LAST DAYS TO REGISTER FOR SEASON (NLT 5 Sept)

Eight-Week MADE 2 ORDER Game Fall Hub Season

• Saturday 17 September - Hub Kickoff Event – Combined with Front Range BEST teams: Game Reveal, Robot Material Distribution and Training, Englewood High School, 3800 S Logan St, Englewood
• Saturday ~22 October - Online Critical Design Review Presentation
• Saturday 29 October online 9am - Engineering Notebook Delivery Due
• Saturday 29 October - Hub Practice Day Event – Team Practice and Optional BEST Award Marketing Presentation - STRIVE Prep RISE 18250 E 51st Ave, Denver
• Saturday 12 November - Hub Game Day Event – Team Competition, Judging and Optional BEST Award Team Exhibit and Interviews, Englewood High School, 3800 S Logan St

Regional Championship

• Saturday - Sunday 3-4 Dec - Denver BEST Regional Championship – Schools earn an invitation. Colorado School of Mines Lockridge Arena.

Team # - School as of 26 Aug

1302 - Abraham Lincoln High School

1304 - Aurora Frontier P-8

1307 - Broomfield HS

1308- Columbia MS

1310 - DSST: Byers

1311 - Gateway HS

1312 - Good Shepherd School

1314 - Monarch HS

1315 - Most Precious Blood Catholic School

1316 - Mrachek MS

1318 - Our Lady of Fatima School

1323 - St Peter and Paul School

1324 - St Therese School

1326 - STRIVE Prep – RISE

1327 - Thomas Jefferson HS

1328 - Valley HS

1331 - Blessed Miguel Pro Academy

1333 - Bennett High School*

1334 - Bennett Middle School*

1335 - Crescent View Academy*

*Rookie Schools

Please reply to this email with any questions. I'd also be happy to talk on the phone with you!

KICKOFF EVENT 17 September Englewood HS with Front Range BEST

• ALL SCHOOLS MUST BE REGISTERED NLT 5 SEPT TO PARTICIPATE
• For registered Teams - teachers, mentors, AND students (and parents as space is available)
• We reveal the MADE2ORDER Game rules & game floor & demo prototype robot 
• One-hour parallel breakout training sessions - most limited to 1/team with extra participation as space is available. Prerecorded videos will be available after the event.
• Pick-up Robot Kit including robot material totes and three 2'x4' plywood sheets + 5' length of PVC Pipe - bring large enough vehicles to carry material *
• Currently, we HIGHLY recommend all participants wear a mask.  
• FINAL Kickoff Event details to be emailed out to REGISTERED teams by 7 September.

PREPARATIONS FOR KICKOFF

1. * Teachers must submit ("sign electronically") using this 2022 RMBEST Kickoff Returnable Kit form prior to event
2. Download Software Licenses - Information under Registry Team Workflow Software Licenses - Especially 1 CORTEX control software option listed below including changed easyC option
3. Consider a plan for attendance at the Breakout training sessions. 

BREAKOUT TRAINING SESSIONS (Sessions (1-8) limited to 1/team)

1. Kits and Rules
2. Intro to Engineering Notebook
3. The BEST Award Competition (Optional competition)
4. Intro to Simulink Programming Highly recommend bringing a WINDOWS PC with SIMULINK loaded.
5. Teacher and Mentor Tips
6. Intro to BEST Control Systems
7. Intro to easyC Programming Highly recommend bringing a WINDOWS PC with easyC V6 loaded.
8. Critical Design Review Presentation
9. Robot Design & Construction tips- This session is held in the Gym - no limit on participation

USE THIS LINK to view and overview of each Breakout Session Overview

Especially for Rookie Tachers -

2019 Kickoff Presentation EXAMPLE to have better understanding of what to expect at a Kickoff event. NOTE: information contained in this presentation is NOT current for 2022!  2019 RM BEST Kickoff Event Presentation Charts 

• Recruit team members
• Students must be registered via parents in BEST National Registry where FILES, SCHEDULES, LICENSE + other 
• Take advantage of BEST ONLINE training – TEACHERS, MENTORS, PARENTS, STUDENTS (see below)
• Use the Registry Software License section to evaluate software licenses your team might want to use. 
• Consider requesting MathWorks software and attending ~6-hours of online training (see details below - request can take several days to process).

• Evaluate your team’s tool list – consider prototype tools and materials too
• Create a safety plan draft
• Review 10 weekly bESTology postings for info / hints about this year’s game at this LINK 
• Create a team schedule – when to meet & deadlines
• Review 2021 DEMO DAZE Game Rules – all but Section 3 Game-Specific rules will have a lot of similarities in 2022. Pay special attention to Section 1. General Rules and Sections 4-7
• Recruit other mentors – get them to register in BEST National Registry - a parent can be a mentor

bESTology - Jump start your teams with 10 Weekly web postings for the Made 2 Order game including Game Theme related topics; Class/group or individual exercises; Research, writing, thinking, learning.

1. Defining Automatic
2. What Job Where?
3. Picking Which Way
4. Control? What Is In Control?

 5.Choose Your ARMS

6. It’s A Matter Of Sense(ors) 

7.Where Are My Arms? Topics Sensors Path Orientation 

8.Which Way What? Topics Sensors Path Orientation-Gyroscopes Objective

9. Am I All I Can Be? Topics Function Autonomous Function or Not 

10.Where’s The Guidance? Topics Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGV) Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR)

Available for download to Windows Based Computers

• You can use one of 3 robot control software license options for VEX CORTEX processor
• NEW THIS YEAR - ONE easyC license will be provided to each requesting RM BEST team, other licenses are not limited.
• See Team Workflow - Team Software Licenses for all BEST licensing instructions and links

Options

• easyC - one annual license key per requesting team - REPLY to this email to request. (Additional annual licenses can be purchased for $15/license using PROMO CODE.BEST2022). ALSO - available is a 7-day free trial version.
• RobotC - free 4.56 (EXE) legacy version
• MathWorks MATLAB/Simulink - see details below including a computer independent option

MathWorks has 2 MATLAB/Simulink Access Options - each with different BEST team use constraints

MATLAB/Simulink DOWNLOAD

• Requires a Windows based computer NOTE: Will NOT work on MAC or LINUX or CHROME based computer
• Can be used to control a Physical BEST Robot
• Can be used to control an ONLINE Virtual BEST Robot
• Control software generated by MATLAB/Simulink is downloaded to the provided kit physical robot VEX Cortex processor via a USB cable

MATLAB/Simulink ONLINE

• Any computer can access the software via the web.
• Virtual Robot control is possible only via a Keyboard (no Joystick control)
• Cannot control a physical BEST robot
• Includes MATLAB Drive for File Storage
• Eases student computing requirements as it runs on a dedicated remote host

STEPS to access complimentary MathWorks license

1. Register your team in the BEST National Registry with RM BEST Hub - use the instructions on the Team Workflow software license section.
2. Several days before starting training or needing software for another reason, start the process to get software. 
3. Generate a MathWorks account for BEST MathWorks Sponsored License by clicking Complimentary Software Request Software button at www.mathworks.com/best-robotics. When asked "which competition you are participating in", use "BEST Robotics" as the answer.
4. Download and Installation requires significant time & resources. ALSO install Robotics Playground from Add-ons Explorer for training.

RESOURCES

• Contact technical support with installation issues
• Contact roboticsarena@mathworks.com for any other showstoppers

If NEW to MathWorks, HIGHLY RECOMMEND viewing the following prior to the 6 Classes:

MATLAB and Simulink Getting Started Guide for BEST Robotics - Software Ramp Up (Video links on page 2)

1. Intro to MATLAB (titled: Learn to Code with MATLAB)
2. Intro to Simulink
3. Intro to Stateflow

On Your Own MathWorks Training (6 Classes at ~60 minutes each)

BEST Simulink Training (Videos & Other files)

Class 1 (Unit 1 & 2)

•Introduction to programming using MATLAB

•Programming basic robot movements

Class 2 (Unit 3 & 4)

•Introduction to robot simulations using Simulink

•Programming interactive robot controls

Class 3 (Unit 5)

•Using a distance sensor for autonomy

•Hardware demonstration (VEX Cortex) - obstacle detection

Class 4 (Unit 6)

•Using MATLAB Functions)

•Creating Interactive Dashboard for your Robots (BEST Robotics SimBot with VEX Cortex Hardware)

Class 5 (Unit 7)

•Task sequencing with flow diagrams using Stateflow

•Hardware demo- IR sensor line follower

Class 6 (Unit 8)

•Programming of maze-solving robots

•Hands-on programming task

• Robot Compliance Check Process Video
• Critical Design Review Presentation Video
• Critical Design Review Presentation Slides
• Video Design Challenge Video

• BEST National Registry - Team Workflow for Teams Video
• BEST National Registry - Team Workflow for Teams Slides
• BEST National Registry - Student Registration for Parents Video

Applicable RM BEST Training

BEST IQ Challenge introduction & Kickoff

When Thu, Sept 8, 4:00pm – 4:30pm MDT

Description BEST IQ Challenge is back! On a new platform from our partner Mathworks. We've coupled the IQ challenge with coding for an interesting new challenge for students. We'll be introducing the platform (MATLAB Cody) and the fall challenge details at this Kickoff. You don't want to miss it. Open to anyone. This is a challenge for individuals.

Register to attend here

BEST IR Sensor Workshop

When Sat, Sept 24, 9am – 11am MDT

Where  Meeting WEBEX Link 

Description In-depth training on the BEST IR sensor operation, assembling the IR sensor kit and testing its functionality.