About Music City BEST

BEST, a nonprofit volunteer-based organization, hosts the annual six-week competition designed for middle and high school students to encourage them to pursue careers in engineering, science and technology. In 2006 the Lipscomb University Raymond B. Jones School of Engineering decided to sponsor a hub and named it Music City BEST. Lipscomb provides materials and equipment free of charge, distinguishing this program from other similar robotics programs that require large participation fees from schools. The first year six schools participated in the challenge called "Laundry Quandary". In 2007 nine schools participated in "2021: A Robot Odyssey", a challenge involving building a robot that could unload supplies on a "Martian" base and place them in a storage bin.

The theme for 2008 BEST was "Just Plane Crazy!". Kick-Off Day was on September 27 at Lipscomb's Allen Arena. Teams spent the morning experiencing the field and learning what their robots had to do.  In the afternoon the teams moved to McFarland Hall to attend workshops which covered mechanics, locomotion, electronics, robot controls and an overview of BEST. At the end of the day the teams left with all the materials they needed to build their robots.

After five weeks of designing and building, the teams had an opportunity to practice with their robots on Saturday, November 1st when the playing field was set up in the mall area outside the JC Penney store at CoolSprings Galleria in Franklin, TN. A week later on Saturday, November 8th, 13 teams competed in the challenge in Allen Arena. Many friends and family also came to cheer the teams on. See the results page for information on the winning teams.