WHAT:         Sixty high school teams, including one from Chile, will face off in the 17th annual FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition Los Angeles regional. This year’s theme is “FIRST STEAMWORKS.”
 
The 2017 challenge is set in an era in which technology relies on steam power. Teams must prepare their airships for the ultimate long-distance race. Each three-team alliance builds robots that collect fuel (represented by green balls) and deposits them in goals. As more fuel is collected, a steam pressure on their airship builds. Robots also retrieve and deliver gears to their airship pilots, who install them on the appropriate rotor. Finally, robots have to climb aboard each airship.
 
Teams are scored on each of these tasks. Teams with the highest scores at the end of the match are the most prepared for the long-distance race, and will be declared the winners.
 
Prior to the competition, students had six weeks to work with a kit of parts and a standard set of rules. In this time frame, they programmed and tested a robot built from these elements. The projects are designed to teach students teamwork as much as science and technology.
 
Sponsors for the event include NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, as well as higher-education institutes, aerospace companies and others. JPL is sponsoring six robotics teams from Southern California at this competition.
 
More than 1,500 students will compete at the Los Angeles Regional to earn a spot at the FIRST Championship to be held April 26-29 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.
 
WHO:           More than 1,500 students from California, Arizona, Hawaii and Chile, along with their professional mentors.
 
WHEN:         Saturday, March 25:
                              8:30 a.m. – 5:45 p.m.        Opening ceremonies, qualification matches                                                                                       
Sunday, March 26:
8:30 a.m. – noon     Opening ceremonies, qualification matches
1:30 – 4:30 p.m.                Final rounds          
4:30 – 6 p.m.                     Awards ceremony
 
WHERE:       Walter Pyramid, 1250 N. Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach State University, Long Beach, California  90840
Competition admission is free. Parking fees apply.                                  
 
More information about the FIRST Los Angeles regional is at:
 
http://firstlaregional.com
 
More information about NASA’s Robotics Alliance Project is at:
 
http://robotics.nasa.gov/
 
JPL is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena.