| FIRST Robotics began in 1989 as a way of | | | | our moon landing and will be held in Atlanta April 16-18. |
| encouraging students to choose careers in math, | | | | This year's autonomous robots will be restricted by |
| science and technology, while also building their life skills | | | | size and weight (no more than 5 ft tall, no wider than |
| and instilling a spirit of "gracious professionalism" and | | | | 38 inches, no deeper than 28 inches and no heavier |
| humility in its participants. Without "chest thumping" or | | | | than 150 lbs) and must be able to pick up orbit balls |
| "sticky-sweet platitudes," as the site explains, young | | | | (2-point moon rocks, empty cells and 15-point super |
| people engage in competitions where they build robots. | | | | cells) and transfer them into a trailer hitched to their |
| The Junior FIRST LEGO league is for 6-9 year olds. | | | | opponent's robot in just two minutes and fifteen |
| The FIRST LEGO league targets younger children | | | | seconds. |
| ages 9-14, while the FIRST Robotics Competition helps | | | | While 80-90% of the teams participating this year will |
| high school age students. The FIRST Tech Challenge | | | | be returning from previous years, there are 300 rookie |
| provides more affordable robotics technology to high | | | | teams joining as well. Of course, even given the |
| school students. More than 137,000 kids participated in | | | | charitable contributions, each team will likely need to |
| last year's program, spanning across 42 countries from | | | | come up with $9,000 - $10,000 to cover meals, |
| Germany and the UK to Turkey and Israel. | | | | transportation, lodging, food, robot parts and lab fees. |
| FIRST Robotics founder Dean Kamen is an inventor, | | | | The Baby Boomers grew up fascinated by the Space |
| physicist, engineer and entrepreneur. He is perhaps | | | | Race and the emergence of heroic astronauts as role |
| best known for inventing the Segway Human | | | | models. Today's youth are more into computers. Even |
| Transporter, an environmentally friendly short distance | | | | so, television shows like "Mythbusters," "Build It Bigger" |
| travel solution. He's also developed the HomeChoice | | | | and battling robot competitions are trying to intrigue |
| portable dialysis machine (Baxter Healthcare) and the | | | | young people to look to physics, engineering and |
| Independence IBOT 4000 mobile robot system | | | | technology. |
| (Johnson & Johnson). | | | | However, hands-on learning with robot design events |
| He's currently working on a water purification system | | | | like FIRST Robotics may be what really helps seal the |
| that promises to provide clean drinking water to 1.1 | | | | deal. Andy Bell, a product manager at National |
| billion people around the world. For his efforts, he's | | | | Instruments, explained, "Working with colleges and |
| received the Heinz Award in Technology, the National | | | | universities enabled us to help educators shift from |
| Medal of Technology presented by President Clinton | | | | lecture-based learning to hands-on learning. Through |
| (2000) and the Lemelson-MIT Prize (2002), among | | | | our partnership with Lego, we saw an opportunity to |
| others. | | | | do the same with an even younger audience... and do |
| For 2009, the FIRST Robotics Competition will be | | | | so in a very engaging and entertaining way. |
| called "Lunacy" to celebrate the 40th anniversary of | | | | |