Teens Compete in FIRST Robotics Event

ATLANTA, April 20 -- Four high-school teams out of nearly 300 competing won top honors at the 2004 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition Championship, held this week at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

Students' robots 'Raising the Bar' at the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship, held this week in Atlanta.

Bellarmine College Preparatory school in San Jose, Calif., won The FIRST Chairman's Award, for the team that most embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST. The Winning Alliance of the overall competition was comprised of teams from Clark, Gavit, Hammond and Morton High Schools, Hammond, Ind.; Southeast Raleigh High School, Raleigh, N.C.; and Goodrich High School, Goodrich, Mich.

Dean Kamen, inventor of the Seqway scooter, among other innovations, founded FIRST in an attempt to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people.

FIRST also announced more than $4.6 million in scholarships from 46 leading universities, colleges and companies.

In the robotics competition, students and technical mentors work as a team to design and build a robot that solves a problem using a common parts kit and a standard set of rules. This year, teams competed with their robots in "FIRST Frenzy: Raising the Bar." The game consisted of remote-controlled robots racing around the playing field collecting balls and passing them to human players, who then attempted to shoot them into fixed and moveable goals. Teams could earn extra points by successfully maneuvering their robot to hang from a 10-foot-high bar at midfield. Teams then had to compete in regional events to win a place in Atlanta.

For more information, visit: www.usfirst.org