DLCS robot wins big at first BEST Robotics Competition, hosted by engineering school

Janel Shoun | 

David Lipscomb Campus School took home one of two top awards this Saturday at the state’s first ever Music City BEST Robotics Competition, held by the Raymond B. Jones School of Engineering, in Allen Arena.

Six middle- and high-school teams, three cheerleading squads, a pep band, various robot mascots and a slew of robot-watching fans turned out Saturday for Tennessee’s first BEST competition, a 14-year-old, nationwide program that challenges middle and high school students to build their own robots to complete a designated task. Teams can only use the specific materials supplied to them six weeks before the competition – such as plywood, PVC pipe, duct tape, bicycle inner tubes, Velcro and various polymer machine components.

Three Nashville schools, two Murfreesboro schools and one from Oak Ridge competed Saturday in the “Laundry Quandary,” a challenge for the remote-controlled robot to hang the most “wet” laundry and remove the most dry laundry from a clothesline. David Lipscomb Campus Schools blew into the lead in the competition, and will be one of two teams to advance to the to South’s BEST Regional Robotics Competition, Dec. 8-9, at Auburn University, where more than 40 teams will compete for top honors in the region.

In addition the robot that earned the most points on the playing field, teams received awards in 15 additional categories, including the overall BEST Award, based on factors such as fund-raising, display booth, school spirit, T-shirt design and sportsmanship. McFadden School of Excellence from Murfreesboro swept up the BEST award and will also be headed to Auburn in December.

The DLCS team, made up of juniors Amber Colletti and Carissa Roberts; sophomores Bryan Reasonover and Todd Reasonover; and eighth-graders Ryan Colletti, Monique Fulks, Courtney Roberts, Logan Reasonover, John Logan Thomas and Blair Thornton, also won the award for Most Robust Design.

“At the practice competition held a week earlier, we realized that what we had built worked, but could still be improved. It helped the kids to practice and that hard work paid off,” said Dr. Greg Nordstrom, a Lipscomb University associate engineering professor who supervised the team

“We were really excited to win,” said DLCS junior Carissa Roberts. “Our robot was very consistent. The others had glitches while ours worked very smooth. But we cheered the other teams on. It was a fun atmosphere.”

The students also received guidance from three Lipscomb University engineering students and elementary school Science Lab Coordinator Ginger Reasonover, who coordinated the team. Together, the combined efforts of advisers and students helped to make this freshman effort well worth the many hours of work that went into the project, said Roberts.

“We had a really good extendable arm design on our robot,” Nordstrom said. “And all of our kids really practiced driving our robot. They knew exactly what they were going to do in the actual competition and that paid off.”

The winners are of Music City BEST Robotics Competition are:

David Lipscomb Campus Schools,Nashville
Winner of the Laundry Quandary competition
Most Robust Machine

McFadden School of Excellence, Murfreesboro
Overall BEST Award winner
Best Project Notebook
Most Elegant Machine
Best Spirit and Sportsmanship
Founder’s Award for the Creative Design

West End Middle School, Nashville
Best Table Display, Interview
Mentor of the Year, Dick Peugeot
Best T-shirt Design (“Yeah, We’re robo-geeks. We cleans up!”)
Table Display, Construction Award
Most Photogenic Machine

Blackman High School, Murfreesboro
Teacher of the Year, Brenda Pless
Best Costume

Oak Ridge High School, Oak Ridge
Best Mascot


Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School, Nashville
Blood, Sweat and Duct Tape Award