March 18, 2006
Teams advance to international robotics competition
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Six teams from the 2006 FIRST Boilermaker Regional Competition advance to the international robotics competition where robot teams, led by high school and college students and their mentors, vie for a championship title in a basketball-style game.
Teams from the Boilermaker Regional event advancing to the championship are:
The winners competed against 24 other teams over the three-day period culminating today (3/18) during the regional competition held at Purdue University.
Teams from Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Wisconsin and Kentucky competed in the event. About 1,500 people attended each day's contest.
The 2006 FIRST Championship Competition will be held April 26-29 in Atlanta with about 300 teams.
FIRST, or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, combines sports with science and technology. The 2006 game, called "AIM HIGH," features intense, fast-paced matches that measure the skill of robots and human players. Robots must pick up balls and shoot them into corner or center goals, while human players enter balls into play. Points are scored when robots make baskets into two types of goals in a 54-by-26-foot arena.
FIRST was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway human transporter. The program designs competitions to motivate students to pursue studies in science, technology and engineering.
Writer: Cynthia Sequin, (765) 494-4192, csequin@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
Previous news release:
Robot teams face off at Purdue 'sporting' competition
Related Web sites:
Purdue FIRST Programs Home Page
FIRST Robotics Boilermaker Regional Home Page
FIRST Robotics National Home Page
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