MHS 2009 BEST Team Placed 5th in State
33 Teams Participated
by Martie Helm
November 02, 2009
This years BEST (BEST: Boosting Engineering Science and Technology) team consists of Tristan Brandt, Josh Smith, Jacob Smith, Cody Schaefer, Chris Rice, Michala Shaklee, Bryan Fankhauser, and Jason Brewer. We are hard at work constructing a robot capable of picking up different sized balls and cans that represent the raw materials needed to build isooctane. “The objective is for teams to collect and employ common molecules (CO₂, H₂O) and essential resources (energy, catalysts) to complete a series of chemical reactions” (BEST Robotics, Inc.).
For example: C₆H₆ + C₂H₄ + 4H₂ + Energy + Catalyst -> C₈H₁₈ (isooctane)
Inventory collected by the robot carries over for use in other equations.
Kansas BEST is a six week robotics program where the students
receive a problem to solve and a kit of materials with which to
build a robot. There are approximately thirty teams from all
over the state competing. During the six weeks of the
competition they will work with mentors (Warren Brandt, Aaron
Luthi, Brad Cummings and Donette Biggs) who provide guidance and
advice on how to brainstorm and apply problem solving strategies to
construct their robot. There is a practice competition held
at Town East Mall in Wichita on October 31st. The
following week the actual competition takes place at Koch Arena on
the Wichita State Campus.
Anyone interested in more information regarding BEST can contact
Brian Bartlett or Martie Helm at the High School.
