First Robotics Competition to Score and Reward Cooperation

WHAT:   Sixty-six high school teams, including three from Chile, will face off in the 23rd season of the Los Angeles regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition. This year’s game is “Aerial Assist.”

The 2014 challenge is played between two alliances of three teams each. Each alliance tries to score as many balls in goals as possible during a two-minute-and-30-second match. Additional points are earned by robots working together to score goals, and by throwing and catching balls over a truss suspended just over five feet above the floor as they move the ball down the field. 

Each team was given a kit containing motors, batteries, a control system, a PC and automation components. The students had six weeks to turn the parts into a working robot that is programmed, tested and ready for competition. They tackle real-world engineering obstacles and solve problems with the help of professionals from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.; aerospace and other companies; and higher-education institutions. JPL is sponsoring 10 robotics teams from Southern California at this competition. 

The participants are among more than 350,000 students from around the world vying to compete in the FIRST Championship to be held April 23-26 in St. Louis.

WHO:  More than 1,500 students from California, Nevada and Chile, with their professional mentors. See list on next two pages.

WHEN:  Friday, March 21:

8:30 a.m. – 5:45 p.m.      Opening ceremonies, qualification matches                                                                                                                                       

Saturday, March 22:

8:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.    Opening ceremonies, qualification matches

1:30 – 4:30 p.m.                 Final rounds                      

4:30 – 5:30 p.m.                 Awards ceremony

WHERE:  Long Beach Arena, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, Calif. 90802               

Phone: 562-436-3636. Competition admission is free. Parking fees apply.                                                             

 More information and a short video about FIRST are at http://www.usfirst.org/ . 

More information on NASA’s Robotics Alliance Project is at http://robotics.nasa.gov/ .

JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Los Angeles FIRST Robotics Competition 2014 List of Participating High Schools

* denotes schools sponsored by JPL

 International schools: 

1. John Muir High School and Sahag Mesrob Armenian Christian School, Altadena*

2. Anaheim High School, Anaheim

3. Servite, Connelly and Rosary high schools, Anaheim

4. Fairmont Preparatory Academy, Anaheim

5. Arcadia High School, Arcadia*

6. Atascadero High School, Atascadero

7. St. John Bosco High School, Bellflower

8. Beverly Hills High School, Beverly Hills

9. Theodore Roosevelt High School, Boyle Heights

10. John Burroughs High School, Burbank

11. Canoga Park High School, Canoga Park

12. California Academy of Mathematics and Science, Carson

13. Valley Christian High School, Cerritos

14. Culver City High School, Culver City*

15. Oxford Academy, Cypress*

16. Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Eastvale

17. El Segundo High School, El Segundo

18. Duncan Polytechnical High School, Fresno

19. Dos Pueblos High School, Goleta

20. Centinela Valley Union High School, Hawthorne

21. Da Vinci Science, Hawthorne

22. Hope Chapel Academy High School, Hermosa Beach*

23. Marina High School, Huntington Beach

24. Ocean View High School, Huntington Beach

25. St. Mary’s Academy, Inglewood

26. Arnold O. Beckman High School, Irvine*

27. Clark Magnet High School, La Crescenta*

28. Frazier Mountain High School, Lebec*

29. Long Beach Polytechnic and Woodrow Wilson high schools, and Classical Conversations, Long Beach

30. King Drew High School, Los Angeles

31. Marymount High School, Los Angeles

32. Windward Institute, Los Angeles

33. Augustus F. Hawkins High School, Los Angeles

34. Crenshaw High School, Los Angeles

35. Milken Community High School, Los Angeles

36. Loyola High School, Los Angeles

37. West Adams Preparatory Senior High School, Los Angeles

38. Franklin High School, Los Angeles

39. Newbury Park High School, Newbury Park

40. Hart High School, Newhall*

41. North Hollywood High School, North Hollywood

42. Orcutt Academy High School, Orcutt

43. Mira Costa High School, Redondo Beach

44. Reseda High School, Reseda

45. Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, Rolling Hills Estates

46. San Marino High School, San Marino*

47. Rolling Hills Preparatory School, San Pedro

48. Mater Dei High School, Santa Ana

49. Academy of the Canyons and West Ranch High School, Santa Clarita

50. Santa Maria PAL, Santa Maria

51. New Roads School, Santa Monica

52. The Buckley School, Sherman Oaks

53. Notre Dame High School, Sherman Oaks

54. Harvard-Westlake School, Studio City

55. Golden Gears Robotics, Studio City

56. West Torrance Robotics, Torrance

57. South High School, Torrance

58. High Tech-LA High School, Van Nuys

59. Saint Bonaventure High School, Ventura

60. West Covina High School, West Covina

61. Chaminade College Preparatory, West Hills

62. Temecula Preparatory School, Winchester

63. Clark High School, Las Vegas

International schools:

64. Liceo Politecnico Ignacio Carrera Pinto, San Carlos, Chile

65. Corporacion Corazon Technologico y Cientifico de Chile, Santiago, Chile

66. ROTATECNO, Santiago, Chile