• Register for Cowtown BEST 2013
• Learn more about the rules of the competition on the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page

 

 

 

News

January 15, 2013

 

 

December 23, 2012

2012 Game Day Photos and BEST Showcase Video

The BEST Showcase Video and a link to photos of the event have been added to the Cowtown BEST 2012 Game Day page and are available below; just in time for the holidays! ;) See you next year!

 

 

Congratulations to Birdville Center of Technology and Advanced Learning (BCTAL) who won the following awards at Cowtown BEST 2012 and at Texas BEST Regional 2012:

Cowtown BEST Game: 1st place
Cowtown BEST: Founder's Award for Creative Design
Cowtown BEST: Most Robust
Texas BEST Regional Game: 1st place
Lockheed Martin Top Gun Award
Texas BEST Regional Texas Instruments Most Robust: 3rd place
Texas BEST Regional Founder’s Award for Creative Design: 3rd place

 

 

BEST Showcase Video by RoboTex of Christian Homeschool Alliance of Texas (C.H.A.T.)

 

Photos from Cowtown BEST 2012

Cowtown BEST photos are now up! You can view the full photo set of BEST 2012 Photos on Flickr

 

 

December 04, 2012

Game Day Results

The Game Day results are being updated! Check back for more of these updates. Photos are coming soon!

 

 

October 17, 2012

Follow Us!

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates! We will be making updates to Twitter and Facebook, as available, during the event. Get the latest updates by following us!

 

 

October 17, 2012

Update from Jody Snow:

Mall Day is this Saturday, October 20 from 10am to 2pm at Hulen Mall. This is a location change from previous years, so please make note of it. Hulen Mall is located at 4800 S Hulen St, Fort Worth, TX. It is visible from I-20. Please be warned that there is a great deal of construction in the area, so please check http://www.northtarrantexpress.com/ for the weekend lane closures and traffic plans. I can also provide some directions if need be.

Logistics:

The mall officially opens at 10 am. We will be there setting up prior to 10 am, however, it would be a great courtesy to the hub team if you would please not expect to utilize the field before 10 am. I realize that due to traffic uncertainties, some of you may wind up arriving early. There are many places to enjoy breakfast near the mall, please feel free to do so.

You do not have to attend the entire 4 hours, however, this is your only practice time on the actual game field, so it is in your interest to be there earlier than later.

You are on your own for making your own lunch and refreshment arrangements. Again, there are many places to eat both in and around the mall area.

Due to the limited availability of electrical power, please come with all batteries and back-up batteries already charged. We will not be providing a charging station at Mall Day, as we need all the outlets we can access for the hub.

Under no circumstances will it be acceptable to do major rework on the robot. In years past, we have had teams leave a real mess for the hub to clean up due to drilling or grinding on parts.

Please remember that you will also be signing up for your BEST award presentation times. Presentation times are available on a first come, first serve basis. If you have logistical issues with presenting Friday night, please make Steve Dalton and I aware of it so that we can mitigate the impact on the competition.

If you are participating in the BEST Team Showcase Video competition, please remember your submittals are due to Juan Martinez on Mall Day at the mall. The video submittal has the same 1:30pm deadline the notebook does.

The Robot:

If you need to, and are able, now is the time to put in the long hours on the robot such that your students can have a functional machine by Mall Day. If at all possible, you just want the time between Mall Day and Game Day to be spent fixing/improving the machine and practicing. Please remember that you are required to bring your robot, no matter what status the robot is in. This is your chance to get some additional mentoring and for us to perform preliminary compliance checks to avoid the Friday night surprises.

The Notebook:

Please remember that the Notebook must be turned in by 1:30pm on Mall Day in order to eligible to compete for the BEST award and to compete on Game Day. Notebooks are considered late after this point and you will be disqualified from the BEST Award. If your notebook is late, it is incumbent upon you to make arrangements with the hub to get your notebook judged. Everyone must turn in a notebook and have it judged prior to Game Day to be eligible to compete. Also, please do not forget to include your demographic data sheet in the notebook. Your notebook is considered incomplete without it and will be marked down accordingly.

If you need help we will do our best to arrange some assistance for you.

 

 

October 12, 2012

We are approximately one week until Mall day and almost two weeks until the event! As announced at the Kickoff the event will be at The Clariden School of Southlake. Mall Day will be at Hulen Mall. A Google map to each venue is available below.

Mall Day

Mall Day is on October 20th, 2012 at the Hulen Mall from 10am to 2pm.

 

Machine Check-in and Game Day

Machine Check in and presentations are on October 26th, 2012 at The Clariden School from 5pm to 9pm

Game Day is on October 27th, 2012 at The Clariden School from 8am to 1pm

 

Game Rules

National BEST has information regarding the current game rules at http://www.bestinc.org/b_game_rules.php

 

Game Q&A from National BEST

National BEST has questions regarding the current game from teams nationwide and corresponding answers at http://best.eng.auburn.edu/cgi-bin/bestqna.pl

 

 

September 06, 2012

As of September 4th we had 6 slots remaining, on a first come, first serve basis. If you believe you are registered and are not on the teams list, please contact Jody Snow immediately. The registration link for Cowtown BEST is http://robotevents.com/cowtown-best-2012.html

As a reminder, kickoff is Saturday, September 15th at TCU. Please park near the Tucker Technology Center (physical address 2840 West Bowie St, Fort Worth, TX). We will begin the presentation at 9:30 am and the game reveal at approximately 11:00 am. Please wear comfortable clothes and shoes, as there will be walking between the Tucker Technology Center and the Brown-Lupton Student Union. You can park in the red circled parking lots shown on the PDF map below. It is strongly recommend to use parking near Tucker, as the day will start and end there. Depending on how long it takes you to sign for your kit, your day will end between 11:30 am and 1pm.

Map to Kickoff [PDF map]

 

 

 

September 04, 2012

Welcome to the Cowtown BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology) website. In the upcoming weeks, we will be providing information regarding the competition and robot kits.