Space City BEST

Boosting Engineering Science and Technology

Welcome to Space City BEST!

Important Message from The Director

BEST is going to a new computer brain system this year. Each unit will cost about $150 each. Each team will need to attend a workshop at the kickoff if they wish to compete and receive the new brain. You will receive a certificate at the end of the session that you may use for professional development hours.

Important: All the teams have now registered. If you have not registered you need to contact me ASAP and you will be placed on a waiting list. David Scarcella

Space City BEST serves as the BEST hub for the greater Houston area. BEST is designed to encourage interest in engineering, science and technology through robotics competitions among middle school and high school students.

The BEST competition inspires and motivates students by challenging them to build a remotely controlled robot to accomplish a defined task within a competitive setting. Professional engineers, industry consultants and teachers are used as coaches to guide student teams through the engineering process. Using only the materials provided, students have six weeks to design, develop, and test a robot that can outperform their competitors. During this time, the students experience the same problems, challenges, and breakthroughs that an engineering team encounters in developing a product for market. In both cases, there are team dynamics, time constraints, material constraints, and pressure from other teams who are trying to solve the same problem.

The weeks of hard work culminate in an exciting daylong competition that names one team the "BEST." The competition combines the excitement of a high school football game with the strategy of a chess match and the intellectual challenge of a science fair. The heart of BEST is the experience of solving a seemingly overwhelming task using simple 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.