1. Bison BEST Robotics Kick- Off Day!!
September 16, 2017
North Dakota State University

2. Welcome!

3. Bison BEST Team Michael Kessler Dean of the College of Engineering
Briana Nupdal Hub Director
Alan Kallmeyer Game Coordinator
David Bertolini Co-Game Coordinator
Nancy Rossland Volunteer Coordinator
Sheri Eberle Team Resource Coordinator
Tiffany Neuharth Logistics Coordinator
Nik Kukert Awards & Judging Coordinator
Majura Selekwa Kit Coordinator
Jim Walter Teacher & Mentor Coach/Head Referee

4. Important Dates Mall Day Game Day Saturday, Oct. 21st: Practice Day
West Acres Mall
Game Day
Friday Oct. 27: BEST Award Events & Practice Driving
NDSU Bentson-Bunker Field House & Alumni Center
Saturday, Oct. 28: Robotics Competition
NDSU Bentson-Bunker Field House

5. Regional Hubs Bison BEST Jackrabbit BEST Falcon BEST
North Dakota State University
Fargo, ND
Jackrabbit BEST
South Dakota State University
Brookings, SD
Falcon BEST
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH

6. Regional Hubs Wolverine BEST Penn State DuBois BEST Grove City College
Grove City, PA
Penn State DuBois BEST
Penn State DuBois
DuBois, PA

7. BEST Locations

8. Regional Championship
Northern Plains BEST Regional Championship
NDSU SHAC
November 29th – December 1st
36 teams, representing five hubs will advance to this Regional Championship
BRI will NOT host a National Championship in 2017

9. Team Roll Call

10. Awards Robotics Competition - 1st, 2nd, 3rd Place
BEST Award – 1st, 2nd, 3rd Place
Best Engineering Notebook
Best Marketing Presentation
Best Team Exhibit & Interview
Best Spirit & Sportsmanship

11. BEST Award Categories There are five categories of competition
Project Engineering Notebook (30 points)
Marketing Presentation (25 points)
Team Exhibit and Interviews (20 points)
Spirit and Sportsmanship (10 points)
Robot Performance (15 points)

12. Awards Robotics Finalist Award (4th Place Robot)
Founders Award for Creative Design
Most Robust Robot
Most Photogenic Robot
Blood, Sweat & Duct Tape Award
Top Gun Award
Software Design Award

13. Awards NDSU College of Engineering Teamwork Award
2017 Bison BEST Alumni Award
Teacher of the Year Award
Mentor of the Year Award
Hub Director Choice Award
BEST Simulink Design Award (awarded at Regional Championship)

14. Certificates Best T-shirt Design Award Best YouTube Video Award
Best Team Website Award
Best CAD Design Award

15. Software Design Award
Presented to the team who best describes their software design process, practices, and experiences in their Engineering Notebook.
It is intended to recognize teams who understand that “programming” is an essential part of their overall robot design and requires just as much thought as the mechanical / electrical design.
Show us your software design process, not the actual code itself.

16. Simulink Design Award Awarded at Northern Plains Regional Championship
Sponsored by MathWorks
One award and cash prize of $1,000 presented at each Regional Competition
Due date: November 25th
To compete, you need:
BEST Simulink model
Short YouTube Video describing their program using Simulink
Brief Description of how team used Simulink
For more information and for online submission, visit

17. 2017 Game

18. 2017 Game Teaser

19. Game Objectives
BEST Inc. has announced an organization-wide Fire Safety Initiative involving fire prevention through new and improved safety policies, but BEST has also started a Research and Development program to explore robot intervention in industrial fire emergencies.
Design and build a robot to perform the following operations:
Rescue the Manikin
Contain the Chemical Drums
Extinguish the Flames

20. Unveiling of the Field

21. Game Animation

22. Open your Packet!!

23. Game Overview
Your robot will be extinguishing the fire by launching simulated water from a distance
Highest priority – rescuing the Manikin from inside... just like in a real rescue situation, every second counts!
Hazardous Chemical Drums need to be removed and placed in the Containment Area

24. Field Layout

25. Field Zones No Entry Zone: Hot Zone: Cold Zone:
Origin Point of the Fire
Robots cannot access this zone
Hot Zone:
Accessible by 1 team (Green, Blue, Red, or Yellow)
Cold Zone:
Accessible to all teams except for inside other teams’ starting boxes

26. No Entry Zone
Extreme temperatures and partially collapsed structure prevent robots from accessing this zone
Fire has collapsed the structure, flaming debris is all over the place
Flaming debris is mostly concentrated on Shelves
Flames are located on Shelves in stacks of 3

27. No Entry Zone
Green Zone
Red Zone
Blue Zone
Yellow Zone

28. No Entry Zone
Rubble settles on the ground and water filters through to the Water Return
Robots may access “Recycled Water” by opening the Water Return
Teams area not guaranteed to be able to re-use any amount of “Recycled Water”

29. Hot Zone
Manny the Manikin is laying on the ground on the left side – position is random
3 Chemical Drums are stacked in a pyramid formation on the right side. Drums have different amounts of chemicals inside, which alter their weight and are randomly stacked.

30. Cold Zone
Accessible to all robots except for in the other teams’ starting box
Contains Starting Box and Containment Areas

31. Spotter’s Area Stretcher is the scoring area for the Manikin
Rescue Timer Button is pressed by the spotter to activate the bonus for that round, once the Manikin is placed on the Stretcher
Water Hydrant is the starting position for the water – spotters may pick up bucket

32. Spotter’s Area Spotter may:
Touch robot if it is docked at any time during match
Reconfigure docked robot at any time during match
Touch Water Hydrant, Stretcher, Rescue Timer Button, ground inside the Spotter Box, and Ground inside the Starting Box
Touch Water if it is in the Water Hydrant, in the Stretcher, Spotter Box, Starting Box, or Robot if it is fully docked
Receive the Manikin from the robot if the Manikin is fully supported by the robot and the robot is fully docked, or if the Manikin is fully supported by the Starting Box

33. Spotter’s Area Spotter may (cont’d):
Touch the Manikin after it has been received, in the Spotter Box, Starting Box, Stretcher, or combination of those areas
Adjust the Manikin if it is partially in the Stretcher and partially touching the ground outside the field

34. Manny the Manikin
Considered “Rescued” when it’s completely inside the Stretcher with all 4 limbs oriented away from the head
Rescued Manny is worth 120 pts
Rescue Timer Button can be initiated by Spotter, once Manny is Rescued before end of match – point bonus is equal to number of seconds remaining in match

35. Manny the Manikin Correctly Scored Correctly Scored Correctly Scored
Not Correctly Scored

36. Chemical Drums
Considered Hazardous and may not be touched by the Spotter
Each of the 3 Chemical Drums are weighted differently and stacked randomly each match
Each Chemical Drum is worth 40 points if it is touching the bottom of the Containment Area
Each team can only score 3 Chemical Drums

37. Chemical Drums
Correctly Scored
Correctly Scored
Correctly Scored

38. Chemical Drums Correctly Not Scored Correctly Scored
Bottom is Correctly Scored
Top is Not Correctly Scored

39. Extinguishing the Flames
Flame is considered “Extinguished” when cup is knocked sideways, right side up, or is no longer on the Shelf
30 Flames of each color
5 Points per Flame of team color Extinguished
If all 30 Flames of a team’s color are Extinguished (no matter which robot knocks down the flames), that team will receive a 30 point bonus

40. Extinguishing the Flames
Flame is Lit
Flame is Extinguished
Flame is Extinguished

41. Extinguishing the Flames
Bottom Flame is Lit
Top Flame is Extinguished
Both Flames are Lit
Both Flames are Lit

42. Simulated Water
Water is simulated by hollow, dimpled, plastic, practice golf balls
There will be a total of 160 Water balls for each field – 40 per Water Hydrant at the start of the match
Robots may use water as projectiles

43. Maximum score a team can earn in a match is 600 points
Scoring
Maximum score a team can earn in a match is 600 points
Manikin Rescue
120 Points
Rescue Bonus
180 Points (Rescue in under 1 second)
Flames Extinguished
150 Points (30 Flames x 5 Points)
Under Control Bonus
30 Points
Chemical Drums
120 Points (3 Drums x 40 Points)

44. Tournament Protocol Seeding Rounds: 8 matches per team
Team rankings based on the average of the points scored during the seeding matches, excluding the teams’ lowest score
Top 7 teams advance to Semi-Finals: 3 matches per team
8th team decided by single wild-card match from remaining teams with highest notebook scores
Team rankings based on total points accumulated during the semi-final matches
Top 4 teams advance to Finals: 3 matches per team
Team rankings based on total points accumulated during the final matches

45. Q & A Read Game-Specific Rules Read Online Q&A Read Generic Game Rules
Read Generic Kit Notes
Reread all of the above!

46. Announcements Packet Overview Lunch 12:30 PM (on your own)
Afternoon Workshops 1:30 – 4:00 PM
Field Inspection 12:30 – 4:00 PM
Kit Distribution 12:30 – 4:00 PM

47. BEST of Luck!!!