January 05, 2006 Laurel, Maryland

Capitol College is hosting the regional kick off to an intense robotics competition for high school students from around the world.

The college is a remote kick off site for the 2005 FIRST Robotics competition. More than 300 students participating in the competition regionally are expected to be on campus Jan. 8 from about 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. to watch the live telecast from the competition headquarters in Manchester, N.H.

FIRST is a worldwide competition that challenges teams of professionals and students to solve an engineering problem in six weeks using a kit of parts to build a robot. Throughout the 30 regions, teams enter a series of competitions.

Chesapeake Regional consists of 53 teams from Maryland, 11 other states and the District of Columbia. More than 1,500 students participate in the region, which is largely supported by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Students will arrive at about 8 a.m. with the opportunity for a tour of the campus and a continental breakfast. At about 9 a.m., the remarks and introductions will be made by regional competition organizers and Capitol College President Michael T. Wood.

The Jan. 8. telecast at 10 a.m. includes a welcome and introduction to the game by Dean Kamen, founder of the competition and inventor of the Segway Human Transporter, among other things. Teams will be issued their robot-making kits and have the option to attend workshops held at Capitol, which include basic mechanics, pneumatics, electronics and controllers.

The regional competition will be March 18-20 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. The FIRST Robotics Championship will be in April at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

Capitol students, faculty, staff and the public are encouraged to volunteer for the kick off or Chesapeake Regional. Interested volunteers should contact Desiree Taminelli at 301-286-8593.