Who:

FIRST (®) (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) will be joined by public figures to launch the 2013 season of the FIRST(® )Robotics Competition (FRC(®)) with a worldwide Kickoff event originating from Manchester, N.H.

-- Dean Kamen, President, DEKA Research and Founder, FIRST;

-- Dr. Woodie Flowers, FIRST Executive Advisory Board Chairman & Pappalardo Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology;

-- Walt Havenstein, Chairman, Board of Directors, FIRST; and

-- FIRST students & Special Guests

What:

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an annual competition that challenges high-school students – working alongside professional Mentors – to design and build a robot of their own, and compete in a ‘Sport for the Mind™’ that measures the effectiveness of each robot, the power of teamwork and collaboration, and Gracious Professionalism^®. Students build and program their own robots against a field of competitors and experience the excitement of science, engineering, technology, and innovation.

When:

Where:

-- 83 Kickoffs in 81 cities worldwide: FIRST teams will tune in via NASA-TV broadcast and webcast. Access the NASA webcast via http://robotics.nasa.gov/ or http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html.

-- To locate teams in your area, visit www.usfirst.org and click on the “What FIRST Teams & Events Are in My Area?” block in the top right corner.

-- For a listing of local Kickoff locations, visit http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/local-kickoff-information.

UNITED STATES

Idaho Falls, ID

Los Angeles, CA

Indianapolis, IN

Irving, TX (two events)

Knoxville, TN

Lubbock, TX

Madera, CA

Manchester, NH

AUSTRALIA

CANADA

ISRAEL

MEXICO

FIRST will unveil the details of the new 2013 robotics competition game after the speaker program. Students on the new game field take measurements and inspect the challenge in order to develop strategies for robot construction, and to determine if they will play offense, defense, or both.

http://robotics.nasa.gov/ or http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Digital photos of previous FIRST competitions are available at the FRC Photo Gallery found at: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/marketing-tools/frc/2012-photo-gallery.

-- Post-event photos on January 5th available by contacting cwalsh@usfirst.org.