Forty-Five Regional Competitions To Take Place In April
An international robotics competition that develops the next
generation of technology leaders kicked off over the weekend. NASA,
the largest sponsor of the FIRST Robotics Competition, and its
centers across the nation joined local technology firms to launch
the event Saturday.
FIRST, or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and
Technology, is a long-standing challenge to inspire curiosity and
create interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics
among high school students. The event gives students the
opportunity to design, build, test and compete a robot that can
perform specific functions. FIRST also gives students a crucial
mentoring experience with NASA professionals, who help them explore
solutions to robotics problems and understand real-world challenges
faced by engineers and researchers.
FIRST founder Dean Kamen and designers of the annual challenge
will revealed the competition scenario for 2011. What follows is a
six-week design and building frenzy for an estimated 30,000
students and engineering mentors comprising the nearly 2,000 teams
in this year's competition.
Each year, FIRST presents a new robotics competition scenario
with twists and nuances to challenge both rookie and veteran teams.
Each team receives a kit of parts and has six weeks to design and
build a robot based on the team's interpretation of the game
scenario. Other than dimension and weight restrictions, the look
and function of the robots is up to each individual team.
NASA plays a significant role by providing public access to
robotics programs to encourage young people to investigate careers
in the sciences and engineering. Through the NASA Robotics Alliance
Project, the agency provides grants for 297 teams and sponsors four
regional student competitions, including a new FIRST regional
competition in Washington, D.C. NASA engineers and scientists
participate with many of these teams as technical participants and
mentors to the students. Through these mentoring activities, NASA
engineers are able to directly share their expertise and
experiences with the nation's next generation of technical
This year, 45 regional competitions will take place across the
country, along with four additional international competitions in
March and April. The FIRST Championship competition will be held in
St. Louis in April.