Area high school teams meet Saturday at NASA’s Marshall Center for robotic competition kickoff

What:

Five high schools – two in Huntsville and three in neighboring cities – will
participate in
a national engineering competition to build and operate robots with the help
of NASA’s
Marshall Space Flight Center and industries in Huntsville, Ala.

Conducted by the FIRST Foundation (For Inspiration and Recognition of
Science and
Technology), the event teams students with engineering mentors from
government,
industries and universities in a design project that culminates with
regional and national
competitions. Student team members will gather Saturday at the Marshall
Center for
the competition kickoff. This is the first look the teams will have at this
year’s kit of robot
parts, from which they will have six weeks to build a remote-controlled
device to perform a
specific sports-based game.

Who:

Student engineering team members representing Lee High School and New
Century
Technology High School in Huntsville; Bob Jones High School in Madison; Arab
High
School in Arab; and Lincoln County High School in Fayetteville, Tenn.
Sponsors of the
teams are the Marshall Center, the Boeing Co., and Daimler Chrysler. Last
year, the Lee
High team, sponsored by Marshall, beat more than 260 competitors to capture
two of the
national awards presented.

When:

Saturday, Jan. 6, from 11 a.m. to noon with the unveiling of robot kits to
occur during a live
NASA TV broadcast from the FIRST Foundation’s headquarters in New Hampshire.

Where:

Marshall Center’s Morris Auditorium, Building 4200 on Rideout Road.

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Contact

Jerry Berg

Media Relations Department

(256) 544-0034

jerry.berg@msfc.nasa.gov