Maryland Home School Robotics Team Wins Slot for US FIRST's International Robotics Competition in Atlanta, April 16-19by Staff
April 10, 2008
ABINGDON, Maryland (christiansunite.com) -- TechBrick is a home school robotics club that has fielded eleven robotics competition teams over the past five years through an international robotics competition sponsored by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).
Based on our high school team's award-winning performances in state competitions in MD, DE, and NJ, they have been invited to participate in the World Championship in Atlanta.
The FIRST World Championship occupies 250,000 square feet in the Georgia World Congress Center with 10,000 students from 20 or more countries, more than 600 robots, 5000 mentors, and 500 volunteers. This program is creating engineering interest for young students at a rate of 4 to 10 times the national average.
"This opportunity came at us at the last minute," says Marco Ciavolino, Senior Mentor and founder of TechBrick Robotics. "We really didn't expect to draft for available spots. The team that went last year is still talking about their experiences and lessons learned."
TechBrick FTC is ready to win. Having won major engineering awards in DE, MD, and NJ, they are ready to take on the world. "We've wrung out the minor bugs," says Amy, team captain. "We're ready to take our bot on the road and compete with our fellow teams from around the globe."
FIRST was founded by Dean Kamen of Segway scooter fame to create a competitive and highly charged environment for students involved in technical areas. He wanted to bring the excitement of football, basketball, and soccer to the field of invention. The program now sponsors events for children from 5 years old through high school. A recent comment by Lt. General (Ret.) Lawrence P. Farrell, Jr. of the National Defense Industrial Association indicated that his member organizations are concerned about a shortage of qualified engineers. US FIRST is a program that helps fill that need.
Visit the TechBrick website at
www.techbrick.com for more information about this exciting program, our team of young engineers, and how your company can assist them with the support they need to make the trip.
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