BEST Robotics Simulink Design Award

MathWorks presents the Simulink Design Award at the BEST Robotics Regional Championships every year to the teams that make the best use of MATLAB and Simulink in the competition to program their robots. The following are the videos from the winning teams of the BEST Robotics Simulink Design Award from previous years.

Boosting Engineering, Science & Technology

2017 Winners

 

Texas BEST Regionals

Ereckson Middle School CoCo BEST

This model shows a Stateflow chart that implements custom joystick controls for the robot. The team also implemented a redundant firing mechanism with two buttons to prevent unwanted firing.

 

South's BEST Regionals

Eastwood/Cornerstone Schools War Eagle BEST

This team implemented Simulink simulations with two different inputs using dashboard buttons and a gamepad, as well as dynamic controls to change between left-handed and right-handed drivers seamlessly.

 

Frontier Trails BEST Regionals

Council Grove High School Kansas BEST

The Simulink model takes advantage of dead bands to improve the drivability of their robot. The team was also able to verify their logic with simulations before programming the robot hardware.

 

Northern Plains BEST Regionals

Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy Wolverine BEST

Designed a “creeper mode” using MATLAB functions to slow down the movement and increase the precision dynamically when driving the robot. They also used simulations to verify behavior of opposing servos and the firing mechanism.

 

Denver BEST Regionals

STEM High School Highlands Ranch Front Range BEST

This team used Simulink to toggle between arcade and tank drive modes to accommodate for different drivers. They also programmed an automated feeder for their shooter and verified the complete robot behavior by using simulation displays.

2016 Winners

 

South’s BEST Regionals

Eastwood/Cornerstone Schools War Eagle BEST

The Simulink model is divided into four subsystems and uses Stateflow charts and Simulink blocks to control the robot. It was designed with simulation in mind, using a gamepad simulator as well as value display blocks throughout the model.

 

Frontier Trails BEST Regionals

Athens Bible School Little Rock BEST

Designated Agriculture Robot’s (DAR) Simulink model controls locomotion; corn, lettuce, and tomato harvesting; planting; watering; and pig wrangling.

 

Northern Plains BEST Regionals

DuBois Area High School Penn State DuBois BEST

The Simulink model utilized a tank drive system with custom dead bands and slew rates. It included a precision mode and a control orientation toggle. Programming solutions were employed to prevent damage to components and some common driver errors.


2015 Winners

 

Texas BEST Regionals

Manthano Christian Academy Dallas BEST

The Simulink model of robot used blocks from the VEX Library, Stateflow charts, and a 3D field model (V-Realm Builder) for simulation. The 3D plant model evaluated different base and wheel sizes for the robot design. The model also included MATLAB code translated from existing C code for debugging purposes.

 

South’s BEST Regionals

Brooks High School Northwest Alabama BEST

The team used a completely custom Simulink model to program their robot, REAPER. The model incorporated several advanced features including complex Stateflow logic used to give the program unprecedented adaptability and intuitiveness.

 

Frontier Trails BEST Regionals

Campus High School Kansas BEST

Their Simulink model consisted of simple math blocks along with the joystick and motor blocks to design drive control for the wheels, arm, and the gripper. The model contained simulation inputs and displays to test the program behavior.

 

Northern Plains BEST Regional

DuBois Area High School Penn State DuBois BEST

The Simulink model was written from scratch and consisted of six main sections, one for each functionality. The model used subsystems to group blocks increased readability yet allowed inspection by looking under the mask.