NW Alabama BEST Robotics…2017 CRORSSFIRE – Fire & Rescue Mall Day – Saturday, September 23

 FLORENCE-The excitement is building around the Northwest Alabama BEST Robotic Competition this year! This coming Saturday, September 23, 2017, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.– 1: p.m. at Florence Mall, the Shoals Chamber of Commerce and Northwest-Shoals Community College will host 26 schools at the 2017 Mall Day (robot practice driving)of the BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) Robotics Competition.

The season Kicked-Off on August 26.  Teams have 6-weeks to complete the design and engineering process for their robots and other competitive elements.  Game Day will be the exciting culmination of all their hard work of the research, design and engineering process.

 

BEST invites middle and high school student teams will build one-of-a-kind robots with only the materials provided to each team by the Hub (the Chamber and NW-SCC). These robots are built to accomplish the specific challenges of this year’s game – CROSSFIRE – Fire & Rescue.  This year, each team will design a robot to accomplish various tasks to assist our fire & rescue professionals and keep them out of harm’s way.  Team’s robots will rescue a person in distress, extinguish flames in a burning building, remove dangerous chemicals from the building and recycle water for reuse on the fire.

 

It is said that “BEST is a workforce development program, cleverly disguised as a robotics competition” and it safely allow students to “fail forward” and learn from their mistakes.  This is all part of the design-engineering process. Engineers rarely get it right the first time.  They design, build, test, evaluate, re-design, build, test, and so on, until they develop the end product.  Failing is part of the process, but you learn something every time.

 

BEST Robotics’ long term goal strives for students to become interested in careers in science, technology, engineering and math (S.T.E.M.), while including educational content about various real world industries. This year’s game theme will not only teach these principles, but may help boost entrance into career paths surrounding the fire and rescue industry, perhaps introducing some students to new areas of interest. Teams will write a research paper on the game theme and how technology is enhancing the industry.

 

In addition to the Robotics game challenge, the students must compile a comprehensive Project Engineering Notebook, and are encouraged to develop an entire “company” around their product. The teams have the option to compete in an Oral Marketing Presentation, to design and build a Trade Show Booth, a website, a creative video about their product or their company, team-wear designs and more. 

 

BEST Robotics’ 6-week challenge presents real-world situations the students might find in the workplace. This program initiates critical thinking and problem solving skills, tunes time management and encourages teamwork.  

 

BEST is free to participating schools.  Students from counties in northwest Alabama and  south-central Tennessee have join the Northwest Alabama BEST Robotics hub to participate in this exciting event that enhances students’ career and workforce knowledge and skills. While balancing school and other extracurricular activities, the students have only 6-weeks to complete the design, engineering, building and marketing process. They will build, test and redesign the robot, as well as develop all their company’s marketing elements by Game Day on October 7.

 

All BEST events are free and the public is welcome and encouraged to attend. 

 

·         “Mall Day” (robot driving practice day), Saturday, September 23, 10 a.m. – 2:01:00 p.m., Florence Mall, ZaleCenters Court, Florence.

 

·         BEST Game Day, Saturday, October October7, Northwest-Shoals Community College gym, Muscle Shoals.  The doors will open at 8 a.m. The games should begin around 9:30 a.m.and usually concludes around 5 p.m.

 

2017  PARTICIPATING  SCHOOLS

 

 NW Alabama BEST Robotics is a workforce development partnership between the Shoals Chamber of Commerce and Northwest-Shoals Community College.  To volunteer or for more information, contact Stephanie Newland, 256-764-4661, snewland@shoalschamber.com or visit http://nwalabamabest.org.  BEST Robotics, Inc. is the nationwide program, currently in 17 states with 44 Hubs and approximately 650 teams.  For more information visit www.bestinc.org.

 

 Media Release/Stephanie Newland/Shoals Chamber