March 22, 2005

Sally Harrington
Media Relations Office
216/433-5795
sally.harrington@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 05-009

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS READY FOR ACTION AT THE BUCKEYE REGIONAL ROBOTICS COMPETITION

After spending countless hours over a six-week period designing and

building their teams' robots and developing their strategies for this
year's FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and
Technology) Robotics Competition, 42 teams of high school students
are ready to participate in the fourth annual Buckeye Regional.

This fast-moving, action-packed event at the Cleveland State

University Wolstein Center on March 24-26 will involve over 1000
students from Greater Cleveland, elsewhere in Ohio and from nine
other states as far away as Missouri and New Hampshire. The event is
open to the public and free.

The honorary chairman of this year's Buckeye Regional is Dr. Kathy

Sullivan, former astronaut and current President and CEO of COSI
(Center of Science and Industry) in Columbus, Ohio. The Buckeye
Regional is sponsored by NASA's Glenn Research Center, corporations,
educational institutions and organizations throughout the Greater
Cleveland area.

"Through this competition students are introduced to engineering,

science and technology and work together as a team to meet the
challenge of creating a championship robot," said Glenn Director of
External Programs John Hairston. "We expect many of them will pursue
careers in these fields and may someday contribute to NASA's bold new
missions in the exploration of the Earth, Moon, Mars and beyond."

The event will commence at 7:45 a.m. Thursday, March 24. After an
inspection to ensure their robots meet all the criteria of the
competition, the teams will participate in practice rounds throughout
the day until 4:30 p.m. Between rounds they will work on any
enhancements or repairs their robots may need and discuss their game
strategies.

An opening ceremony on Friday at 9:30 a.m. is followed by seeding

matches throughout the day. At 4:30 p.m. awards will be presented
recognizing and rewarding creativity, achievement in Website design,
entrepreneurship and more.

After Saturday's 9:30 a.m. opening ceremony, the seeding matches

continue until noon, and at 1 p.m. the final rounds of the
competition begin. At the 3 p.m. awards ceremony sportsmanship,
safety, team spirit and various awards for rookie teams will be
presented. The final four awards will be Regional Finalist, Regional
Winner, Engineering Inspiration award and Regional Chairman's award.

This year the teams will compete in a game called "Triple Play." For 2
minutes and 15 seconds, the remote-controlled robots will race around
the playing field collecting triangular-shaped game pieces called
Tetras and strategically placing them to garner points. Human players
on the sidelines will have an opportunity hand additional Tetras to
their robots. Before the end of the round, the robots will try to
scurry back to their end zone in order to gain additional points.

The Buckeye Regional is one of 30 regional events being held around

the country. This annual nationwide robotics competition is conducted
by FIRST, a nonprofit organization in Manchester, N.H. The 2005
Championship Event will take place at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta
April 21-23.

This competition teams professionals from sponsoring corporations,

colleges and government agencies with young people to solve an
engineering design problem in an intense and competitive way. The
students discover that the technological fields hold many
opportunities and the basic concepts of science, math, engineering
and invention are exciting and interesting. There are no losers in
the FIRST robotics competition. As a result of the relationships
formed between the students and mentors, the students who participate
in this competition are creating their futures.

Through NASA's Robotics Education Project, 11 of the teams in the

Buckeye Regional were awarded sponsorships to enable them to
participate in this year's competition. An additional six teams were
awarded team registration scholarships from Glenn's Educational
Programs Office. Some Ohio teams will also benefit from donations
made by the Jennings Foundation and the Gund Foundation. Each team
also receives monetary support from corporate sponsors in their local
areas.

Further information including a list of the teams competing in the

Buckeye Regional, a list of the sponsors of the event, and additional
information about the 42 teams competing can be found at
http://www.firstbuckeye.org

For additional information about FIRST, go to http://www.usfirst.org

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