Congratulations to Brindlee Mountain's Carley Webb!

Congratulations to Carley Webb from Brindlee Mountain Middle School for being selected as one of the winners in the BEST Robotics, Inc. GateKeeper 2013 Game Survey. The survey received more than 450 responses and Carley was one of seventeen students who won a prize.

Thanks to Carley's teacher, Penny Waldrop, for providing the photo and to Jubilee BEST for sponsoring the contest.

#G8KPR More South's BEST in the News

Here is an article about South's BEST that was published in the Auburn Opelika News this weekend. http://www.oanow.com/news/article_4a63ddac-5fbf-11e3-a2d7-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=story

#G8KPR BEST Robotics in the News

Here is an article from AL.com about South's BEST, and specifically the Mobile-area teams that competed.

http://blog.al.com/live/2013/12/davidson_high_finishes_6th_in.html#incart_river_default

#G8KPR South's BEST Robot Competition Rankings

Here is the entire list of robot game participants at South's BEST, in ranked order.

Team Number	School Name	Final Robotics Rankings	Hub	Primary Teacher
216	DARC	1	Tennessee Valley BEST	Susan Haddock
130	Merrol Hyde Magnet School	2	Music City BEST	Mike Marsh
38	Evangel Christian School	3	Blazer BEST	Stephen Daniels
374	Holy Cross School	4	NOLA BEST	Dale Turner
401	Marshall Technical School	5	NE Alabama BEST	Glenn Bruce
251	W.P. Davidson High School	6	Jubilee BEST	Jenny Parker
64	Starkville High School	7	Mississippi BEST	Denise Adair
48	Spain Park High School	8	Blazer BEST	Scottie Wilson
211	Academy for Science and Foreign Language	9	Tennessee Valley BEST	Angela Traylor
255	Mobile Area Coalition of Homeschools (MACH)	10	Jubilee BEST	Kendra Lane
129	Central Magnet School	11	Music City BEST	Marc Guthrie
345	Wicksburg High School	12	Wiregrass BEST	Mary Hudson
219	Lindsay Lane Christian Academy	13	Tennessee Valley BEST	Kathryn DeWitt
250	Faith Academy	14	Jubilee BEST	Sara LeCroy
158	Hope Academy	15	Central Alabama BEST	Diane Rogers
24	Springwood School	16	War Eagle BEST	Karlia Willis
408	Fyffe High School	17	NE Alabama BEST	Regina Parris
25	Wetumpka High School	18	War Eagle BEST	Virginia Vilardi
82	McNairy Central High School	19	Mississippi BEST	Robin York
108	Northview High School	20	Georgia BEST	Jason Weinberger
162	Talladega Career Tech Center	21	Central Alabama BEST	Joseph Huss
97	Fernbank LINKS	22	Georgia BEST	Debi Huffman
181	RCS Engineering	23	NW Alabama BEST	Lee Brownell
287	Woodham Middle School	24	Emerald Coast BEST	Carl Shouppe
318	Holly Pond High School	25	North Alabama BEST	Wilma Whateley
467	Demopolis Middle School	26	Shelton State BEST	Ashley Brock
242	Baker High School	27	Jubilee BEST	Jeannine Reeves
293	Woodlawn Beach Middle School	28	Emerald Coast BEST	Shannon Farrell
139	M.A.R.I.O.	29	Music City BEST	Chris Smith
272	Sweet Water High School	30	Jubilee BEST	Kevin Byrd
12	Lee-Scott Academy	31	War Eagle BEST	John Gill
42	Oak Mountain High School	32	Blazer BEST	Donna Strong
119	South Forsyth High School	33	Georgia BEST	Jim Chamberlain
186	Brooks High School	34	NW Alabama BEST	Alaina Pettus
344	Rehobeth Middle School	35	Wiregrass BEST	Thad Smith
40	Homewood Middle School	36	Blazer BEST	Mary Binkley
481	Tuscaloosa Christian School	37	Shelton State BEST	Nancy Robertson
313	Hartselle Junior High School	38	North Alabama BEST	Elisa Harris
294	Seaside Neighborhood School	39	Emerald Coast BEST	Courtney Krick
156	Episcopal Day School	40	Central Alabama BEST	Krista Ashley
19	Saint James School	41	War Eagle BEST	Vicky Eichelberg
431	Dallas County High School	42	Selma BEST	Glenn Walker
259	Monroeville Junior High School	43	Jubilee BEST	Jena Mayo
154	Central High School of Clay County	44	Central Alabama BEST	Becky Taylor
189	Muscle Shoals High School and Center for Technology	45	NW Alabama BEST	Kerry Johnson
523	Delhi Charter School	46	LATech BEST	Eric Vidrine
435	John T. Morgan Academy	47	Selma BEST	Judith Bonds
475	Northridge High School	48	Shelton State BEST	Victoria Evans
63	East Rankin Academy	49	Mississippi BEST	Angela Trigg
2	Brewbaker Technology Magnet High School	50	War Eagle BEST	Steve Ballard
66	Starkville Christian Home Educators	51	Mississippi BEST	Michael Lane
380	St. Scholastica Academy	52	NOLA BEST	Matt Lopez
502	McLane Robotics Engineering Academy	53	Florida West BEST	Michael Wilson
500	Strawberry Crest High School	54	Florida West BEST	Jim Brockman
93	Wheeler High School	55	Georgia BEST	Charles Hawkins
476	Northside High School	56	Shelton State BEST	Eve Kendrick

G8KPR South's BEST 2013 Results

Here are the complete results for South's BEST 2013 Gatekeeper:

BEST Award

1^st Place:  Wetumpka High School (War Eagle BEST)

2^nd Place: Fernbank LINKS (Georgia BEST)

3^rd Place:  Wicksburg High School (Tennessee Valley BEST)

Robotics

1^st Place:  DARC (Tennessee Valley BEST)

2^nd Place: Merrol Hyde Magnet School (Music City BEST)

3^rd Place:  Evangel Christian School (Blazer BEST)

Finalist:  Holy Cross School (NOLA BEST)

Middle School Awards

BEST Award – Woodlawn Beach Middle School (Emerald Coast BEST)

Robotics – Evangel Christian School  (Blazer BEST)

BEST Award – Category Winners

Marketing Presentation

1^st Place:  W.P. Davidson High School (Jubilee BEST)

2^nd Place: Starkville High School (Mississippi BEST)

3^rd Place:  Springwood School (War Eagle BEST)

Project Engineering Notebook

1^st Place:  Brewbaker Technology Magnet High School (War Eagle BEST)

2^nd Place: Fyffe High School (Northeast AL BEST)

3^rd Place:  Wetumpka High School (War Eagle BEST)

Team Exhibit and Interview

1^st Place:  Fernbank LINKS (Georgia BEST)

2^nd Place: Wicksburg High School (Wiregrass BEST)

3^rd Place:  DARC (Tennessee Valley BEST)

Spirit and Sportsmanship

1^st Place:  Brewbaker Technology Magnet High School (War Eagle BEST)

2^nd Place: Spain Park High School (Blazer BEST)

3^rd Place:  Oak Mountain High School (Blazer BEST)

Team Exhibit Design and Construction Award

1^st Place:  Lindsay Lane Christian School (Tennessee Valley BEST)

2^nd Place: Brooks High School (Northwest AL BEST)

3^rd Place: Marshall Technical School (Northeast AL BEST)

Special Competition Awards

Founders Award for Creative Design

1^st Place:  Fyffe High School (Northeast AL BEST)

2^nd Place: Hope Academy (Central AL BEST)

3^rd Place:  W.P. Davidson High School (Jubilee BEST)

Neptune Technology Group Most Elegant Robot

1^st Place:  Fernbank LINKS (Georgia BEST)

2^nd Place: Holy Cross (NOLA BEST)

3^rd Place:  Hope Academy (Central AL BEST)

Most Robust Robot

1^st Place:  Fernbank LINKS (Georgia BEST)

2^nd Place: DARC (Tennessee Valley BEST)

3^rd Place:  W.P. Davidson High School (Jubilee BEST)

Most Photogenic Robot

1^st Place:  Fernbank LINKS (Georgia BEST)

2^nd Place: Holy Cross School (NOLA BEST)

3^rd Place:  W.P. Davidson High School (Jubilee BEST)

Team Video

1^st Place:  Starkville Christian Home Educators  (Mississippi BEST)

2^nd Place: Sweet Water High School (Jubilee BEST)

3^rd Place:  Strawberry Crest High School (Florida West Coast BEST)

SolidWorks CAD Design Award

1^st Place:  W.P. Davidson High School (Jubilee BEST)

2^nd Place: Fernbank LINKS (Georgia BEST)

3^rd Place:  Merrol Hyde Magnet School (Music City BEST)

Web page Design

1^st Place:  RCS Engineering (Northwest AL BEST)

2^nd Place: South Forsythe High School (Georgia BEST)

3^rd Place:  DARC (Tennessee Valley BEST)

Game T-shirt Design

1^st Place:  Hope Academy (Central AL BEST)

2^nd Place: Homewood Middle School (Blazer BEST)

3^rd Place:  South Forsythe High School (Georgia BEST)

Best Team Mascot

1^st Place:  Talladega Career Tech Center (Central AL BEST)

2^nd Place: Lindsay Lane Christian Academy (Tennessee Valley BEST)

3^rd Place:  Wicksburg High School (Wiregrass BEST)

Briggs and Stratton South’s BEST Teacher of the Year

Debi Huffman – Fernbank LINKS (Georgia BEST)

Kevin Byrd – Sweet Water High School (Jubilee BEST)

Ashley Brock – Demopolis High School (Shelton State BEST)

Jim Westmoreland Memorial Judges Award

Don Bryant (Retired Teacher, Tallassee High School)

Dr. Virginia Davis (Dept. Chemical Engineering, Auburn University)

South’s BEST Volunteer of the Year

Justin Moses (Dept. Electrical and Computer Engineering, Auburn University)

Lucas Hunter (U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command)

The robot rankings will be posted tomorrow. 

# G8KPR Northeast Alabama Teams Excel at South's BEST

The two teams representing Northeast Alabama BEST Robotics performed exceptionally well at South's BEST, held in Auburn last weekend.

Fyffe High School, which advanced to South's BEST as the second place BEST Award team at Northeast Alabama BEST, took second place in Project Engineering Notebook and first place in Founders' Award for Creative Design. They finished a very respectable 17th in the robot competition.

Marshall Technical School, which took first place in robot and BEST Award at Northeast Alabama BEST, won third place in Team Exhibit and finished fifth in the robot competition.

Fifty-six teams from 18 hubs in Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana and Florida competed.

Photo courtesy of Brian Gann

The staff of Northeast Alabama BEST Robotics could not be more proud of these teams, which represented us so well at South's BEST.

#G8KPR Watch South's BEST Live Stream

South's BEST takes place Saturday and Sunday. Those who can't make it to Auburn may watch a live stream online at http://www.southsbest.org/site/.

A schedule for the weekend is available at http://www.southsbest.org/site/files/ChampionshipSchedule.pdf

If you can't be there to cheer on our Northeast Alabama Teams, be sure to cheer them on through social media by using the hashtag: #G8KPR and on Twitter, mention @northeastalbest and @bestrobotics.

Fyffe High School and Marshall Technical School will represent Northeast Alabama BEST at South's BEST.

#G8KPR Article About 2013 Game Development on AL.com

AL.com today published an article about the development of GateKeeper 2013. Gatekeeper was developed by Jubilee BEST, headquartered in Mobile, Alabama. A link to the article is located here: http://blog.al.com/live/2013/12/regional_best_robotics_competi.html#incart_river_default

Congratulations to Jubilee BEST for this recognition. Creating the game challenge for BEST is a daunting challenge that takes many hours of work over the course of almost two years.

The teaser video for BEST 2014 will be unveiled at South's BEST this weekend.

#G8KPR News Article

A news article regarding Northeast Alabama BEST Robotics has been distributed to area news outlets. The article may be viewed on the NACC website: http://www.nacc.edu/news/best_robotics_winners.htm

You may also see the article on The Daily Sentinel site: http://thedailysentinel.com/news/article_9973206e-5778-11e3-95bc-0019bb2963f4.html

#G8KPR Fyffe High School in the News

Fyffe High School was recently featured in a story in The Times Journal. A link to the article is located here. However, due to subscription guidelines, only a portion of the article may be viewed without logging in.

#G8KPR Fyffe Robotics on 48 News

Fyffe High School Robotics was recently featured in a piece on WAAF News Channel 48 - Huntsville.

WAFF-TV: News, Weather and Sports for Huntsville, AL

Click here for the entire article from the WAFF website.

#G8KPR It's a Bird...It's a Plane...No. It's Levi and the Ider Candroid

Here is a video interview of the Ider High School Steelheads Robotics Team mascot, the Candroid and his human spokeperson, Levi Goolesby. This was recorded by Southern Torch at Practice Day (Made in DeKalb Expo).


Great job representing BEST Robotics, guys!

#G8KPR Kit Return Reminder

Attention teams:

As stated in the 42 Days of BEST, each school has two options related to the return of the robot kit:

1. If the team wishes to keep its robot, it may do so by purchasing the returnable kit. Instructions on the purchase of your returnable kit is located on the last page behind Tab 4 of your 2013 Game Manual. Address any questions to Mike Kennamer.
2. If the team does not wish to purchase its robot, the team must dismantle the robot and turn in all returnable items to Northeast Alabama BEST hub officials no later than November 22, 2013. Teams advancing to South's BEST are not required to return their kit until after South's BEST.

We ask that all teams (whether buying the kit or not) return the tub in which your consumables were provided and return any unused consumable supplies so that we may recycle them for later use.

Please let Nicole Carroll know your intentions regarding the return or purchase of your kit. The hub's sustainability depends upon our being able to reuse kits year after year. Remember that the condition in which you return your kit components is the condition in which you will receive it next year.

Participate in #G8KPR Student Survey and Possibly Win Prizes

BEST Robotics, Inc. is requesting that all students who participated in BEST 2013 #G8KPR take a short survey intended to collect data geared toward workforce/career skills and to ask questions about the 2013 game: Gatekeeper.

Teachers: Please encourage your students to participate in the survey. As an incentive, there will be a drawing for a free robot kit, T-shirts, etc. Be sure that students select their hub as Northeast Alabama BEST (as opposed to North Alabama BEST, which appears a few spaces above Northeast Alabama BEST in the survey).

The link to the survey is https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BESTstudents2013. Please share this link with all your students and teammates.

Thanks in advance for your participation in this survey!

 

#G8KPR More of Marshall Tech School in the News

The Sand Mountain reporter recently published another article about the Marshall Technical School's win at Northeast Alabama BEST. Though the article is subscription only, you can see the first part of it here: http://www.sandmountainreporter.com/news/local/article_38fba3bc-48c5-11e3-9d85-001a4bcf887a.html

#G8KPR Marshall Technical School Featured in Local Paper

The Marshall Technical School Robotics Team was recently featured in the Sand Mountain Reporter. The story is linked here, although subscription requirements prevent you from reading the entire article.

#G8KPR Brindlee Mountain Middle School Robotics in the News

Brindlee Mountain Middle School Robotics Team was recently featured in the Arab Tribune. The full text of the article is available here: Brindlee Mtn. Fields First Robotics Team.

#G8KPR Photos Published to Northeastalabamabest.org

Game day photos have been published to the Photo section of this website. Some of the photos are featured in a video, shown below.

#G8KPR 2013 Northeast Alabama BEST Robotics Results

Congratulations to our 2013 BEST Robotics teams. Here is the list of awards:

BEST Award

• 1st Place - Marshall Technical School
• 2nd Place - Fyffe High School
• 3rd Place - Fort Payne High School

 Robot Competition

• 1st Place - Marshall Technical School
• 2nd Place - Fort Payne High School
• 3rd Place - Fyffe High School
• 4th Place - DeKalb County Technology Center

Missile Defense Agency Project Engineering Notebook

• 1st Place - Fyffe High School
• 2nd Place - Ider High School
• 3rd Place - Marshall Technical School

Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative Team Exhibit and Interview

• 1st Place - Marshall Technical School
• 2nd Place - Ider High School
• 3rd Place - Fyffe High School

Walmart Marketing Presentation

• 1st Place - Marshall Technical School
• 2nd Place - Fyffe High School
• 3rd Place - Fort Payne High School

Founders' Award for Creative Design

• DeKalb County Technology Center

Tennessee Valley Authority Top Gun Award

• Marshall Technical School

Tennessee Valley Authority Most Robust Machine

• Woodville High School

Fort Payne Improvement Authority Most Economical Robot Design

•  Pisgah High School

Governor's Office of Workforce Development Spirit & Sportsmanship Award

• Marshall Technical School

DeKalb County Development Commission Spirit of BEST Award for Grit

• Woodville High School

 DeKalb County Development Commission Spirit of BEST Award for Attitude

• Bridgeport Middle School

 Berry & Dunn Office Equipment Best T Shirt Design

• Marshall Technical School

 DeKalb County Home Builders Association Best CAD Design

• Fort Payne High School

 Missile Defense Agency Blood, Sweat and Duct Tape Award

• Crossville High School

 Walmart Most Photogenic Robot

• Marshall Technical School

Governor's Office of Workforce Development Best Website

• Ider High School

 DeKalb County Home Builders Association Best Team Theme

• Ider High School

 Rainsville Chamber of Commerce Best Rookie Team

• Brindlee Mountain Middle School

Congratulations to all the teams! According to BEST rules, the following teams will advance to South's BEST in Auburn:

• Marshall Technical School (1st Place BEST Award and 1st Place Robot)
• Fyffe High School (2nd Place BEST Award) 

Saturday's #G8KPR Schedule

Remember that rainy (understatement) day that we referred to as Kick Off 2013? You had 42 days--6 whole weeks--before game day. It seemed like plenty of time. You planned, you worked. Some of you were at your school working until 2 am the morning of Practice Day. But tomorrow is the day. Time is up. All the cards are on the table. It's time to roll.

Okay, that's just an overly dramatic way of saying that tomorrow is... GAME DAY! And here's the bare bones schedule. The entire annotated schedule is available under Team Resources on this site.

• 7:30 am - Doors Open
• 7:30 am - 8:30 am - Team Registration
• 8:00 am - 9:00 am - Compliance Check in and Pit Set Up
• 9:00 am - Drivers' Meeting
• 9:30 am - Seeding Rounds Begin and Exhibits Open
• 11:30 am - Lunch Break (on your own) (Exhibits are closed until 1:30 pm)
• 11:45 am - Arena Must be Cleared
• 12:30 - 12:45 pm - Compliance Open  (for teams who removed their robot during lunch. Not recommended unless major repairs are necessary)
• 12:50 pm - Line up for Opening Ceremony
• 1:00 pm - Opening Ceremony
• 1:30 pm - Robot Competition Rounds and Exhibits Open
• 4:00 pm - Exhibit Breakdown may begin
• 5:00 pm (TENTATIVE) - Awards Ceremony

Please keep in mind that the awards ceremony will take place at the conclusion of the game. If your team is eliminated before the final round, PLEASE stay until the end. It is:

1. First and foremost, good sportsmanship;
2. Because you may win other awards and we don't want that awkward moment of people whispering "I think they left"; and finally,
3. Because you are cool and we want to hang out with you as much as possible.

We are looking forward to an awesome game day!