January 6, 2011

Jeannette P. Owens 
Media Relations Office 
216-433-2990
Jeannette.P.Owens@nasa.gov
MEDIA ADVISORY: 11-001

FIRST ROBOTICS COMPETITION KICKS OFF SATURDAY

CLEVELAND -- NASA Television will broadcast the annual FIRST (For 
Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics 
Competition kickoff event on Saturday, Jan. 8, from 9 a.m. to noon. 
The broadcast will be aired at Cuyahoga Community College, Unified 
Technologies Center (UTC), 2415 Woodland Avenue, Cleveland.

FIRST is a program designed to help students discover how interesting 
and rewarding a career in engineering and science can be by giving 
them real world experience working with engineers to build a 
functioning robot in six weeks.

During the live broadcast, which originates from Manchester, N.H., 
Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway Human Transporter and founder of 
FIRST, will reveal this year's robotics competition for thousands of 
high school students across America. More than 100 students are 
expected to attend this year's event at UTC.

The Saturday kickoff marks the beginning of the design and build 
season. Students will have the opportunity to meet with peers from 
other schools to compare notes, get ideas, make friends, find 
mentoring teams, pick up the kits needed to build a functioning 
robot, and gear up for the Buckeye Regional Robotics Competition, 
scheduled for April 7-9, 2011. 

The schools attending the kickoff are:


Amherst Steele High School  Amherst  
Austintown Fitch High School Austintown  
Beachwood High School Beachwood  
Bedford High School Bedford  
Berea High School Berea  
Brush High School Lyndhurst  
Chaney High School Youngstown  
Cleveland Metropolitan School District Cleveland  
East Technical High School Cleveland  
EHOVE Career Center Milan  
Erie School District Erie, Pa.  
Girard High School Girard  
Hathaway Brown High School Shaker Heights  
Highland High School Medina  
Lorain High School Lorain  
Mc2STEM High School Cleveland  
Midpark High School Middleburg Heights  
Orange Schools Pepper Pike  
St. Edward High School Lakewood  
St. Ignatius High School Cleveland    

Media representatives are invited to the kickoff, and are welcome to 
follow a team during the next six weeks as students work side-by-side 
with professional engineers and technicians, parents and teachers to 
build a robot. 

Reporters interested in tracking a team should contact Jeannette Owens 
at 216-433-2990. 

For the NASA Television downlink, schedule and streaming video 
information, visit:



http://www.nasa.gov/ntv


For additional information about FIRST, visit:



http://www.usfirst.org


For more information on the Buckeye Regional FIRST Robotics 
Competition, visit:



http://www.oai.org/firstbuckeye/index.htm


For more information on NASA and agency programs on the web, visit:



http://www.nasa.gov

	
-end-