Students from across metropolitan Atlanta are forming teams and choosing players for a special soccer tournament – with robots – as part of a new partnership between CareerBuilder and Georgia Tech.

Pick-up soccer just jumped light years ahead. 

On April 18, CareerBuilder and Georgia Tech’s College of Computing will host the inaugural “CareerBuilder Robotics Challenge” – a new effort to expose school children to the creative art of programming by inviting them to build their own robots for a competitive soccer game.

WHAT:            ‘CareerBuilder Robotics Challenge’

WHEN:            Saturday, April 18
                        10 am – 2 pm

WHERE:          Georgia Institute of Technology
                         Klaus Advanced Computing Building – Atrium
                         266 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332

For the past six weeks, middle and high-school students have been creating and programming individual “QBots” for the tournament. The 7-inch square robots are powered by an Ardunio microcontroller and controlled with either a homemade Bluetooth remote or Google Android phone. The outer shell of the robot is made with construction paper and popsicle sticks, decorated by the student as an expression of the creator. Students will be randomly assigned a teammate on the day of the tournament and two-person teams will compete in a World Cup-style tournament complete with team jerseys.

“America needs more programmers and we believe that today’s students need to see computing as both a necessary skill as well as a tool of expression and problem solving,” says Cedric Stallworth, assistant dean for the Office of Outreach, Enrollment and Community at Georgia Tech’s College of Computing. “Just like authors of the world have used the fundamental skill of writing to impact their time, we want to expose today’s children to computing as a fundamental skill that can change their world.”

Georgia Tech hopes that this will be the first of many such competitions, Stallworth says, with Atlanta-area students and community partners, such as CareerBuilder.

“Employers are struggling to fill IT and engineering roles, and that talent gap will only become wider in the years to come,” said Eric Presley, Chief Technology Officer at CareerBuilder. “Working with Georgia Tech, CareerBuilder is hoping to inspire the next generation of workers to pursue technology-related career paths and open the door to new possibilities.”

About CareerBuilder®

CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract great talent. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 24 million unique visitors and 1 million jobs. CareerBuilder works with the world’s top employers, providing everything from labor market intelligence to talent management software and other recruitment solutions. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

About the Georgia Tech College of Computing

The Georgia Tech College of Computing is a national leader in the creation of real-world computing breakthroughs that drive social and scientific progress. With its graduate program ranked 9th nationally by U.S. News and World Report, the College’s unconventional approach to education is expanding the horizons of traditional computer science students through interdisciplinary collaboration and a focus on human-centered solutions. For more information about the Georgia Tech College of Computing, its academic divisions and research centers, please visit www.cc.gatech.edu.