Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology

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Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology

• Teacher/Mentor
• Workshop
• July 15, 2009

If you build it.they will fail!
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Agenda

• Overview
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Workshop Outline
• Session 1 BEST Kickoff
• Session 2 Concept/Strategies
• Session 3 Design/Prototype/Build/Promote
• Session 4 Practice/Prepare/Compete
• Workshop Summary

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Why BEST?Boosting Engineering, Science, and
Technology

• Its ALL about the Students
• Hands-On Experience/Opportunity
• Exposure to E, S, T M (STEM)
• Workforce Development
• EST CAN BE Fun!!!

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BEST Mission
To Inspire and Motivate students.

• toward studies and careers in

Engineering,
Science,
and Technology
through a sports-like competition
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Who We Are
BEST Robotics, Inc.
Same schedule game kit
33 hub sites in 15 states
3 Regional competition sites
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How It WorksBoosting Engineering, Science, and
Technology

• 1 Emulate a Start-to-Finish Product
  Development
• 2 Mimic Industry
• Time-To-Market
• Design/Cost Constraints
• Design To Function
• 3 Team students with MENTORS from Industry
• Inspiration
• Guidance
• Knowledge

The Robot 6 weeks The Raw Kit Generic
Rules Game Specific Rules Experience
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Many Aspects to the ContestBoosting
Engineering, Science, and Technology
Product Development Functions Emphasized
Planning/ Project Mgmt
Process
Public Relations
?
Sales/ Marketing
Concept
Design
Manufacturing
Testing
Performance
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Contest Judged in Two PartsBoosting
Engineering, Science, and Technology
1. ROBOT HEAD-TO-HEAD COMPETITION
Planning/ Project Mgmt
Process
Public Relations
?
Sales/ Marketing
Concept
Design
Manufacturing
Testing
Performance
Contest Day!
AWARDS 1st 4th Place Head-to-Head Founders
Award Most Robust Most Elegant Most Photogenic
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Contest Judged in Two Parts Boosting
Engineering, Science, and Technology
2. BEST AWARD
Planning/ Project Mgmt

Process
Public Relations
Sales/ Marketing
?
Concept
Design
1 Project Notebook
1 Table Display 2 Community Awareness 3
Website
1 Informal Interviews
1 Team Spirit 2 Sportsmanship 3 Code of Conduct
Manufacturing
Testing
Performance 5
AWARDS 1st 3rd Place BEST New for this Year
BEST Middle/Junior High School Team BEST
Project Notebook BEST Table Display BEST Spirit
and Sportsmanship T-Shirt Award Web Page Award
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BEST Philosophy

• The students will get the most of the process if
  they do the work
• Mentors and Teachers should help the students
  realize the students ideas
• The six-week development process is more
  important than the game-day competition
• BEST does not stand for Beat Every Single Team

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The School Provides

• At least one school sponsor as a teacher-coach
• Administrative support to the contest equal to
  sponsored academic contests
• Classroom/shop facilities
• Transportation to the competition sites
• A single student team representing the school

No Limit on Team Size (determined by
school) Sub-Teams will be Necessary
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River Valley BEST Provides

• A single Kit for each school
• Volunteer Mentors from industry, as best we can
• Schools can and should recruit additional mentors
  (e.g., parents)
• Volunteers to coordinate and run the practice
  days and contest day
• The Game Field for all events
• Awards for student and team recognition

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River Valley BEST 2009 Event Schedule

• Kickoff Day Sep 19, 2009 Stubblefield Ctr.
• Mall Day Oct 17, 2009 Central Mall
• Game Day Oct 31, 2009 Stubblefield Ctr.
• Regional Dec 3-5, 2009 FTBEST

Top 2-4 Finishers at RVBEST will participate in
Regional Competition (Frontier Trails BEST) at
the Fort Smith Convention Center and the UA
Fort Smith Stubblefield Center.
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Your Role AsTeam SponsorsTeam Mentors
Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology
If you build it.they will fail!
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Role of Team Sponsor (1)

• Recruit students for the team
• get posters hung, flyers made
• Determine student eligibility for the program
• Have primary responsibility for the students
• Enforce school rules and code of conduct
• Recruit team mentors
• Schedule tool safety training

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Role of Team Sponsor (2)

• Coordinate efforts with other disciplines
• art, language, shop teachers, etc.
• Manage access to school facilities and
• equipment
• Manage transportation to and from events
• bus or other transportation, drivers
• Manage parent permission for student
• participation release forms as needed
• travel, handling power equipment, etc.

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Student Eligibility

• School determines student eligibility
• Teams are unlimited on size
• Encourage teams with mixed grade-levels
• Encourage students with varying skill
  sets/experience
• Engineering/science/math/shop/computer/web/arts/wr
  iting/spirit
• There may be a maximum number of awards per
  team based upon available budget

NO LIMIT TO OPPORTUNITY
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The Mentor Experience (1)Role of Mentors

• Provide an understanding of engineering
  process
• Explain the importance of schedules and
  budgets
• Provide technical guidance
• Ensure students consider all phases
  deliverables
• Guide student brainstorming sessions
• Discuss methods for evaluating design concepts
• Describe prototyping methods
• Pose questions to force team to think through
  ideas
• Encourage student participation

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The Mentor Experience (2)How to Operate

• Encourage proper organization early
• Promote Teamwork/ Teaming concepts
• Ensure the team
• Identifies requirements/ set goals up front
• Sets realistic schedules
• Has on-time deliverables
• Guide the process
• Teach design margin (weight, size)

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The Mentor Experience(3)How Much Time Will This
Take?

• Meeting times vary by team/school
• Most meet after school (at least)
• Commit to regular participation
• Put in the time that you cananything helps
• You are providing guidance

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Role of the Students

• Students Learn the Most By Doing It
• Guide the Students, Dont Direct the Team
• Make Them Work, Dont Give Them Answers
• Students are Responsible for
• What They Do
• What They Dont Do
• Team Sponsors/Mentors Encourage
• Them Down the Right Paths

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Workshop Intent
Teach you robotics so you can help your team
design its machine. Help you understand the
full breadth of the BEST contest. Give you a
glimpse of the activities that students will
perform over the next 6 weeks. Help you
understand what you can do to help the students
fulfill their tasks.
?
?
?
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Workshop Outline What You Should Gain Today..

• Realize BEST is
• a big intense (very beneficial) project
• Understand your role as
• mentor/teacher/team sponsor
• Realize that Time is Short
• more like a 4 week design
• Realize
• Driving is Difficult
• Realize that
• early Testing/Practice is Essential

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Workshop Schedule
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Session 1 Kickoff
Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology
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What Happens At Kickoff?

• Sat, Sep 19, Stubblefield Center, 1000am
  200pm
• General Assembly
• Game Intro and Demonstration
• Breakout Sessions (in Parallel)
• Teacher/Mentor Meeting
• Student/Head Referee QA
• Kit Distribution Inventory
• General QA Session and Dismissal

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Who/What To Bring?

• Enthusiasm Excitement
• Enough Students to Cover the Breakout Sessions
• Bring One Large Vehicle to receive the kit, and
  Several able bodies to carry it (the partsNOT
  the vehicle)
• A pick-up truck or good sized SUV will be needed
• 2x4 foot plywood
• 5 foot PVC
• Be sure to inventory the kit before you leave the
  pick-up site.checklists will be provided

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BEST Kit
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The BEST Kit
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Return Kit
BRAIN
BRAIN CD and Cables
(2)
(2)
(2)
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Consumable Kit

• Raw Materials
• Plywood, Plastics, Metal, PVC
• Hardware
• Specific quantities of materials
• Use no more than quantity available in kit to
  build the robot

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Workshop Contest
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Generic Rules Summary

• Design Prototype a Machine for Todays Game
• Generate all the BEST Deliverables
• Present Your Design to the Judges

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The Game Field
Variation of the 2007 Game (Mission to Mars)
Ramp
Game Pieces
Scoring Bin
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Game Specific Rules Summary
Todays Odyssey
Remove cargo (boxes) 5 points ea. Remove fuel
cells (bottles) 10 points ea. Cross Ramp 25
point bonus Store any items (bottles/boxes) 10
points ea.
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Contest Deliverables

• Team Identity
• Roster
• Team name, robot name, graphic,
• music, essay, team dress
• Team Demographics Form
• A Paper Robot Design
• Webpage design (optional)
• Design Notebook
• Table Display
• Marketing Presentation
• Spirit/Sportsmanship Plans
• Driver Roster

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Session 2 Concept Development
Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology
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2Concept Development
30
25
20
15
10
5
4
3
2
1
W1
Objectives
Brainstorming Scoring Strategy Design
Concept Team Organization/Project Mgmt
Key Points to Ponder
100 Participation Planning/Organizing is
Important Time is Short
Output(s) of this Session
Game Strategy Design Concept(s) Team Identity
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2Concept Development QA
How often will your team meet? Who is in charge
of kits? Return Kit? Consumables? Is there
motivation for regular attendance? Do you have
more than one design concept? Who is leading
robot design? BEST award? Who is responsible
for deliverables? Web-based data entry? Who is
in charge of Design Notebook?
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Session 3 Design/Proto/Build/Promote
Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology
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3 Design/Proto/Build/Promote
W1
Objectives
Sub-teams/ Design Partitioning Design
Constraints, Evaluating Alternative
Solutions Documentation of Everything
W2
W3
Key Points to Ponder
Design Feasibility requires Design
Analysis Details are Important Document the
Process you Followed
W4
W5
Output(s) of this Session
Robot Design, Design Notebook, Publicity/Marketing
Plan, Table Display, Website
W6
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3 Design/Proto/Build/Promote
W1
Objectives
Sub-teams/ Design Partitioning Design
Constraints, Evaluating Alternative
Solutions Documentation of Everything
W2
15
10
5
4
3
2
1
W2
W3
Key Points to Ponder
Design Feasibility requires Design
Analysis Details are Important Document the
Process you Followed
W4
W5
Output(s) of this Session
Robot Design, Design Notebook, Publicity/Marketing
Plan, Table Display, Website
W6
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3 Design/Proto/Build/Promote
W1
Objectives
Subteams/ Design Partitioning Design Constraints,
Evaluating Alternative Solutions Documentation of
Everything
W2
W3
15
10
5
4
3
2
1
W3
Key Points to Ponder
Design Feasibility requires Design
Analysis Details are Important Document the
Process you Followed
W4
W5
Output(s) of this Session
Robot Design, Design Notebook, Publicity/Marketing
Plan, Table Display, Website
W6
44
3 Design/Proto/Build/Promote
W1
Objectives
Subteams/ Design Partitioning Design Constraints,
Evaluating Alternative Solutions Documentation of
Everything
W2
W3
Key Points to Ponder
Design Feasibility requires Design
Analysis Details are Important Document the
Process you Followed
W4
15
10
5
4
3
2
1
W4
W5
Output(s) of this Session
Robot Design, Design Notebook, Publicity/Marketing
Plan, Table Display, Website
W6
45
3 Design/Proto/Build/Promote
W1
Objectives
Subteams/ Design Partitioning Design Constraints,
Evaluating Alternative Solutions Documentation of
Everything
W2
W3
Key Points to Ponder
Design Feasibility requires Design
Analysis Details are Important Document the
Process you Followed
W4
W5
15
10
5
4
3
2
1
W5
Output(s) of this Session
Robot Design, Design Notebook, Publicity/Marketing
Plan, Table Display, Website
W6
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TODAY ISMALL DAY
3 Design/Proto/Build/Promote
W1
W2
W3
W4
W5
END OF WEEK 5
W6
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Times Up!Its Machine Check-in Time
3 Design/Proto/Build/Promote
W1
Objectives
Design Tweaks Practice, Practice, Practice Final
Deliverables
W2
W3
Key Points to Ponder
Driver Selection The best design is useless
without a good driver Design Robustness/ Spare
Parts
W4
W5
Output(s) of this Session
W6
15
10
5
4
3
2
1
W6
Robot Design, Design Notebook, Publicity/Marketing
Plan, Table Display, Website
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Final Design/BEST AwardPresentations
Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology
(8 minutes per team)
Team A
Team A Ready
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Times Up!
Team B
Team B Ready
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Times Up!
Team C
Team C Ready
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Times Up!
Team D
Team D Ready
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Times Up!
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Session 4 Practice/Prepare/Compete
Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology
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4 Practice/Prepare/Compete
Objectives
BRAIN Session for Dummies
Key Points to Ponder
You Can Do It!
Output(s) of this Session
BRAIN Programming Demo Team BRAIN Program
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TODAY ISGAME DAY!
4 Practice/Prepare/Compete
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GOOD LUCKANDSEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER!