Teacher Training
Garry and Janne Ackerman
BEST Robotics, Inc.
6 September 2014
Agenda






What Is BEST?
Engineering Design Process
BEST Award
Team Management and Organization
Robots and Tools
VEX Controller and Programming
6 September 2014
2
WHAT IS BEST?
6 September 2014
3
BEST History
 Established in 1993 under funding from Texas
Instruments to boost student and community interest
in science and technology using a robotic competition
• First year included 15 schools and ~200 students
• Evolved into regional groupings called “hubs” with central
coordinating council
• Each hub financially self-supporting and operated by
volunteers
 Growth and demand for adherence to BEST standards
resulted in a centralized organization
• Incorporated as a non-profit corporation in 1996
• BEST Robotics, Inc. (BRI) is self-funded through
nominal license fees for the use of BRI materials
6 September 2014
4
BEST Characteristics
 Directed at middle and high school students
• Grades 6-12
 Schools participate at no cost
• No entry fee for school or students
• Standard kit (radio and robot parts) provided free to each
participating school
 Student-built and student-driven robots
• Students have the experience
• Coaches / mentors are typically engineers from area
companies
• Coaches guide the teams in planning and
construction of their robot but are not allowed to
build or compete
6 September 2014
5
BEST Characteristics
 Teams compete for two primary awards plus
special awards
• Game Competition [required] – for robot
performance (highest scoring during round
robin matches)
• BEST Award [optional] – for demonstrating the
best use of the engineering process; includes
o
o
o
o
o
6 September 2014
Project engineering notebook (max 30 pages)
Marketing (oral) presentation
Table displays and team interviews
Spirit and sportsmanship
Robot performance
6
BEST Characteristics
 School teams compete in local competitions
(hubs)
• 6 weeks from game kick-off to competition
 Top scoring team(s) in each award from each hub
advances to a regional championship
6 September 2014
7
What BEST Provides
 “Real World” applications of math and science
 Affordable avenue for schools to participate in
robotics competitions
 Introduction to the engineering process for
design and development
 Challenges students to use critical thinking skills
to solve problems at a level beyond the normal
classroom
 Help develop personal communication skills
with peers as well as adults
 Team building skills
6 September 2014
8
Engineering Design Process (EDP)
State the Objective
 A very general statement about what the design
is intended to do
 Does not provide any specific information about
the design or any indication as to what the end
result might look like
 Examples
• Build a robot that will compete in the 2014
BEST Competition
• Land a man on the moon before the end
of the decade
6 September 2014
10
Engineering Design Process
Determine
Requirements
Develop
Design
Alternatives
Build and
Test
Choose
Optimal
Design
6 September 2014
11
Determine Requirements
 Specifications involve clearly identifying the goals
(G), requirements (R), and constraints (C)
associated with the design
 Define WHAT, not HOW
 The more detailed the specifications, the clearer
the guidelines for creating viable design
alternatives
 Specifications do not provide any indication as to
what the end product will look like
 You must understand the game rules to
define the requirements
6 September 2014
12
Requirements Examples
 Robot must fit in a 24-inch cube at start of match
and weigh no more than 24 pounds (C/R)
 Robot should be able to travel the width of the
field in less than 45 seconds (G)
 Robot must have a minimum reach of 38 inches
in order to score points (R)
 Scoring strategy – get a lot of the low point
items, then go after high point items (G)
6 September 2014
13
Develop Design Alternatives
 Engineering design marries a creative process with content
knowledge from a variety of disciplines
 Brainstorming is the name of the game at this stage. How
many different ways can you think of to meet the
specifications?
 Help students to find effective ways to communicate their
ideas
• Rough sketches, written descriptions, simple models
(Legos, toothpicks, etc.)
• Capture all ideas, no matter how outlandish
 Get the students to work in small groups of so that they
can bounce ideas around
 Set up several groups so you get as many different
alternatives on the table as possible
6 September 2014
14
Develop Design Alternatives
 In each BEST game, there are always multiple
means of scoring points. The design alternative
that is chosen is often driven by the scoring
strategy that a team adopted.
 During the initial brainstorming, encourage
students to propose ideas for all of the scoring
opportunities. They shouldn’t limit their thinking
to a particular scoring strategy at the outset.
Once there are several design alternatives, then
they should begin to look at the feasibility
associated with each means of scoring.
6 September 2014
15
Design Alternative Examples
 Use a claw to pick up the tennis ball.
 Use a scoop to gather several tennis balls at
once.
 Use large wheels to go fast across the game field.
 Use smaller wheels to maneuver better.
 Carry basket on robot to collect balls before
returning to scoring area.
 Drag basket behind robot to collect balls before
returning to scoring area.
6 September 2014
16
Choose Optimal Design
 Rarely are engineers in the position to develop
what might be considered the “best” design.
There are always trade-offs involved in the
design selection.
 Some constraints may force the designers in a
particular direction, e.g., allowable budget or
required deadlines (like having 6 weeks to go
from zero to a functioning robot!)
 As a design team, the pros and cons of the
alternative designs must be weighed and a
clear decision must be reached.
6 September 2014
17
Choose Optimal Design
 Students should give as much (or more) weight
to how each design will be manufactured and
tested as they do to the anticipated functionality
of each design
 Students should document the justification(s) for
their choice of the optimal design in the project
engineering notebook.
6 September 2014
18
Trade-Off Examples
 Robot must reach 38” to score points (R)
• Best: Robot has 38” long arm
• Constraint: Robot starting position is 24” cube
• Optimal: Arm unfolds at start to 38” (note that this
adds complexity to the design and manufacture)
 Robot must travel fast across game field (G)
• Best: Use larger motors to drive wheels
• Constraint: Smaller motors not powerful
enough to pick up tennis balls
• Optimal: Use smaller motors to drive wheels
and larger motors to pick up tennis balls
6 September 2014
19
Build and Test
 Once a design choice is made, it is easy for students
to let up some and think that the hardest part is over
and now all they have to do is build their design
 The distance between a great design idea and a
working product is often immeasurable
 With BEST the students are also the manufacturers…
and they’re usually working with fairly basic tools and
minimal manufacturing experience
 Turning their idea into reality is at the heart of the
BEST competition, and this is where the bulk of the
time associated with the robot is spent
6 September 2014
20
Build and Test
 Cut, drill, sand, avoid expletives, re-cut, re-drill,
buy more wood, wake up “dreaming” about
robots – welcome to the building phase of BEST.
 More time spent on the steps leading up to this
usually means less chaos in the building phase.
 However, the sooner you can get to this phase
(in the context of BEST), the better off you are…
provided that your students know what it is they
are building!
6 September 2014
21
Engineering Design Process
Determine
Requirements
Develop
Design
Alternatives
Build and
Test
Choose
Optimal
Design
6 September 2014
22
EDP as a Teaching Tool
 The EDP can be applied in a number of other
ways within the context of BEST
 Encourage your students to apply the EDP to:
• Each functional component of the robot (e.g.
the chassis assembly, “grabbers”, arms, etc.)
• The project engineering notebook
• The marketing presentation
• The organization of your BEST team
• The management of the six weeks
(42 Days) of BEST
6 September 2014
23
What are the judges looking for?
BEST AWARD
6 September 2014
24
Five Categories for BEST
Award





Project Engineering Notebook (30 points)
Educational (Table) Display (20 points)
Marketing (Oral) Presentation (25 points)
Spirit and Sportsmanship (10 points)
Robot Performance (15 points – not judged)
6 September 2014
25
The trials and tribulations of writing a
PROJECT ENGINEERING
NOTEBOOK
6 September 2014
26
Writing A Project
Engineering Notebook

A literary masterpiece?

A comic book?

A photo essay?

A journal of your activities for six weeks?
6 September 2014
27
Objectives
 Understand what an engineering notebook is
 Understand the notebook’s requirements
 Understand how to design, lay out, and write a
quality notebook
6 September 2014
28
Read before you start!
 From the Awards and Judging Guidelines:
“Project Engineering Notebook—the purpose of
the notebook is to document the process the team
uses to design, build, and test their robot.”
6 September 2014
29
Create a Team
 Identify the notebook development team
• Shouldn't be just a one-person effort
 All robotics team members should play some role
 Provide source info, writing, editing, graphics,
CAD drawings, page design, etc.
6 September 2014
30
Plan and Schedule
Have an initial plan and schedule
Think about your audience
Write a good outline! Organize your information
Include where and what graphics you need for
each section
 Finalize assignments and schedule




6 September 2014
31
Topics to Cover







Implementation of Engineering Design Process
Brainstorming approaches
Design creativity
Analytical evaluation of design alternatives
Offensive and defensive strategies
Research paper
Support documentations
6 September 2014
32
Notebook Quality






Overall notebook quality
Grammar and spelling
Organization
Presentation
Compliance with the specifications
Make sure your team does the same
6 September 2014
33
Brainstorming Approaches
 Write about your process for brainstorming
What did you brainstorm?
o What were the results?
o
 Write about your ALTERNATIVE ideas
 Write about how you selected your final design
6 September 2014
34
Design Creativity
 How you used creativity to solve the problem
presented in the game
Remember you should be getting source from
your team members. You can observe and
write about what you see but your team
members should be reporting to you or sending
you emails about what they are doing that you
might not have seen.
6 September 2014
35
Strategies
 Offensive and defensive evaluation of the game
 Write about how you analyzed gaming strategies
and design elements to achieve goals
6 September 2014
36
Implementation of the EDP
 Your documentation must show evidence that the
Engineering Design Process (EDP) was effectively
used:
Document your testing process
o Document both failures and successes
o Document cause and effect
o
6 September 2014
37
Support Documentation
 Include support material that DIRECTLY supports
what you wrote about in the first section
 Include CAD/other drawings, photos meeting
minutes, etc.
 Use see page X in Appendix B in your first 30
pages to provide reference for the judges
6 September 2014
38
EDUCATIONAL DISPLAY
EXAMPLES
6 September 2014
39
Table Display Example #1
6 September 2014
40
Table Display Example #2
6 September 2014
41
Table Display Example #3
6 September 2014
42
Table Display Example #4
6 September 2014
43
ORAL PRESENTATIONS
6 September 2014
44
Oral Presentation Example
 <<go to PDF file for oral presentation
example>>
6 September 2014
45
Team Management and Organization
Team-Building Exercises
 One of the biggest challenges in managing a
BEST team is getting the students to learn how to
start thinking and acting like a group – a team.
 If a teacher doesn’t start this process until the six
weeks has started, there’s a good chance that at
least one week is wasted by students learning to
feel comfortable with each other in a team
environment.
 So, these exercises—and the internet
is full of similar activities—should
ideally be done before Kick Off Day.
6 September 2014
47
TOP 20 LESSONS LEARNED
AS A BEST TEACHER
6 September 2014
48
Top 20 Lessons Learned
1. Just because you can draw it on CAD doesn't
mean you can build it! Don't underestimate the
power and value of straws, paper clips, paper,
pencils, cardboard, white glue, etc.
2. You can test motor capabilities and make
mathematical models.
3. Every team member is capable of making a
unique contribution to your team's success.
4. Knowledgeable students in the booth score
more points with judges.
6 September 2014
49
Top 20 Lessons Learned
5. The design process is not Burger King or Fed Ex.
You can't have it your way and it doesn't happen
overnight! The robot will be a compromise.
6. Teenagers learn by doing – they won't learn by
listening!
7. A chassis on the ground is worth two on the
chalkboard and 10 on CAD!
8. Good judgment comes from experience,
which you get by using bad judgment.
6 September 2014
50
Top 20 Lessons Learned
9. If everyone is responsible for charging the
batteries, the batteries will be dead.
10.The mentor in charge of drivers and spotters
should be the most competitive mentor.
11.Spirit bands and cheerleaders get more points
from the judges than someone in a mascot suit.
12.Beads, glow sticks, and spirit buttons
are crucial.
6 September 2014
51
Top 20 Lessons Learned
13.Ear plugs are a necessity – the little spongy
ones you stick in your ears work best.
14.Don't paint the display and the robot the night
before you leave for competition.
15.Take a camera everywhere you go.
16.No last minute design changes can take the
place of hours of lost driving time.
6 September 2014
52
Top 20 Lessons Learned
17.It's important to know when to lock the toolbox!
18.With time and patience, you can bend PVC pipe
with the steam from a teakettle. (Hot hair dryers
also work).
19.The design team will assert that some robot
capabilities are impossible! They will see them
implemented quite elegantly at competition! It's
fun to point this out!
20.Don't do it all yourself – DELEGATE!
Get other teachers and parents to help
with different sub-teams.
6 September 2014
53
42 DAYS OF BEST
6 September 2014
54
Pre Kick Off
 Recruit support (teachers, admins, and parents)
• Industrial Arts/Shop – provide workspace, tools,
expertise, after-hours access; serve as safety officer;
support the “manufacturing process”
• Computer Science – supervise web team administration,
web site design
• Graphic Arts/Journalism – supervise BEST Award
project summary notebook, table display
design/construction
• Drama – BEST Award oral presentation and table display
interview coaching
• Travel Agent/Parent – someone to help organize 3 trips
(plus Regionals); distribute/collect permission slips,
medical release forms, lodging, etc.
• Physics / Math – coach students through calculations and
analysis (e.g., torque, force, voltage, etc.)
6 September 2014
55
Pre Kick Off













Recruit students and identify leaders
Find artistically talented students
Recruit mentors
Locate a place to build
Start a website
Get to know your bookkeeper at school and learn the legal
way to handle funds
Prepare a budget
Fund raise (some funds necessary if doing BEST Award)
Identify companies to print team shirts, brochures, etc.
Conduct team-building exercises
Have team meetings to organize
Designate a photographer and start taking pictures
Have safety workshop
6 September 2014
56
Kick Off Day
 Identify and take team leaders if you can’t take
entire team
 Take a photographer
 Draw pictures
 Bring a van!
 Plan to buy your Returnables Kit!
• Available from VEX – look for BEST version
6 September 2014
57
Week One
Establish theme for table display
Design the team shirts
Select give-away items (Chamber of Commerce)
Locate a button machine
Post a BIG SIX WEEKS’ CALENDAR with deadlines in RED
Make sure everyone knows the game rules
Team-wide brainstorming meeting
• Some of our most creative designs did not come from
our engineering group
 Mentors should help build the key components of the
playing field
 Assign a properties person to be in charge of all materials
 Make sure the webmaster is updating the website







6 September 2014
58
Week Two
 Continue design discussion
 Perform preliminary design
 Make sure engineers are documenting ALL their
design efforts, good and bad
 Continue BEST Award progress
 Manage fundraising efforts
 Give-aways should be ordered
6 September 2014
59
Week Three
 Finalize design and build!!! (Construction phase
in full-swing)
 Continue BEST Award progress
 Manage fundraising efforts
 Team shirts should be ordered
 Call local newspaper and invite them to see what
you’re doing
 Visit local middle and elementary schools
6 September 2014
60
Week Four
Continue construction phase
Continue BEST Award progress
Make plans for traveling to Mall Day
Start pulling the oral presentation together
If you plan on using A/V and PowerPoint in the oral
presentation, bring your own equipment and make
sure one of the presenters knows how to set it up.
PRACTICE THIS!
 Begin pulling notebooks to locate material for the
BEST engineering notebook
 Make travel arrangements for Mall Day
 Send out competition invitations to school admin,
teachers, and local officials





6 September 2014
61
Week Five






Get ready for Mall Day – support the Robotics team
Complete construction!
Test drive machine
GO TO MALL DAY NO MATTER WHAT!
• May decide to not take the whole team, just engineering team and drivers
• Observe what other teams are doing (a little intel goes a long way)
Continue BEST Award progress
• Start assembling table display
• Fine tune oral presentation
• Organize give-aways
• Assemble the engineering notebook and make sure it’s at the designated
spot by the deadline!
• Put up promotional flyers at the school and in the community
Decide which students will be assigned to the table display
• Make sure they are knowledgeable and good at public
relations
6 September 2014
62
Week Six
Make repairs and adjustments from Mall Day!
Paint the machine early in the week!
Continue test-driving and driving practice
Discuss sportsmanship!
Finalize BEST Award components
• Practice the oral presentation
 Sign-Up Deadline (usually Tuesday of Game Week)
• Make sure team demographics sheet completed and with
notebook!
• BEST Award Oral Presentation Schedule Sign-up at
compliance check-in
• BEST Award Oral Presentation Equipment Sign-up
• Drivers List submitted
 Prepare the drivers for loud music and distractions





6 September 2014
63
Evening Before Game Day
 Team registration (on-site)
• BEST Award Oral Presentation Sign-ups
• Some presentations this evening (rest
Saturday morning)
 BEST Award Table Display set-up (by a predetermined time)
 Compliance Check-in including driver’s list and
team demographics
6 September 2014
64
Game Day









Opening ceremony
BEST Award Oral Presentations (remaining teams)
Robotics competition (seeding rounds)
BEST Award Table Display & Interview judging in
parallel with robotics competition
Robotics competition Wild Card Round
Robotics competition (Semi-finals)
Robotics competition (Championship Round)
Awards ceremony
Brief meeting after competition for advancing teams
6 September 2014
65
Robots and Tools
Returnables and Consumables
ROBOT KITS
6 September 2014
67
Kit Examples from 2014
 <<See pictures online under Kit directory>>
6 September 2014
68
TOOLS AND MATERIALS
6 September 2014
69
Useful Gadgets and Tools
 Push-button switch to connect electric motor to battery.
This is one of the most useful things to have. Cost is five to
ten dollars of parts from Radio Shack. It should have a fuse
to protect against shorts.
 For measuring force, a spring scale with a hook on the
end and a range of up to twenty five to forty pounds.
 Pulley and motor demonstration fixture. Mount the
small motor, belt, and the two pulleys in a reduction drive
arrangement to turn an axle mounted with two bearings.
Students will see how it fits together and measure the
capability.
 Servo test box. The cost is five to ten dollars from
Radio Shack. Instructions may be found here:
http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/200210/servoex/S
ervoExcerciser.htm
6 September 2014
70
Useful Gadgets and Tools






Small Pulleys. Three or four are helpful in quickly stringing up a lift
or something where cord is pulled around a corner. You can measure
force and see how something behaves without having to fabricate
anything.
Digital voltmeter. Get an inexpensive one because it may not last
long or will be lost at some point. Useful for battery management and
checking to see where the wire connects. Introduces the students to
making electrical measurements.
Set of their test leads (Radio Shack) with the alligator clips.
Again, you can hook things up without having to cut, strip and solder.
Get the ones with thicker wire, found here:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062661
Wire Stripper. Get the right ones that not only strip, but cut wire
and machine screws. If you use it right, the cut machine screws are
"re-threaded".
Calipers. Again, inexpensive. Very useful when trying to figure out
the thickness or diameter of something, even drill bits.
6 September 2014
71
“Must Have” Tools
 Allen wrench (for the
setscrew on the Stock
Drive pulleys – sold
individually is at Sears)
 Combination square/speed
square
 Combo wirestripper/cutter/crimper &
screw cutter
 Drill and a variety of bits
 File
 Hacksaw
 Hammer
 Handsaw
 Needle-nose pliers
6 September 2014










Nut driver set
PVC pipe cutter
Reciprocating saw
Safety glasses (one per
person)
Screwdrivers; variety of
sizes, standard and Phillips
head
Soldering iron
Square
Tape measure
Utility knife
Wire cutter/
stripper/crimper
72
“Good To Have” Tools












Band saw
C clamps
Circular saw
Cordless drill
Cordless screwdriver
Dremel (or other rotary) tool
Drill press
Electric driver
Hand held belt sander
Heat gun
Hole saws
Lathe










6 September 2014
Metal ruler
Miter saw
Roll around tool box (spare
parts and tools)
Sheet metal brake
Soldering iron, solder, and
flux
Table sander (belt sander and
disc sander in one unit)
Table saw
Tap and die set and handle
for the common size fasteners
in the kit
Tin snips
Vise
73
TECHNICAL TOPICS
FOR TEAMS
6 September 2014
74
SAFETY FIRST






Safety glasses
Hearing protection
Dust mask
Buddy system
Keep work area clean
Supervise students at all times
 READ YOUR POWER TOOLS OWNER’S
MANUAL
6 September 2014
75
Some Basics
 Only use the parts supplied in the Returnables and
Consumables kits
 The robot must fit into a two foot cube in the starting
position and cannot weigh over 24 pounds
• The robot may certainly be smaller
 There are generic rules concerning things you may or
may not do to the items in the returnable kits
• Read it and follow or you will not pass compliance
 You must use the supplied batteries and charger
 The robots must be robot-box compliant
6 September 2014
76
Some More Basics
 Equipment included in the Returnables kit
• Transmitter, receiver, batteries, servos,
electronic speed controllers, etc.
 Must be returned at the conclusion of the
competition
 Do not modify!
 All machines will be inspected for compliance
with rules before the contest
 Winning machines may be inspected again
6 September 2014
77
Batteries
 Source of electrical
energy for robot
 Manage your
batteries carefully!
 Two 7.2 Volt NiCad
batteries
 2000 mAhr capacity
 Team-owned
batteries not allowed
on the field on game
day
 Only 1 battery on
the machine at a
time!
 No excuse for a
battery meltdown!
6 September 2014
Monitor batteries
during charging
78
Battery Charger
Included in the kit
Read charger instructions and follow carefully!
Battery will become warm during a fast charge
If a battery becomes hot during a charge,
disconnect from charger immediately!
 Batteries can explode!




6 September 2014
79
RC Transmitter and Charger
 For robot control
during the building
and test phases as
well as competition
 Transmitter is
turned on; normal
RC operation after
sync to receiver
 Team receiver box
and robot box
installed on robot
6 September 2014
 Charge transmitter
battery overnight
before competition
 Use time of about
100 minutes
 Keep transmitter
and robot off as
much as possible
80
Speed Controllers (one style)
 Vary motor speed
 Change motor
direction
 Needs to be mounted
for easy access for
tuning
 One switch must be on
to allow the BEC to
power the receiver
 Don’t modify wiring!
6 September 2014
81
Servos
 Connected to the robot
box
 Used to drive
mechanisms (like
grippers, releases, etc.)
 But sometimes used in
novel ways to control
micro-switches
 Do not open!
 You can change/modify
the horns/wheels
6 September 2014
82
DC Motors
 Do not disassemble
 Connections to motors should be soldered
 Use bullet connector when connecting motor to
speed controller
 Reverse power connections to reverse direction
of rotation
6 September 2014
83
Recommendations
 Install robot box
 Easy access to main on/off switch and
receiver box
 Access to battery and speed controllers
 Solder electrical connections
• Connections to micro-switches and motors
• Solder and tape electrical splice connections
 Red to Red and Black to Black
6 September 2014
84
VEX Controller
VEX Cortex
 <<go to PDF file for VEX quick start>>
6 September 2014
86
Summary
Most Importantly
6 September 2014
88