2005-2006
WPI Hosts BattleCry Robotics Competition this Weekend
FIRST Founder Dean Kamen and National Advisor Woodie Flowers to Attend
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/June 20, 2006
Contact: WPI Media Relations,
+1-508-831-5609
What
Students from more than 60 high schools around the Northeast, as well as Indiana and Wisconsin, will compete in one of the largest robotics contests in New England this weekend. BattleCry@WPI 7, hosted by Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and cosponsored by Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, offers high school FIRST robotics teams the chance to test their skills and technical expertise in postseason competition.
BattleCry uses a playing field and rules similar to this year's FIRST game, Aim High. In each match, two three-robot alliances, called Red and Blue, will attempt to score points by putting balls into three goals, one of which is raised high off the floor. The robots compete first in a 10-second autonomous period, during which the robot control their own movements, followed by three 40-second human-controlled periods. Points are awarded for goals scored; for winning the autonomous period; and for parking robots on the home platforms at the end of the match.
Who
Forty-eight teams from Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and the following Massachusetts cities and towns:
The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition is an exciting, multinational contest in which teams of professionals and young people solve an engineering design problem in an intense and competitive way. Teams build robots using a standard "kit of parts" and a common set of rules, and enter them in a series of competitions designed by Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers.
Flowers, Pappalardo Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and national advisor to FIRST, will be present during the Friday evening qualifying rounds of BattleCry.
Kamen, a member of WPI's Class of 1973, inventor of the Segway human transporter, a member of the Inventors Hall of Fame, and founder of FIRST, will make an appearance during the Saturday matches.
When
Friday, June 23 - 5:15 to 9 p.m. (Qualifying Rounds)
Saturday, June 24 - 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (additional qualifying rounds in the morning; finals rounds in the afternoon)
Where
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Harrington Auditorium
100 Institute Road
Worcester, Mass.
Cost
Free
More Info
For more information, including the full schedule of events, visit the competition's Web site; call 508-831-6122, or e-mail battlecry@wpi.edu.
