Let The Games Begin

The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robot competition kicked off the 2007 season by announcing the playing field challenge and parts kits for this year's contest.

The high school teams are given six weeks to design and build their competition robots for the first round of the competition.

According to the press release, over 32,500 students from 1300 teams will be participating this year.

Excerpts:

In this year’s game, “Rack ‘N’ Roll,” students’ robots are designed to hang inflated colored tubes on pegs configured in rows and columns on a 10-foot high center “rack” structure. Extra points are scored by robots being in their home zone and lifted more than 4” off the floor by another robot before the end of the 2 minute and 15 second match.

In 1992, the FIRST Robotics Competition began with 28 teams and a single 14 x 14 foot playing field in a New Hampshire high school gym. This season, over 1,300 teams will participate. Thirty-seven regional competitions will lead up to the 2007 FIRST Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, April 12-14.

USFIRST.org