'March madness' meets robots at FIRST Boilermaker Regional Competition

The FIRST Boilermaker Regional Competition will hold court for 29 teams in a 54-foot by 26-foot arena. Teams consisting of high school and college students will compete against each other with their robot inventions in a basketball-style game through Saturday (March 16-18) in the Purdue Armory.

FIRST, or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, combines sports with science and technology. Journalists can visit the teams and watch qualifying matches, which take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday (March 16-17). The top-ranked teams will compete in final rounds beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday (March 18), with the winners to be announced at 3 p.m. in Purdue's Elliott Hall of Music.

Satellite Coordinates:

U/L TYPE: Analog

Band Type: Ku-Band

SBS6/05 (74'W)

U/L: 14123.000 MHz Vertical

D/L: 11823.000 MHz Horizontal

Allocated Bandwidth (MHz): 43.000

In addition to the satellite uplink of contest highlights, a news release with competition results and photos will be issued the day of the final round. Results information will be available online at http://news.uns.purdue.edu/uns/html3month/2006/060318.FIRST.winners.html. An ISDN line is available for radio interviews, but journalists must arrange interviews prior to the contest. Video b-roll is available by request.

Journalists planning to cover the contest or having questions regarding teams and the news release should contact Cynthia Sequin, (765) 494-4192, csequin@purdue.edu. During the competition, Sequin can be reached by cell phone at (317) 938-5209.

Writers: Jesica Webb, (765) 494-2079, jwebb@purdue.edu

Cynthia Sequin, (765) 494-4192, csequin@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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