97021 news 1041987600 1653584976 <![CDATA[Georgia Tech To Host FIRST Robotics Competition Southeast Kickoff]]> Students and educators from more than 30 high schools in the Southeast, including 15 from Georgia, will gather at the Georgia Institute of Technology on Jan. 4 for the kickoff of the annual FIRST Robotics Competition.

This national competition, in its 12th year nationwide, develops critical skills in science, technology and engineering among high school students.

Georgia Tech is the site for one of 16 kickoff events in the United States and Canada. The event features a live NASA broadcast from the main kickoff event in Manchester, NH. At the Georgia Tech kickoff, Ward Winer, chair of the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, will open the ceremony.

Team representatives will receive kits of robot parts, comprised of 900 bits and pieces. The teams will then have six weeks to build robots that will compete against others in competitions later in the year. The competitions are high-tech sporting events, the result of months of focused brainstorming, teamwork, dedicated mentoring, project timelines and deadlines.

WHEN:

Saturday, Jan. 4, 2003 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Telecast begins at 10 a.m.

WHERE:

Van Leer Auditorium, 777 Atlantic Drive, Georgia Tech campus

]]> 2002-12-31T00:00:00-05:00 97031 image <![CDATA[FIRST Student Competition]]> Lisa Grovenstein - Communications & Marketing

]]> www.usfirst.org) was started in 1992 by Dean Kamen, a New Hampshire inventor and engineer. In this competition, 9th - 12th graders pair up with college engineering students or engineering companies to design and build a robot to compete in regional and national games. Today, more than 800 teams and 20,000 students compete in 23 regional events. Georgia schools will compete in the Peachtree Regional, scheduled for March 27-29, 2003, at Gwinnett Civic Center in Duluth, Georgia. The championship event will be held April 10-12 at Reliant Park in Houston, TX. For a complete listing of teams, visit www.robojackets.org.]]> 1214 http://www.gatech.edu/news-room/archive/news_releases/sportingrobot.html 1214