Engineering education supported as company donates plastic machinery components to student competition for the third year.
The 15th annual BEST™ (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) Robotics Competition has kicked off at BEST hub locations nationwide.
BEST Inc., a non-profit, volunteer organization, aims to inspire middle and high school students to pursue careers in engineering, science and technology through participation in science- and engineering-based robotics competition. Started in 1993 with 14 competing schools and 221 students, today BEST has over 700 middle and high schools and over 10,000 students participating each fall. BEST features two parallel competitions:
A robotics game—based upon an annual theme with four teams competing at once in a series of three-minute, round-robin matches.
The BEST Award—presented to the team that best embodies the concept of Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology. Elements include a project summary notebook, oral presentation, table display, and spirit and sportsmanship.
To learn more about BEST, visit
www.bestinc.org.
Igus aspires to achieve a similar goal and through its Y.E.S. (Young Engineers Support) Program, donates products to engineering curriculums and competitions such as BEST in order to foster the mechanical design ideas of students and educate them about the merits and benefits of plastic components.
This year’s competition marks the third consecutive year for igus® Inc. as a nationwide product sponsor for the event.
In the 2007 competition, more than 780 BEST teams will have the opportunity to use:
E-Z Energy Chain® cable carriers. DryLin® N linear guide systems. Igubal® flange, pillow block and rod end bearings. DryLin S aluminum shafting. Leading software developer, SolidWorks® has joined igus as a nationwide sponsor of BEST.
“Each year, I look forward to learning how the teams use igus products and how we are able to help the BEST organization educate students about the fundamentals of science and engineering,” says Carsten Blase, vice president of igus. “When I heard Solidworks had jumped onboard as a product sponsor of the competition, it only affirmed igus’ dedication to the program. Now students not only have the chance to use cutting-edge, high-performance plastic components, but also will have access to the software tools to aid them in implementing our components. Igus welcomes SolidWorks to the BEST family.”
BEST teams have a total of six weeks to design and build their robots and will unveil their finished products at local events across the U.S. starting in October. The only information available about this year’s game challenge is a short video teaser entitled “Mission to Mars.”
To learn more about igus’ Y.E.S. Program, go to
www.igus.com/yesprogram.
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