RMT Robotics Mentors Students in FIRST® Lego® League and FIRST® Robotics Competitions

Mentors inspire students of all ages to pursue robotics science, technology, engineering and math

GRIMSBY, Ontario, Canada (Dec. 14, 2011) - Employees of RMT Robotics® (www.rmtrobotics.com), a Cimcorp Oy company, are donating their time to mentoring teams of local Ontario elementary, secondary and high school students in preparation for the annual FIRST® Lego® League (F.L.L) and FIRST® Robotics Competitions (FRC).


For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) is dedicated to inspiring young people to be leaders in science and technology through hands-on, team-based robotics challenges. Teams are supported by local mentors who provide engineering experience and technical expertise to students throughout the creation and competition stages of FIRST robotics challenges.

RMT employees have been involved with a variety of age-specific FIRST robotics teams for the past five years -even starting a new team in 2011. Mentoring programs include:

• Elementary School: RMT Engineering Manager Matt Alderson coaches F.L.L team GARF, eight students from Guardian Angels Catholic Elementary School building robots out of Lego pieces while researching real-life engineering problems surrounding food safety. GARF will compete as defending champions in the F.L.L Food Factor Challenge on Dec. 17, 2011, at Niagara College. Alderson and GARF are also serving as mentors to a new F.L.L. team at St. Thomas School in Waterdown, Ontario.
• High School: Alderson started a new team in 2011, "MakeShift Robotics" team 4039, at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School in Dundas, Ontario. Made up of 20 students, "MakeShift Robotics" will compete with their robot at the Waterloo Regional Qualifier March 22-24, 2012, at the University of Waterloo. RMT employees, including RMT Manager of Operations Rick Trigatti, have assisted and mentored FIRST team 2056 from Stoney Creek, and new team 4022 from Waterdown High School in Ontario. Billed by FIRST as the "varsity sport for the mind," high school teams and their mentors spend six weeks building robots from an unassembled kit of parts, program those robots and compete in regional and national competitions throughout the season.

In addition to teaching students job skills in the fields of design, programming, web development, finance, marketing and project management, mentors to FIRST teams serve as positive role models who inspire values of teamwork, self-starting and time management.

"FIRST competitions are a great way to spark interest in the fields of engineering, science and technology among students," said Alderson. "RMT is proud to be a part of these innovative and exciting programs to support the next generation of robotics engineers."

For more information, please contact Lori Vaughan, Marketing Coordinator, RMT Robotics, at lorivaughan@rmtrobotics.com.

For media information, please contact Sarah Murphy, Public Relations, Koroberi, Inc. (www.koroberi.com), by phone at 919-960-9794 or by email sarah@koroberi.com.

About RMT Robotics
RMT Robotics (www.rmtrobotics.com), a Cimcorp Oy Company, is a global company that manufactures and integrates turnkey robotic gantry-based order fulfillment and tire handling solutions designed to reduce operating costs and streamline operations.

To extend the flexibility of robotics beyond a fixed workspace, RMT Robotics also manufacturers and integrates ADAM™, the category-defining intelligent mobile robot. The ADAM system redefines the purpose and function of industrial AGVs by performing intelligent robotic transport of materials in complex, random origin to random destination industrial environments.

Since 1981, RMT Robotics has been recognized around the globe as an innovator in robotics materials handling. RMT helps our customers compete in an increasingly aggressive and price-sensitive global marketplace by providing best-in-class robotic handling solutions.

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