High Schoolers & GM Build Robots And Compete for National Honors
28 April 1999
(APRIL-1999) -- The mechanical smarts of hundreds of high school students across the country were put to the test this past weekend at Epcot Center, Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The annual FIRST Robotics Competition (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) pits corporate-sponsored teams against each other to see who can make the best robot and have it perform a specified task.
General Motors sponsored some of the fiercest competitors and top contenders for the big prize. In six intense weeks, students and GM engineers work together to brainstorm, design, construct and test their "champion robot." With only six weeks, all jobs are critical path. The teams then compete in a spirited no-holds-barred tournament, complete with referees, cheerleaders and time clocks.
There's also a LEGOŽ league. This exciting, new program introduces kids ages 9-14 to an academic challenge with a sports-like playing field where kids invent independent robots. The kids use the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robotics Invention System, the heart of which is a micro-computer mounted inside a super-sized LEGO brick.
