High School Robotics Challenge Returns to Embry-Riddle
Daytona Beach, FL, February 1, 2012
Robots return to Embry-Riddle Saturday, Feb. 18, when hundreds of teens from around Florida flock to the Daytona Beach campus to participate in FIRST Tech Challenge’s Florida Championship Tournament. They will be competing in the daylong event to win regional recognition for design excellence, sportsmanship and teamwork, and to advance to the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship.
Engineering students and faculty members from Embry-Riddle will volunteer as judges and referees. The event, which will be held in the ICI Center, is free and open to faculty members, staff, students and the public.
FIRST Tech Challenge is a challenging robotics competition for high-school students who want to develop their skills in science, technology, engineering and math. Robots will execute offensive and defensive strategies, score racquet balls into crates, use sensors including infrared tracking, magnet, line following, ultrasonic, and touch to operate in autonomous and tele-operated modes. Robots will negotiate a 12’x12’ field, try to stack crates, score points, and roll a bowling ball into a goal during two-minute and 30-second matches.
Teams will compete for awards and a spot at FIRST Tech Challenge’s World Championship to be held in April in St. Louis, Mo. The competition is part of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a nonprofit organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen for inspiring young people’s interest and participation in science and technology.
New this year – at 1 p.m., students from Embry-Riddle’s Lunar Robotics team will host an open house in the Lehman Building atrium for local students and participants in the FIRST Tech Challenge. They will showcase student projects and discuss opportunities that are available to those who pursue degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering and math fields. The open house will include a tour of the Robotics, EcoCar, Manufacturing and the Wind Tunnel labs.
Schedule:
7 a.m. Pits open; practice matches
10 a.m. Opening ceremony
10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Qualifying matches and judging
1 p.m. Open house; starts in Lehman Building atrium
3:45-4:15 p.m. Judged awards ceremony
4:45–6:15 p.m. Elimination matches
6:15-6:30 p.m. Winning and finalist awards ceremony
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world's largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, is a nonprofit, independent institution offering more than 40 baccalaureate, master's and Ph.D. degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business and Engineering. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., and through the Worldwide Campus with more than 150 locations in the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada and the Middle East. The university is a major research center, seeking solutions to real-world problems in partnership with the aerospace industry, other universities and government agencies. For more information, visit http://www.embryriddle.edu, follow us on Twitter (@EmbryRiddle) and facebook.com/EmbryRiddleUniversity, and find expert videos at YouTube.com/EmbryRiddleUniv.
