FIRST robotics competition for Australia

Robotics program FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) will host the first Australian regional competition in 2015.

The event will be held at the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre on 11-14 March 2015 and teams from Australia and around the world will take part.

“This will be the first time that we’re holding a regional competition in Australia so it’s great to see that we already have teams registering from not only around Australia but also other countries including, Hawaii, Brazil, Taiwan, China and Singapore,” said Luan Heimlich, regional director for FIRST Australia.

Competing teams will have about six weeks to brainstorm, design, prototype, build, program and learn to drive a robot before putting them to the ultimate test in a large-scale robotics competition. The robots are up to 2 m tall and weigh as much as 50 kg.

As well as competing to be the overall winner, participants are also in the running for three awards: the Chairman’s Award, Engineering Inspiration Award and the Rookie All-star Award. The winning alliance and the award winners will be invited to compete in the FIRST World Championship event, to be held in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

FIRST’s mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication and leadership.