Press release from UNC Asheville:
UNC Asheville will host the North Carolina District FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition on campus from March 18-19 in Kimmel Arena in UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center. Twenty-eight teams of high school students from North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia will assemble on campus to engage in a field competition with industrial-sized robots, which they have built and programmed themselves. The competition is free and open to the public.
Competition takes place from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 18 and Sunday, March 19, concluding with an awards ceremony.
Under strict rules, limited resources and an intense six-week time limit, teams of students are challenged to raise funds, design a team brand, hone teamwork skills, and build and program industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game against like-minded competitors. This year’s competition will feature a “steamworks” theme, with the team-built robots driving autonomously and by remote control, collecting and throwing balls, retrieving and placing gears, and even climbing ropes.
Winning teams earn the right to compete in the FIRST North Carolina State Championship, held at Campbell University on April 1-2.
To register for this free event, visit firstnorthcarolina.org. For more information, contact Neil Rosenberg, lecturer in engineering at UNC Asheville and mentor of the UNC Asheville FIRST Robotics team, at 828.250.2345 or nrosenbe@unca.edu.
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