VCU’s School of Engineering to host Robotics Competition

By Marcia Meredith

Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Engineering and NASA Langley Research Center are hosting the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition March 16 - 18 at VCU’s Stuart C. Siegel Center. Part of a nationwide event, Richmond is serving as one of 10 regional host sites.

"It is uniquely fitting that our commonwealth, recognized by many as one of the leading high tech centers in the world, showcases an event that will attract the engineers and scientists of tomorrow," said Virginia Secretary of Technology Donald Upson.

Teams of high school students from around the world – including a Brazilian team scheduled to compete in Richmond – will be presented with boxes of parts and contest rules six weeks prior to the regional competition. With guidance from engineers, scientists and corporate leaders, each group must construct a remote-controlled robot capable of competing "gladiator style" against other robots.

Powered by batteries and guided by joysticks, the robots will crawl, claw and compete in athletic-style contests. The dueling nature of the head-to-head competition tests students’ math, science and engineering skills and requires teams to build offensive and defensive capabilities into their designs.

"We hope this competition will not only ignite a new generation of engineers and scientists, but also motivate high school students to achieve academically," said Robert Mattauch, Ph.D., VCU School of Engineering dean.

Founded in 1992 by Dean Kamen, a New Hampshire inventor-engineer, the FIRST Robotics Competition seeks to inspire a desire for scientific learning and encourage the pursuit of a profession in engineering. "At FIRST, we see a world where science and technology are celebrated, where kids think science is cool and dream of becoming technology heros," said Robert Hammond, FIRST Robotics Competition director.

Based in Hampton, NASA Langley Research Center has been a FIRST Robotics sponsor for the past several years. This year, it has pledged 20 scholarships for teams that compete in Richmond.

"Only about 200 people in the nation have the appropriate background to build a space robot like the Mars Sojourner. Given the number of robotic engineers NASA will need to hire in the next 10 years, we hope to lure a wider pool of young students to our field. The robotics competition is the perfect setting to pique interest in the hearts and minds of students," said David Lavery, Ph.D., program executive for Planetary Exploration at NASA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The FIRST national championship will be held in April at Epcot of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

Applications from high school teams and additional corporate sponsors are now being accepted for the Richmond event. For more information, contact Patty Cook, Richmond’s FIRST Robotics event coordinator at (804) 828-0880, or visit the following Web sites: NASA Langley educational robotics at http://robots.larc.nasa.gov/ or FIRST at http://www.usfirst.org/.