Want to See Some Great Competition? Visit South's BEST

Some have asked if they can visit South's BEST as a spectator, to learn more about BEST and to make plans for next year. Absolutely! Here is the South's BEST website in which you may find the schedule for South's BEST. Come out and support our Northeast Alabama BEST teams while learning how your team can be more competitive next year.

Kit Return Instructions

Teams not advancing to South's BEST should set up a time with Nicole Carroll to return their kits this week. Kits should be returned in the condition in which they were received. If you are interested in purchasing your kit, please let Nicole Carroll know. 

Nicole may be contacted at 256-228-6001, ext. 2254 or carrolln@nacc.edu.

2012 Warp XX Results

What a great day of fun and competition! While all of our teams are winners, here is a rundown of the awards given:

• Community Action Agency of Northeast Alabama Most Photogenic Robot - Scottsboro High School
• Northeast Alabama Community College Best CAD Design - Fyffe High School
• Rainsville Chamber of Commerce Best Rookie Team - Fort Payne High School 
• Urethane Supply Company Blood, Sweat, and Duct Tape Award - Pisgah High School
• Scottsboro Kiwanis Club Spirit & Sportsmanship Award - Marshall Technical School
• Berry & Dunn Office Equipment Best T-Shirt Design Award - DeKalb County Technology Center
• Sand Mountain Electric Cooperative Most Economical Design Award - Fort Payne High School
• Alabama Technology Network Best Project Engineering Notebook - Ider High School
• Fort Payne Chamber of Commerce Best Team Exhibit & Interview - Marshall Technical School
• Greater Jackson County Chamber of Commerce Best Marketing Presentation - Fyffe High School
• Tennessee Valley Authority Most Robust Machine Award - Marshall Technical School
• Tennessee Valley Authority Top Gun Award - Marshall Technical School
• Founder's Award for Creative Design - DeKalb County Technology Center
• Robot Competition Finalist - Ider High School

Robot Competition

1. Marshall Technical School
2. Scottsboro High School
3. Fort Payne High School

BEST Award

1. Marshall Technical School
2. Fyffe High School
3. Ider High School

Teams advance to South's BEST in Auburn based on the following schedule:

• First Place BEST Award
• First Place Robot
• Second Place BEST Award
• Second Place Robot
• And so on...

Since Northeast Alabama BEST has two slots at South's BEST, Marshall Technical School (First Place BEST Award and First Place Robot) and Fyffe High School (Second Place BEST Award) will advance to Auburn.

Congratulations to all the students and teams for their outstanding performance, intelligence, drive and spirit.

Today is The Day!

Did you ever think that six weeks could pass by so quickly?

Welcome to Game Day 2012! Here are some key items for you to remember:

• While doors open to the public at 11:30, teams may come in earlier to finish their exhibit booths.
• We will allow up to 10 minutes on the field for teams who may need to do some last minute fine tuning. This will take place between 9 am and 10 am.
• The main teacher/coach should sign in upon arrival and pick up name badges and Tshirts for your team. We are providing each team member (as stated on your roster) a free Tshirt compliments of our sponsors. Additional shirts may be purchased for $10 each at the registration table. 
• A mandatory teacher meeting will take place at 12:00 noon. The main teacher for each team should attend. 
• Two students must take the robot to the pit for compliance check. The scheduled time is 11:30 - 12:30, but we may start compliance checks early if your team is ready. Please note that once the compliance check is completed, the robot must stay in the pit. 
• A mandatory driver's meeting will take place at 1:00 pm. Anyone who might be in the pit anytime during the day must attend. This includes drivers, spotters, mentors, and teachers. 
• At 1:20 pm, the pit and exhibit area will be cleared. All teams should report to the exit door nearest the snack bar. 
• At 1:30 pm, the opening ceremony will begin. All teams must participate. 
• From that point forward, pit passes are required for entry to the arena. 
• Only the northeast entrance to the arena will be accessible. You must have a pit pass for entrance.

And most importantly, please remember this:

1. It is about the kids. 
2. It is about learning.
3. It is NOT about winning at any cost. 
4. No whining. 
5. Oh, and READ THE RULES!

Let's have a great game day!

Additional Practice Time Announced

Due to a number of requests, we will allow teams to practice on the field the morning of game day from 9:00 am until 10:00 am. Times will be limited to 10 minutes per team and will be on a first come first served basis.

Have a Coke and a Smile!

Our friends at the Friends of BEST in Alabama posted this video to their site. We thought you might enjoy it.

Thanks to Sponsor 4imprint

Thanks to our sponsor, 4imprint, for providing the name badge holders for competition this weekend. We are excited to have 4imprint as a sponsor of Northeast Alabama BEST Robotics!

Gangnam Style Robot

Can a robot dance Gangnam Style? Check out the video below to find out.



Read the whole story here. 

Article Featuring Marshall Technical School's BEST Team

Be sure to check out this article in the Sand Mountain Reporter about Marshall Technical School's BEST Robotics team.

http://www.sandmountainreporter.com/news/education/article_0994d3f0-1c93-11e2-a014-0019bb2963f4.html

Congratulations to Marshall Technical School for this excellent publicity!

Soyuz Rocket Enroute to Space Station

While there will be a lot of "space travel" going on Saturday at Northeast Alabama BEST's game day, it would be easy for us to forget that some real space travel occurred today as the Soyuz TMA-06M blasted off from Site 31 in Kazakhstan. The crew includes two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut. Among the payload, 32 medaka fish bound for a zero-gravity research aquarium.

Check out the CBS article here.

Final Game Week Schedule Posted

The final game week schedule has been posted to the Team Resources section of this site, and is available in this post.

Competition Schedule

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Northeast Alabama Community College - Rainsville

12:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.     Sales and Marketing Presentations

• Presentations will take place at Northeast Alabama Community College. 
•  Arrive in the front lobby of the Workforce Development Building at least 15 minutes prior to your presentation. 
• All teams will check-in in the front lobby and be prepared to enter the presentation room five minutes prior to their time slot. 
• Teams waiting to make their presentations should keep noise to a minimum out of respect for other presenting teams. 
• We will have presentations every 30 minutes. We are on an extremely tight schedule…please be on time! 
•  Do not exceed eight people in the room as per the BEST Award Rules. 
•  The room will be equipped with a screen, projector, and computer, which may be used if desired. Alternately, teams may bring a laptop computer and plug into the classroom system. The hub will not be responsible for incompatibility issues due to different versions of PowerPoint.

 Schedule

12:30 pm         Ider High School

1:00 pm           DeKalb County Technology Center

1:30 pm           Fort Payne High School

2:00 pm           Pisgah High School

2:30 pm           Marshall Technical School

3:00 pm           Woodville High School

3:30 pm           Open

4:00 pm           Scottsboro High School

4:30 pm           Open

5:00 pm           Fyffe High School

5:30 pm           Judges Meeting

Friday, October 26, 2012

Northeast Alabama Agri-Business Center

1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.       Exhibit Booth Setup and Driving Practice

Exhibit Booth Setup

• Teams may begin setting up their Team Exhibit beginning at 1 p.m. and must be complete by 6:00 p.m. 
•  Exhibit booths must fit within a designated 8’ x 8’ x 8’ space. 
• ALL booth material must fit through the standard doorway. Please make sure that you are able to break your booth down into pieces small enough to fit through a standard doorway. 
• Booth space will be allocated by team number. Northeast Alabama BEST staff will direct exhibit team leaders to their booth space. 
•  Please bring a heavy duty extension cord and power strip if you choose to have electricity in your booth. Extension cords of up to 50 feet may be needed to access power for your booth. POWER ACCESS IS EXTREMELY LIMITED IN THE FACILITY. PLEASE USE ELECTRICAL OUTLETS SPARINGLY. 
•  Please bring garbage bags and other clean-up materials with you and please maintain a clean area in and around your booth. WE EXPECT ALL TEAMS TO LEAVE THE FACILITY SPOTLESS WHEN WE LEAVE! 
• Food items are not allowed as give-aways as per the BEST Award rules. 
• Live animals are not allowed as part of your exhibit due to health and safety concerns.

Driving Practice

• Teams may practice driving on the game field beginning at 1 p.m. 
•  Driving time will be allowed in 30-minute increments on a first come, first served basis. Teams who have already had driving practice time will be asked to yield the field to other teams if more than four are on site for practice at a given time. 
• The facility will close promptly at 6:00 p.m.

 Game Day Schedule

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Northeast Alabama Agri-Business Center

11:30 a.m.                         Doors Open

·        Lunch will not be served, but concessions will be available for purchase throughout the day. We recommend that drivers and spotters eat before arrival or immediately after arrival.  

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.   Registration

·         Teacher/mentor in charge of Game Day must register upon arrival

·         Each team will receive the following in your registration packet:

• Return of your engineering notebook (this must be in your exhibit all day)  
• Six Pit Passes for drivers and mentors (At least five of these passes must be issued to students. One may be used for a teacher or mentor. NO others will be granted access. Pit passes must be worn at all times while in the pit.) 
• Wrist bands for drivers - Numbered bands will designate driving order. 
• Wrist band for team representative – This wrist band will be placed on the one student who is designated to speak to the Field Boss regarding any questions or disputes. According to BEST rules, team members may not question referees. All questions must be referred to the Field Boss through the Team Representative.Access to the pit will take place only at the northeast gate ONLY. Do not use other access points to the pit/field area.   
•  Each team will complete a Driver Roster at check-in. Teams must adhere to this list and the order throughout game day. All drivers will receive an arm band that will determine their rotation. Drivers must also wear a pit pass when competing or in the pit.

 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.   Compliance Check-in and Pit Set-up

• All teams must be robot compliant or the team will not be able to compete. Read the rules carefully! 
• Any team that is not compliant will be given the opportunity to go outside and rebuild, make adjustments, whatever it takes to become legal. We want teams to compete! 
•  Each team will be provided a table to keep their robot and tool box at all day in the pit. 
•  A battery charging station will be located in the pit area. Teams need to bring their own battery charger and are responsible for charging their own batteries. 
•  Tables will be set up in the pit area for simple tools. Saws, drills, etc. must remain outside. 
• Compliance staff will be on hand to assist and answer any questions.

1:00 p.m.                          Driver’s Meeting

• ALL drivers should be in the pit by 12:50 p.m. There will be a driver’s meeting at 1:00 p.m. to review rules for the day. Attendance is mandatory for all drivers.

1:20 p.m.                          Line Up for Opening Ceremony

• All team members should go outside to south side of building to line up for the opening ceremony. We will line up in team number order.

1:30 p.m.                          Opening Ceremony!

2:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.       Robot Competition Rounds and Exhibits Open

• Seeding rounds continue leading into semifinal and final rounds 
• Please keep your exhibit booth manned at all times 
• Be ready for spirit breaks by bands, cheers from your cheerleaders, mascot dance-off, and other fun stuff!

4:30 p.m.                          Exhibit breakdown may begin

• All exhibits must be removed by 6:30 p.m. 
• All booth parts and trash needs to go home with you!

6:00 p.m.                          Awards Ceremony (TIME IS APPROXIMATE)

Mandatory meeting of teams advancing to South’s BEST will be held after the awards ceremony.

NOTES: Very important!! Please read the following to your students:

• MUST WEAR SHIRTS AND NO BODY PAINT! Face painting and tattoos are acceptable. 
• No large flags please (such as those seen at football games). Large flags obstruct the view of others. 
• Only Northeast Alabama BEST volunteers, judges, and VIPs with credentials are allowed in the Hospitality Room. 
• No Frisbees, beach balls, or items that may end up on the playing field will be allowed. This is to ensure no interference with the playing field. 
• YOU MUST HAVE A PIT PASS TO BE IN THE PIT. YOU WILL BE GIVEN 6 PIT PASSES IN YOUR REGISTRATION PACKET. PLAN WITH YOUR TEAM HOW YOU WILL USE THESE ON GAMEDAY…NO EXCEPTIONS. 
• No walkie-talkies allowed in the pit and game area. 
• NO TAPE ON WALLS! 
• Leave the facility cleaner than you found it. Please take all trash, materials, etc. with you when you leave. 
• You are encouraged to bring pep bands, cheerleaders, parents, siblings, friends, relatives, mascots, and school officials to cheer you on. All fans will be seated in the bleachers at the south end of the facility.

New Sponsor: Sand Mountain Electric Cooperative

Thanks to our newest sponsor, Sand Mountain Electric Cooperative. Sand Mountain Electric Cooperative is an electric distribution utility serving more than 30,000 consumers in portions of DeKalb, Jackson, Marshall and Cherokee counties. Organized in 1940 for the benefit of providing electric service to the people in rural areas at the lowest cost possible, the cooperative is also a working partner for economic and environmental growth in the communities it serves. We thank Sand Mountain Electric Cooperative for its support.

Practice Day Photos Posted

New photos of practice day have been posted. Check them out by clicking on "Photos" on the menu bar.

DeKalb County Tech Center Team in the Times Journal

Congratulations to the DeKalb County Technology Center team, which was featured in the Times Journal today. Here is a link to the article.

http://times-journal.com/news/article_50596e4e-196f-11e2-bdea-001a4bcf887a.html

If any other teams are featured in their local newspaper, please let hub officials know so links may be posted on this page.

Read the Rules!

With practice day less than 48 hours away and game day so close you can taste it, here's a word of advice for everyone: READ THE RULES. Everyone has worked too hard to jeopardize a great finish for BEST 2012 by missing some small detail in the rules.

As suggested in Kickoff Day, each team should have a rules guru who keeps the team on track with the rules. So what should you do? READ THE RULES!

Practice Day Schedule - October 18

The Practice Day Schedule has been posted on the Team Resources page and is shown here for your convenience. Please remember that Engineering Notebooks are due no later than 4 pm on October 18. You must turn in a hard copy and email an electronic copy (PDF preferred) to Nicole Carroll.

Practice Day Schedule

October 18, 2012

Northeast Alabama Agri-Business Center

Rainsville, Alabama

Time	Left Tower	Right Tower
	Red or Yellow	Blue or Green
8:00	Fort Payne High School	Fyffe High School
9:00	Fyffe High School	Fort Payne High School
10:00	Marshall Technical School	Ider High School
11:00	Ider High School	Marshall Technical School
12:00	Woodville High School	Pisgah High School
1:00	Pisgah High School	Woodville High School
2:00	DeKalb County Technology Center	North Jackson High School
3:00	North Jackson High School	DeKalb County Technology Center
4:00	Scottsboro High School	North Sand Mountain High School
5:00	North Sand Mountain High School	Scottsboro High School

·         Project Engineering Notebooks are due at Practice Day. Each team must submit one hard copy and one electronic copy (via email to carrolln@nacc.edu) no later than 4:00 pm on October 18, 2012.

·         Each team will receive one hour to practice on the (from the audience perspective) left tower and one hour on the right tower. 

·         Lunch is not provided on practice day. 

·         Practice day is part of the Made in DeKalb Expo. Teams are encouraged to come early and stay late to participate in Made in DeKalb events. Made in DeKalb is open to the public from 3-6 pm.