsletter 6
2019 OFF THE GRID Game
Late August 2019
We're Excited to have you in the 10th Rocky Mountain BEST Robotics Competition
OFF THE GRID FALL COMPETITION
  • Kickoff - 14 September @ STRIVE Prep - RISE - teacher registration noon, event start 1 PM, event end ~4:30 PM.
  • Practice Day - 19 October @ STRIVE Prep - RISE - activities start 9 AM, practice time starts 10 AM, event end 3 PM.
  • Game Day - 26 October @ Auraria Event Center MSU-Denver - teacher registration starts 7:30 AM, activities start 8 AM, opening ceremony at 9:45 AM, event end 5 PM.
  • DENVER BEST Regional Championship 7/8 December @ Crowne Plaza Denver Airport Event Center
2019 BEST Logo
Additional schools interested in competing with RM BEST, may still Signup via this link . Your school will be added to our Wait List and will be notified if enough room is made with change in plans by the first 29 schools.
2019 RM BEST Hub Teams
  1. 5280 High School*
  2. Abraham Lincoln HS
  3. All Souls Catholic School*
  4. Aurora Frontier P-8
  5. Aurora Quest
  6. Bishop Machebeuf High School
  7. Broomfield High School
  8. Columbine Middle School
  9. DMLK Early College Middle School*
  10. DSST Byers
  11. Gateway High School
  12. Good Shepherd Catholic School*
  13. Holy Trinity Catholic School*
  14. Monarch High School
  15. Most Precious Blood Catholic School*
  16. Mrachek Middle School
  17. New Vista High School
  18. Our Lady of Fatima School*
  19. Pinnacle Charter High School*
  20. Sacred Heart of Jesus School
  21. Saints Peter and Paul School*
  22. Shrine of St. Anne School*
  23. Skyline High School
  24. St. Therese School*
  25. St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School*
  26. Strive Prep RISE*
  27. Thomas Jefferson High School
  28. Valley High School*
  29. Columbia Middle School * (ALTERNATE)
*Rookie Schools
WAIT LIST
  1. Pueblo West High School *
  2. St. Catherine of Siena *

IF your plans for competing with RM BEST Robotics in 2019 have changed, PLEASE REPLY to this email..
KICKOFF EVENT 14 September STRIVE Prep - RISE School
  • Attended by Teams - teachers, mentors, AND students
  • We reveal the Off the Grid Game rules & game floor & demo prototype robot
  • Password for game file access provided
  • Teams attend training sessions
  • Teams Pick-up Robot Kit including 2'x4' plywood sheets + 5' length of PVC Pipe
PREPARATIONS FOR KICKOFF
  1. ALL TEAMS - Use the above button to complete our national organization registration within Eventbrite
  2. Once registered, we plan to email you instructions on how to access the complementary BEST Robotics provided software licenses.
  3. FINAL Kickoff Event details to be emailed out to the final 29 teams around 1 September.
DRAFT Kickoff Schedule - may have minor updates
  • 12:00 PM - Teacher Registration Begins and Food Truck Arrives and Robot Kits Pickup in Parking Lot
  • 1:00 PM - Kickoff Event Begins - OFF THE GRID Game Rules & Field Revealed w/ Protobot Demo
  • 1:50 PM  Game Floor Available for Photos/Videos
  • 1:50 PM - 4:00 PM Robot Kit Pickup Parking Lot 
  • 2:15-3:15 PM Parallel Breakout Training Sessions (9 planned sessions - attendance may be limited at several)
  • 3:20 PM-4:00 PM Gym for Q&A 
  • 3:15-4:15 PM Extended Training option

FOR ROOKIE TEACHERS:

RM BEST Consent and Release Document required for each teacher, mentor and for student with parent signature
Teacher Mentor Help Needed
Please Reply to learn more.
  1. Experienced Teacher/Mentor to volunteer to mentor a 2019 rookie teacher.
  2. Looking for Game Sponsors: power companies, building companies, trash companies, roofers (companies that would play a role in a disaster recovery) that we could contact to get sponsors for the game.

Rookie Coach Resources
  1. 2005 BEST Robotics Coaches Survival Guide
  2. July 2019 Teacher Mentor Institute Material: 2018 Engineering Notebook Examples & Scoresheet + Pre-Class Reading listing
  3. Support Required from Schools
  4. Email me at linda.king@bestinc.org for additional resources or if you have questions.
bESTology 2019 Web Postings

A resource for teams participating in BEST Robotics to learn educational and workforce development concepts revolving around the year's game. We encourage you to incorporate bESTology into your curriculum, enrichment activities and more.  All videos have been previewed and embedded to ensure child safety.
Week 1 – What is a GRID?
Week 2 – Types of grids
Week 3 – High Voltage
Week 4 – Transformers
Week 5 – Living autonomously
Week 6 – Survivor – Living off the grid
Week 7 – Let’s get wired
Week 8 – Catastrophes
Week 9 – Cyber-attacks
Week 10 – Driverless
Week 11 – Internet of things
Week 12 - The Most Dangerous Jobs in the World (FINAL)
Don’t miss out on this year’s SUMMER training. 
MathWorks Training
From our Friends at MathWorks...

Robot Autonomy Webinar, 2-hrs, 9 September
  • This live webinar, which will be recorded and archived for re-play anytime, is in development
  • The webinar will be key and will focus on autonomous robot programming using VEX Cortex and the BEST IR sensor.
  • Look for more information in future newsletters
Content:
  • Autonomous programming overview
  • Temporal (time-based) Programming
  • Dead reckoning
  • Line following(using BEST IR sensor as an encoder)
Purpose:
  • Teach students about autonomous programming options
  • Teach students how to write code (or Simulink models) to use the new BEST IR sensor with VEX Cortex
Rocky Mountain BEST
info@rmbest.org