Media Invited to Attend 83 Local High School Kickoffs in 81 Cities Worldwide As Teams Participate Through NASA-TV Global Broadcast

FIRST Robotics Competition 2013

Who:

FIRST (®) (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) will be joined by public figures to launch the 2013 season of the FIRST(® )Robotics Competition (FRC(®)) with a worldwide Kickoff event originating from Manchester, N.H.

-- The 2013 season will include an estimated 2,550 teams (nearly 51,000 high-school students) participating in 77 Regional and District events. All teams, grades 9-12, will be shown the 2013 robotics game field and challenge for the first time and will receive an exciting, new Kit of Parts made up of motors, batteries, a control system, and a mix of automation components - but no instructions.

-- Teams will have six weeks to design and build robots to meet this year's engineering challenge.

Dignitaries and public figures will deliver remarks on video and in person, including (in order of appearance):

-- Dean Kamen, President, DEKA Research and Founder, FIRST;

-- Margaret Wood Hassan, Governor of New Hampshire;

-- Dr. Woodie Flowers, FIRST Executive Advisory Board Chairman & Pappalardo Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology;

-- Walt Havenstein, Chairman, Board of Directors, FIRST; and

-- FIRST students & Special Guests

What:

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an annual competition that challenges high-school students - working alongside professional Mentors - to design and build a robot of their own, and compete in a 'Sport for the Mind™' that measures the effectiveness of each robot, the power of teamwork and collaboration, and Gracious Professionalism®. Students build and program their own robots against a field of competitors and experience the excitement of science, engineering, technology, and innovation.

When:
Saturday, January 5, 2013 -

10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time, Local Remarks (LIVE Manchester, NH only)

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time, NASA Broadcast

Where:
Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), 2500 North River Road, Manchester, N.H.

-- 83 Kickoffs in 81 cities worldwide: FIRST teams will tune in via NASA-TV broadcast and webcast. Access the NASA webcast via http://robotics.nasa.gov/ or http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html.

-- To locate teams in your area, visit www.usfirst.org and click on the "What FIRST Teams & Events Are in My Area?" block in the top right corner.

-- For a listing of local Kickoff locations, visit http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/local-kickoff-information.

FIRST will unveil the details of the new 2013 robotics competition game after the speaker program. Students on the new game field take measurements and inspect the challenge in order to develop strategies for robot construction, and to determine if they will play offense, defense, or both.

Broadcast Links:

http://robotics.nasa.gov/ or http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html