Welcome to Rocky Mountain BEST
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Our mission is to inspire students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) by engaging them in hands-on robotics challenges that foster teamwork, creativity, and problem solving.
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∗∗∗ What’s NEW? ∗∗∗
THANK YOU for supporting our Boosting BEST June Auction Fundraiser
– YOU can make a Difference – Help Us Inspire Students to Pursue STEM Careers
– YOU Can STILL GIVE to Support BEST Students You can donate at ANY TIME at this Colorado Gives Link
Please contact Lois.Walton@bestinc.org if you have questions.
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*** 2026 FALL BYTE to BITE SEASON ***
2026 Byte to Bite GAME Teaser Video
Enjoy this 2026 BYTE TO BITE Game Teaser Video
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2026 Rocky Mountain BEST
TEAM REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED
We are excited to have filled all our team slots for the 2026 Byte-to-Bite Competition Season
NEW TEAM SCHEDULE – planned Events & Reviews
- KICKOFF – 12 September @ Columbia Middle School (17600 E. Columbia Avenue, Aurora)
- BEST Robotics kits distributed
- Game rules revealed and training opportunities
- Virtual Meeting PRELIMINARY DESIGN REVIEWS (PDR) – September 22-24
- Team Robot Design Presentations with volunteer mentoring
- Virtual Meeting CRITICAL DESIGN REVIEWS (CDR) – October 13-15
- Team Robot Design Presentations with volunteer mentoring
- PRACTICE DAY – 24 October @ Columbia Middle School (17600 E. Columbia Avenue, Aurora)
- Online delivery of MANDATORY Engineering Notebook through the registry
- Online delivery of optional BEST Award Digital Marketing Video through the registry
- Provide team access to game field for practice
- Judging of optional BEST Award Customer Marketing Presentations
- GAME DAY – 7 November @ TBD
- Team robot competition
- Multiple judging activities including optional BEST Award Poster Display and Interview
- Schools or Youth Nonprofit Organizations: Need Help or Want Information Updates?
- Contact our Team Coordinator, Gwynn Moore at gwynn.moore@bestinc.org
UPCOMING VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Help us make the 2026 Competition a success!
ALL Practice and Game Day Event volunteers will need to have their driver’s license at Event Check-in
- NEW Virtual Meeting Mentoring – Critical Design Reviews (CDR) – October 13-15
- Please contact Gwynn Moore at gwynn.moore@bestinc.org if interested in mentoring
- We’re in need of volunteers with engineering or design experience who are willing to meet with teams to provide feedback and help teams to improve their design and approach to solving the problem.
- These reviews are critical for helping teams to solidify and improve their designs in order to have a functional and effective product for the competition.
- Your feedback is significant for their success!
- Volunteer hours are flexible during weekday afternoons and weekend daytime hours, and volunteers can expect to contribute between 4 and 12 hours over a week’s time, depending on their availability.
- NEW VOLUNTEER LINK NOW ONLINE Judging starting 14 October + IN PERSON Practice Day and Game Day Event Volunteering iVolunteer Link
- Volunteer Questions or to be added to our monthly Volunteer Newsletter: Contact our Volunteer Committee at rm.best.info.request@bestinc.org
Training Opportunities
- 2025 Kickoff Breakout Training Sessions Videos YouTube Link
- NEW 2026 BESTedu – NEW LINK with Continuing additions to Resources for your students–https://edu.bestrobotics.org/
2026 Summer Teacher Mentor Institute (TMI) 2026 TMI Webpage
- This year we offered 45 Seat Hours/3 CEU Professional Development Credits to Educators that complete all of the online units and the 3-Day Workshop at no charge to TMI Attendees.
- Online Pre-Work opened June 8, 2026
- In Person was: Tuesday, July 14 -Thursday, July 16, 2026, 8-4 each day. Location: St. Mary’s Catholic Church,
- TMI Presentation Files Link
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NEW 2026 MIDWEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
COMPETITION – Friday-Saturday 4-5 December @ Park City, Kansas (Near Wichita)
By invitation to qualifying 2026 RMBEST Teams
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*** LOOKING BACK at Last Year’s 2025 Fall Season ***
- 2025 PRACTICE DAY – 25 October 2025 @ Rangeview High School Aurora
- YouTube RECORDING of Live Stream Link
- 2025 GAME DAY – 8 November 2025 @ Rangeview High School Aurora
- Team robot competition, multiple judging activities including optional BEST Award Team Exhibit and Interviews + Spirit & Sportsmanship, Award Presentation –
- 2025 DENVER BEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT in KANSAS– 6-7 December 2025 – Friends University 2100 W University Ave, Wichita, KS –
- 2025 Competition Trophies Awarded
- 2025 Denver BEST Championship Program
- 2025 Sunday 7 December Denver BEST Regional Championship Competition – PART 1 (BLOCKED) and Livestream PART 2 YouTube Link (Missing some audio)
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*** Rocky Mountain BEST Education Program Introduction ***
Empowering the Next Generation of STEM Leaders
BEST Robotics 2019 Game Competition Introduction Video (6-min)
We are an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation created to host an annual robotics event for middle and high school students. There are no entry fees for our event. We provide an identical set of robot building materials to each participating school at no cost.
Competition
This unique event consists of:
- the excitement of a basketball game
- the strategy of a chess match
- the intellectual challenge of a science fair
- the pressure of a competitive sporting event
- plus hundreds of screaming fans, pep bands, cheerleaders, music, dancing and mascots.
- “BEST was one of my first experiences with robotics competition and I had a ton of fun while doing it… Your competition opened many doors for me and widened my horizons on what I can do in Robotics.” Dylan, Thomas Jefferson HS, Denver, CO
- “Thanks so much for letting us keep the robot for this long! I was able to convince our Board of Education that this should be a class and was able to secure funding for an additional teacher for our department. The robot helped with this!!!” Diane Freehling, teacher, Valley HS, Gilcrest, CO
- “Seeing the change in students going from uninformed to informed after Kickoff event” – Ameet Patel – Aurora Quest K-8
- “Awesome Program” – David Garcia, Jr. – mentor of Holy Trinity School and Bishop Machebeuf HS teams
- “BEST Robotics can be life altering for kids. Hard work and self-discipline mixed with ingenuity and intellectual stimulus is an EDP for building great 21st century achievers.”.
2015,2016,2017 Regionals – SoCo GRRT Coach, Jo Ahlm - You help run a wonderful competition that changed the lives of all my students–they learned so much and were talking about the competition we were in until the end of the year. Kalyn Wyckoff Teacher
- DSST Byers has competed in BEST for the last 3 years and it has become a core element of our robotics program. Unlike most other competitions we believe that BEST challenges our students across multiple disciplines including design, manufacture, marketing and sales, all skills that will be needed in future professional lives. The competition itself drives the greatest amount of creativity in strategy and problem solving with multiple tasks that need to be met with limited resource materials and at nominal cost. The students embrace these challenges, overcome them and at the same time have fun combined with the excitement of competition. Andrew
- Participation in BEST robotics competitions has been a genuinely inspiring experience for kids in SMA’s (St. Mary’s Academy) middle school and high school robotics programs. The opportunity to apply STEM concepts lends authenticity and meaningful application to what kids learn academically, and this happens again and again in preparation for and participation in BEST competitions. The implicit equity built into BEST through it’s no-cost approach genuinely opens doors to the world of science and engineering to anyone willing to take six weeks to take on a BEST challenge. Dave G
- I worked my hardest for six weeks building a robot, I got my butt kicked competing with it and lost, and I am a happy man because now I feel actually qualified to build another one! – T. Garcia
- What do you get when you take fifteen troubled adolescent males with little to none experience in robotics, and then set them off for six weeks with two tubs of materials to make a functioning robot for competition purposes? You get chaos. You get distrust, anger, and bickering- but what else? For us, we developed the beginning threads of trust, some inside jokes, and reconciliation. We also got an absolute juggernaut robot that blew everyone away- including its creators. – Cassidy R.
- Since I’ve been on the Rambotics team, I have learned a lot of things you couldn’t learn in a classroom or sport setting. Some of these things include how to build a robot out of a select amount of materials, team building skills, how to use math and science in a fun way, and how to be in a business like situation and still have fun at the same time. We did team building exercises together, we used problem solving skills to help us, and the whole team worked as one and got a 1st place winning robot made. – Dustin S.
- Thank you so much for all you do! I’m so amazed at how much this challenge has affected my students! – JC Clark, Bishop Machebeuf HS
- We are giving vision to young men and women, they may not be able to find otherwise, that will take them places they would not be able to go without this experience. I am proud to serve with you, investing in the hope of our future. Jon Barber, Co Pit Boss
- Thank you so much for your service and dedication to the BEST Robotics organization. You are an instrumental part of this organization that is making a difference in young men and women’s lives.
I know that this program made a significant impact on several of our students who are now seeking a career in engineering because of the experience they had in the BEST Robotics competition. Thanks for the support and dedication to the kids in our community and for promoting BEST.
Tom Spicer, Valor Christian HS
A link to the photo gallery is available in the page side bar.
Testimonials
