The Scientia Foundation the University of Vic-University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC) and the firm Girbau have reached a cooperation agreement to run, for the first three years, the FIRST Tech Challenge programme to foster scientific and technological vocations among young people aged 16 to 20. This year the classifying heats will be held on 5th and 6th April at the American School of Barcelona (Esplugues de Llobregat), involving about 16 teams from Spain and elsewhere in Europe. For the next two years, the competition will be held at UVic.
FIRST Tech Challenge is one of the leading international STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programs aimed at young people aged 16 to 20. This programme joins the others already in operation in Spain: FIRST LEGO League Junior (from 6 to 9 years old) and FIRST LEGO League (from 10 to 16), in which UVic already has experience of organising the competitions since 2012.
How the competition works
FIRST Tech Challenge is engineering and fun in their purest state. The teams, made up of a maximum of 15 people plus two or three mentors, design, create, test and programme autonomous and operator-controlled robots that have to carry out a series of missions in a space measuring 3.66 m x 3.66 m. These missions are part of a global challenge that is renewed every year. This year the challenge is “Rover Ruckus”, related to exploration beyond the solar system. The language of the competition is always English.
During the competition the teams have to submit the "Engineer's Notes" with the know-how involved in the robot, to the judges.
Kick off presentation
On 20th October there will be a meeting to present the challenge, which will serve to "kick off" the programme. At this presentation, which is open to participants, mentors, trainers and anybody else interested, the key information to understand how the competition works will be outlined, together with the details to be borne in mind for proper preparation. The session will take place at the American School of Barcelona (C. Jaume Balmes, 7, Esplugues de Llobregat) from 11am to 1pm.