NC State Engineering hosts reception for high-school robotics competition

The College of Engineering at North Carolina State University hosted about 1,000 students, parents, judges and staff at the inaugural NCFIRST Robotics Regional Competition reception on Friday, April 2.

The reception, held at Engineering Building II on Centennial Campus, was part of a weekend of competition in which high school students showed off their robotic know-how.

“The feedback on the Friday night team social was tremendous and extremely positive,” said Marie Hopper, regional director for NCFIRST Robotics. “It was a huge hit for students, coaches, parents and mentors alike.”

For the competition, student teams were challenged to design and build a functioning robot capable of competing against other robots in a six-week time frame starting with a standard kit of parts.  The game this year required robots to score points by kicking soccer balls into goals, while avoiding defender robots from the opposing team. The competition was held at Dorton Arena near the NC State campus.

“The FIRST Robotics Competition requires a team-oriented and active-learning problem-solving approach that focuses on analysis and design tradeoffs,” said Dr. Jerome Lavelle, associate dean of academic affairs in the College of Engineering and a judge at the event. “These are precisely the skills needed in engineering to solve the grand challenges facing our nation and world. We were delighted to host a reception for the participant teams from North Carolina and 14 other states at our Centennial Campus facilities.”

FIRST was founded in 1989 by the pioneering inventor Dean Kamen to inspire interest and participation in science and technology among young people. NCFIRST Robotics is working to promote these endeavors in North Carolina. The inaugural North Carolina tournament invited teams from across the country and around the world to participate.

The event’s sponsors included Google, Cisco, NASA and Time Warner Cable.

Coverage of the competition is available from WRAL. Photos from the reception are here.