All judging follows a specified rubric to guide the judges on what criteria they are to evaluate for each segment of the competition. All judging is done in small teams of 2 or more people, depending on the number of judges available.  See Resources below for the judging documentation.

 

There are 3 categories of judging:

All teams competing are required to submit an engineering notebook. The notebook demonstrates that the team is aware of and followed the engineering methodology in order to design, build and test their robots. Engineering notebook judges are assigned a subset of teams in the online judging tool at registry.bestrobotics.org.

 

Marketing Presentations 

Teams have the option to create a marketing presentation in which they present to potential investors (judges) and attempt to sell their robot product to the judges.  They focus on their company value proposition and demonstrate how their robot best solves the problem presented in the game. Judges will be assigned to one of multiple rounds of judging closer to the competition.  There are 2 rooms in which presentations will be held.  Judges are asked to bring a personal laptop or tablet (laptops preferred) in order to enter scores directly into the online tool.  However, if you find it easier to do the scoring on paper, you can do that but will still need to enter your scores and comments in the tool before the end of the day.  If you have concerns with being able to enter your scores on the online tool, the head judge can assist with this step.

Game Day Judging

There are 3 main categories of judging on game day. Judging is done as a team:

1. Team Exhibit and Interview

Participating teams create a science fair style tabletop display to advertise for their company and robot product and are expected to give a short elevator speech to the judges.  Judges ask interview questions  to evaluate the team’s knowledge of their company, product and team based on rubric criteria.  Sample questions are provided.

2. Spirit and Sportsmanship

Judges are located on the game floor where the robotic competition takes place.  Judges observe the teams in the pits and on the field and collaborate with the referees to get a full picture of how the teams operates, conducts themselves and how much spirit their school displays during competition.  See the attached rubric to see the different categories of spirit and sportsmanship to be assessed. Some examples of good sportsmanship include helping other teams that are struggling and cheering for everyone not just their own team.

3. Team Awards are for fun (no monetary value assigned) and largely based on judges discretion

BEST Award

The Notebook, marketing presentation, team exhibit/interview and spirit/sportsmanship scores are all factored in to determine the winner of the BEST Award.  For an overview of the BEST Award as well as each category of judging, see the attached document, Judges Info for BEST Award.pdf.

Team Awards

There are several additional team awards that are recognized during the awards ceremony. The relevant judging teams will need to assess all of the teams together to select a winner for each award.

• BEST T-Shirt Award - determined by the Spirt and Sportsmanship judging team
• The Founders Award for Creative Design - determined by the Spirt and Sportsmanship judging team
• Most Robust - determined by the Spirt and Sportsmanship judging team AND the referee team
• Good Lookin’ John Wigand Most Photogenic - determined by the Spirt and Sportsmanship judging team
• Most Spirit - determined by the Spirt and Sportsmanship judging team AND the referee team
• Most Sportsmanship - determined by the Spirt and Sportsmanship judging team AND the referee team
• Best Table Display and Interview - determined by the Exhibit and Interview judging team
• Best Use of Game Theme - determined by the Spirt and Sportsmanship AND Exhibit and Interview Judging teams AND the referee team
• Blood, Sweat and Duct Tape - determined by the Spirt and Sportsmanship judging team AND the referee team
• SAME Award - determined by the Spirt and Sportsmanship AND Exhibit and Interview Judging teams AND the referee team