BEST Robotics, the national nonprofit that delivers free STEM skills training programs through robotics competitions to schools across the country, is announcing that the focus for the 2021 seasons for BEST teams, mentors, and schools will be the construction and demolition (C&D) industry.
BEST tailors it's annual competition to meet major industry trends. Recently, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics announced that last year, as part of the nation's recovery from the effects of COVID, over 900,000 jobs in the C&D industry were created. The many skills needed to be successful in the C&D industry mirror the skills needed to succeed in BEST competitions.
This diversity in skills training enables BEST Robotics to support more students and schools with its national partners: MathWorks, Texas Instruments, and Toyota USA Foundation.
Thousands of BEST Robotics students, formed into teams, will experiment and innovate using diverse workforce essential skills and technologies while disrupting how these are used to perform the complex and safety-critical tasks on construction and demolition sites. Construction and Demolition materials consist of the debris generated during the construction, renovation, and demolition of buildings, roads, and bridges. Managing these C&D materials is a significant part of the engineering effort on any construction or demolition site. School teams encounter additional issues such as site safety and preserving parts of an existing environment as they lead and seek the next BEST innovation using numerous technologies, including robotics.
"It is never too early to open these doors for future careers. Nationwide, we are seeing key shortages in Americans ready to take the lead in the development of tomorrow's technologies. Unless we plan today to train the leaders of tomorrow, the skills gap will only grow. Our nation's technological leadership will be in peril," says Finch Fulton, BEST Board Member and VP of Locomation, an autonomous trucking company, as well as the former United States Department of Transportation Deputy Assistant Secretary of Policy.
As an organization operating through schools and hubs across our nation, BEST Robotics has stayed focused throughout the impact of Covid on planning for students' future careers.
"We want to ensure that our students and partners continue to engage in multifaceted training for the future. BEST continues to be students' teams and schools partner in FREE project-based-STEM-learning. The future of our economy, growth of industry, and higher education depend on securing our students' pathway to STEM employment," says Dr. Mike Bright, BEST President of the Board and Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Grove City College."
Starting with the 2020 pandemic season and ongoing during Demo Daze 2021, BEST delivers in THREE different Skills training programs:
BEST Classic
Takes place in BEST Hubs across the nation in partnership with leading universities and centers of higher education.
BEST Classroom
Takes place in teams' schools, classrooms, after-school clubs, or anywhere the teams can congregate for up to 8 weeks.
BEST Online
Enables taking the upskilling and STEM training exclusively into the online and streaming dimension.
"Thousands of industry volunteers engage with BEST Robotics students, mentoring them to support their yearly journey as they experiment and innovate, developing the skills needed to join the workforce of the future. Experimenting now, together with leading industry experts, learning how these skills are used to perform the complex tasks…it is an amazing opportunity for the students. Frankly, it is an eye-opener for us in the industry as well, with mentors and volunteers experimenting side-by-side with students. There is an excitement which is hard to find," adds Finch Fulton.