FIRST Robotics Competition Kicks Off With Recycling Theme
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) brings more than 300,000 young people ages six to 18 together from around the globe to build robots and compete in high-tech playoffs. The competition is in its 26th year and continues to grow in popularity.
This year’s challenge is called Recycle Rush. The theme is recycling and the objective is to build a robot that can transport and stack crates and recycle bins in a field 27 by 54 feet. Robots must then be able to deposit “litter”—or pool noodles—into the recycle bins. The 2015 games will be more high-tech than ever, with a state-of-the-art sandwich-sized control system from National Instruments that provides a 500 percent performance improvement over previous years.
Teams have six weeks to build their robots, followed by a month of regional competitions. Winners of the regional games will compete at the national championship in St. Louis, MO in April.
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