Robot Teams Get FIRST Marching Orders

FIRST students celebrate the new season.

Student teams from 38 Southern California schools gathered early on a Saturday morning to hear the announcement of this year's "game" for the 2011 FIRST Robotics Competition. (FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.)

Six San Diego Unified high school teams are scheduled to compete in this year's regional competition on March 10-12 at the Valley View Casino Center (formerly the San Diego Sports Arena). Students will work hundreds of hours leading up to the regional competition to build a robot to compete in the "game." The regional competition event is free to the public and very exciting to watch

This year's "game" involves putting tubes of various sizes onto racks within competition guidelines and standards.

Winners of the regional competitions will advance to the national competition in St. Louis. Kearny, Mira Mesa, High Tech, Madison, Crawford, and Lincoln high schools from San Diego Unified are currently scheduled to compete this year.

Teams will often work with other schools on portions of their robots and utilize each other's resources such as tools and machines.

For more information, contact Bill Berggren, CCTE program specialist, at (858) 503-1753.