NASA Kicks Off 2009 First Robotics Season With Live Broadcast

Dec. 31, 2008

Sonja Alexander
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1761
sonja.r.alexander@xxxxxxxx

Jonas Dino
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-5612
jonas.dino@xxxxxxxx
MEDIA ADVISORY: M08-271

NASA KICKS OFF 2009 FIRST ROBOTICS SEASON WITH LIVE BROADCAST

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. - NASA Television will broadcast the annual
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology)
Robotics Kickoff event on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2009, at 7 a.m. PST from
Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester.

During the live broadcast, FIRST Robotics founder Dean Kamen will
reveal the competition scenario for 2009, launching a six-week design
and building frenzy for thousands of students in 1,687 international
student teams.

The event also will be streamed live at NASA Robotics Alliance
Project
(RAP) Web site at http://robotics.nasa.gov.

Each year, FIRST presents a new robotics competition scenario with
twists and nuances to challenge both rookie and veteran teams alike.
Each team receives an identical kit of parts and has six weeks to
design and build a robot based on the team's interpretation of the
game scenario. Other than dimension and weight restrictions, the look
and function of the robots is up to each individual team.

As in past years, NASA is playing a significant role by providing
public access to robotics programs to encourage young people to
investigate careers in the sciences and engineering. Through the NASA
Robotics Alliance Project, the agency provides grants for 238 teams
and sponsors four regional student competitions, including a new
FIRST regional competition in Washington, D.C.

Kamen founded FIRST in 1989 to convince American youth that
engineering and technology are exciting and 'cool' fields. The annual
robotics competition is patterned after the engineering design course
that FIRST national advisor Woodie Flowers taught at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.

NASA participation in the FIRST program is provided through the NASA
Headquarters Science Mission Directorate, Washington, and is directed
by Dave Lavery.

NASA TV's Public, Education and Media channels are available on an
MPEG-2 digital C-band signal accessed via satellite AMC-6, at 72
degrees west longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical
polarization. For additional information go to:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For a complete a list of the regional events, corporate sponsors and
other details, visit:

http://www.usfirst.org/

For more information on the NASA's Robotics Alliance Project visit:

http://robotics.nasa.gov

For NASA sponsored regional events and teams visit:

http://robotics.arc.nasa.gov/events/2009_sponsorship.php

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