13,000 High-School Students Shoot for Gold in 2009 FIRST® "Hotshot!" Tech Challenge

Program introduces new infrared homing device; Game mirrors tradeoffs faced by
today`s robotics designers and engineers
MANCHESTER, N.H.--(Business Wire)--
FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an
organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen to inspire young people`s interest
and participation in science and technology, today officially launched its 2009
FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) season with an online Kickoff event unveiling this
year`s game, Hotshot!

The FIRST Tech Challenge is an intermediate robotics competition designed for 14
to 18 year-old high-school students, where teams of up to ten students work
alongside mentors, applying real-world math and science concepts to solve the
annual challenge. Students compete and cooperate in team alliances at
high-energy regional tournaments that reward the effectiveness of each robot,
the power of collaboration, and the determination of students. Through their
FIRST involvement, students discover the rewarding and engaging process of
innovation and engineering.

"The type of hands-on problem solving required in FIRST Tech Challenge creates
valuable skills students will need as they progress toward higher education and
eventually professional careers," said Dean Kamen, FIRST founder and CEO of DEKA
Research & Development. "This year, the Hotshot! robotic game allows for a
variety of mechanical solutions for scoring; but favors shooting mechanisms over
lifting mechanisms - that mirrors the kind of real-world trade-offs engineers
face every day. We have deliberately developed a game with a multi-tiered
scoring target and multiple strategies of play to underscore the design
trade-offs that the teams must make when building their robots."

Hotshot! was developed with the input of professional robotics designers,
engineers, and sensor experts from across the country to provide a relevant
engineering challenge. The use of sensors to track and target, manipulators to
collect objects, and launching mechanisms to score those objects are all part of
the challenge. Coupled with uneven playing surfaces and challenging goal
locations, HotShot! emulates many things real-world robotics designers face.

More than 13,000 high-school-aged young people are expected to participate in
this year`s competition, in which robots will develop and execute both offensive
and defensive strategies to score balls into a rotatable center goal and
off-field goals in the last 30 seconds of a match. Using a combination of
sensors including infrared tracking (IR), line following, ultrasonic, touch, and
more, students will program their robots to operate in both autonomous and
tele-operated modes. The HotShot! matches will last two minutes and thirty
seconds, and will begin with a 30 second autonomous period followed by a
two-minute tele-operated period. The final 30 seconds of the tele-operated
period is the "end game" where additional outside goals become available and
bonus balls come into play ensuring an exciting finish.

According to FIRST president Paul R. Gudonis, "The FIRST Tech Challenge is new
and improved for the 2009 season and requires students to compete at
professional levels with a kit of exciting technology including advanced
sensors. While many scientists agree that new discoveries are the essentials
needed to meet our nation`s challenges head on - the single most important
challenge will be to produce innovative, passionate scientists, engineers, and
technologists who will show us the way. That`s the real mission of FIRST."

Research has shown that FIRST Tech Challenge effectively engages students from
various backgrounds, instilling new ideas and concepts in more experienced
students, while helping to inspire, motivate, and encourage learning basic
principles and skills among students with less experience. Through their FIRST
involvement, students also learn about important, life-long skills such as
planning, research, collaboration, mentorship, and teamwork. FTC participants
are eligible to apply for over seven million dollars in scholarship funds from
some of the finest science and engineering schools in the country.

The 2009 FTC competition kit is a complete robotics platform designed to provide
students with technology scientists and engineers use. It consists of an
expanded TETRIX® metal robot structure kit, LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT robotics kit,
DC drive motors, servomotors, controllers, and advanced sensors. It also
includes three software platforms which FTC teams can use to program their
robots, including LEGO® NXTG, National Instruments LabViewTM for FTC, and
RobotC.

During the 2009 season, approximately 1,300 FIRST Tech Challenge teams will
compete in events in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, culminating at the FIRST
Championship, April 15-17, 2010 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.

FIRST Tech Challenge sponsors include:

Official Program Sponsor for the FIRST TechChallenge, Rockwell Collins;
FTC CAD and Collaboration Sponsor, PTC; and
FTC Program Sponsor, General Dynamics.

ABOUT FIRST®

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition
of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and
technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible,
innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while
motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and
engineering. With the support of many of the world`s most well-known companies,
the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC) and
FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC)for high-school students, FIRST®LEGO® League (FLL)
for children 9-14 years old, and Junior FIRST® LEGO® League (Jr.FLL) for 6 to 9
year-olds. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org.

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FIRST
Cheryl Walsh, 603-666-3906, X 460
Sr. Director, Marketing
cwalsh@usfirst.org

Copyright Business Wire 2009