2012 BEST Teams Announced

Northeast Alabama BEST Robotics is pleased to announce the teams participating 2012:

• Marshall Technical School
• Scottsboro High School
• Woodville High School
• Pisgah High School
• North Jackson High School
• Fort Payne High School
• Ider High School
• Fyffe High School
• North Sand Mountain High School
• DeKalb County Technology Center

We look forward to seeing all these teams at Kick Off on Saturday!

Sponsor Highlight: Berry & Dunn Office Equipment

While the Northeast Alabama BEST Hub is hosted by Northeast Alabama Community College, it receives a significant amount of support from its partner agencies and sponsors. One such sponsor is Berry & Dunn Office Equipment. With locations in Scottsboro, Fort Payne and Rainsville, Berry & Dunn is "your complete one stop office supply and equipment dealer."

We appreciate their support!

NACC Employees Attend Central AL Kickoff

Northeast Alabama BEST staff recently attended the kick off event for Central Alabama BEST Robotics. The visit, which took place on Saturday, September 8 was intended to help Northeast Alabama BEST personnel assure that all systems are go for a September 15 launch of Northeast Alabama BEST Robotics.

Mike Kennamer, Northeast Alabama BEST Hub Co-Director, stated that the Northeast Alabama BEST team wants to make sure that its first Kick Off is one that will be memorable for all involved. "It is so fitting that this year's game has a space theme," stated Kennamer. "We feel like we are preparing for a launch around here."

NACC employees Debbie Wooten, Nicole Carroll, and Sherry
Whitten strategize about the upcoming Kick Off event. 

The past two weeks have been busy ones making last minute preparations for Kick Off, including purchasing supplies for the consumable kits and putting together the show for next Saturday.

Attending the Kick Off event at the Central Alabama hub gave hub leaders an opportunity to shadow another hub and to learn how they run their Kick Off event. Like the Central Alabama event, the Northeast Alabama event will be high energy and fast paced. Central Alabama BEST Robotics is hosted by Central Alabama Community College and supported by a number of local sponsors.

"So far nine teams have officially registered on Robot Events," stated Nicole Carroll, Northeast Alabama BEST Robotics Hub Director, who attended the Central Alabama event last Saturday. "We have room for 12 teams, so the next three that sign up will be able to compete this year," said Carroll.

Besides Carroll, others attending the Central Alabama event on Saturday were Sherry Whitten, Debbie Wooten, Dennis Lester, and Mike Kennamer.

Returnable Kits Prepared

Here's a sneak peek at one of our returnable kits. Each team will receive one of these, as well as all the consumable supplies, on Kick Off Day. It's just over a week away, and we are excited and preparing for a fun-filled Kick Off.

Teams should be sure that they sign up on Robot Events. We only have 12 slots  available for this year; registrations are taken on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have not yet signed up on Robot Events, please do so and contact Nicole Carroll to assure that your registration has been received.

Get ready for the countdown...

Robot Events Registration

It has come to our attention that there was a problem with registration in Robot Events where some teams were unable to register. That issue has been corrected. Please register your team at www.robotevents.com this week and follow up with Nicole Carroll (carrolln@nacc.edu) to confirm your registration.

Kick Off Schedule Released

The schedule for kick off has been released and is available for download here. This document, along with others, is available on the Team Resources page. Additional documents will be posted here after kick off day.

Teams are encouraged to use this draft schedule to plan their day. Each team should have at least one team member in each session. As you look at the schedule you will see that there are five tracks:

• Track A - BEST Award
• Track B - Engineering Notebook
• Track C - SolidWorks Software
• Track D - Robot Game and Scoring
• Track E - Field Viewing

Here are some tips for preparing for kick off day:

1. Bring as many team members, teachers and mentors as possible. Divide and conquer. Decide who will attend each session so that your team will be prepared. For example, your design people should attend the SolidWorks session.
2. Take good notes. Jot down ideas, and share what you learn with your team members. 
3. Designate at least one person to be the rules guru for your team. Go to the sessions on rules and learn how to find rules updates and ask questions about the rules. 
4. Pay close attention to the kick off event as it will provide vital information about this year's challenge.
5.  Be prepared to measure and examine the playing field at your appointed time. Bring tape measures, cameras and a video camera so that you can record all the details of the field. Several teams build a scaled-down version of a mock up of the field on which to practice.
6. Network with teams from other schools. 
7. Have fun!

Each team will receive an email with registration materials prior to kick off. The leader of each team should complete this paperwork and bring it with them on kick off day.

Pizza will be provided for lunch. 

Northeast Alabama BEST in the News

Check out these articles about BEST Robotics:

Northeast Alabama Community College News

The Times Journal