Updated: April 20, 2008
Atlanta -- Three teams from St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, Greenville, Texas, and Sterling Heights, Michigan emerged victorious at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta this weekend, as one winning alliance. It was the climax to months of competition involving more than 1,500 teams from the United States and seven other nations: Brazil, Canada, Chile, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
FIRST is a not-for-profit founded by inventor Dean Kamen. The public charity offers innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math while building life skills. Teams earned their invitations to the Championship by excelling in competitive play, sportsmanship, and the development of partnerships among schools, businesses and communities.
"FIRST is inspiring the next generation of innovators and engineers," said Kamen. "Years from now, some of the students who competed in the Georgia Dome will be inventing solutions to society's most challenging problems."
Former President George H. W. Bush echoed Kamen's beliefs during Opening Ceremonies on Friday, April 18. He reminisced about attending the inaugural FIRST Championship sixteen years ago and recognized Kamen for fostering young people's aspirations in science and technology.
Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia also addressed the crowd of budding engineers on Friday, and Governor Linda Lingle also attended the FIRST Championship to support six teams from Hawaii. In the past year, FIRST teams in Lingle's state have grown from four to 26. During today's Championship, Team 359 "Hawaiian Kids" from Waialua, Hawaii won the Engineering Inspiration Award and Team 368 "TKM.368 (Team Kika Mana) from Honoluly, Hawaii was a Division Finalist.
FIRST ROBOTICS COMPETITION
The Winning Alliance of the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship was: Team 148 "Robowranglers" of Greenville High School from Greenville, Texas; Team 217 "ThunderChickens" of Utica Community Schools from Sterling Heights, Michigan; Team 1114 "Simbotics" of Governor Simcoe Secondary School from St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
Student teams built their robots from a kit of hundreds of parts. This year's game, called "FIRST Overdrive," tested students and their robots' ability race around a track knocking down 40" inflated Trackballs and moving them around the track, passing them either over or under a 6'6" overpass.
Team 842 "Falcon Robotics" of Carl Hayden High School from Phoenix, Arizona won the prestigious FIRST Robotics Competition Championship Chairman's Award, recognized as the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST.
FIRST TECH CHALLENGE
Approximately 1,000 high-school students used a modular robotics kit to compete in the "Quad Quandary" challenge, in which students' robots placed 3-inch rings on goals and moved goals around the field. The FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship Inspire Award, recognizing excellence in robot design and teamwork, went to Team 801 "Panteras" from Mexico City, Mexico.
The FIRST Tech Challenge Winning Alliance was Team 23 "Beach Cities Robotics" from Redondo Beach, California; Team 30 "Mr. T" from Montville, New Jersey; and Team 74 "Team Overdrive" from Bridgewater, New Jersey.
FIRST LEGO LEAGUE
Eighty one teams from around the world participated in the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) World Festival. This year's "Power Puzzle" real-life challenge tasked students, ages 9 to 14, to design, build, and program robots to explore sustainable options to meet our planet's growing energy needs in environmentally sound ways. Top honors went to Champion's Award 1st Place winner, Team 8095 "External Fusion" from Singapore; Champion's Award 2nd Place winner, Team 2560 "Pixelation" from North Branch, Minnesota; and Champion's Award 3rd Place winner, Team 334 "Power Peeps" from Swartz Creek, Michigan. The Champion's Award measures how teams inspire and motivate others about the excitement and wonders of science and technology, while demonstrating gracious professionalism.
SCHOLARSHIPS
FIRST also recognized the recipients of numerous educational scholarships worth nearly $10 million from the most prestigious science and engineering schools in the country, such as Georgia Institute of Technology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Purdue University.
RESULTS
The other major honors that were awarded at the FIRST Championship included:
Founder's Award, presented each year by FIRST Founder Dean Kamen to one organization or individual for exceptional service in advancing the ideals and mission of FIRST - BAE Systems
Woodie Flowers Award, founded by Dr. William Murphy and Small Parts, Inc. to recognize an outstanding engineer or teacher who best demonstrates teaching excellence in teaching science, math, and creative design - Mark Breadner, Vice Principal, Toronto District School Board, Ontario, Canada
Outstanding Commitment Award, celebrates one individual who has had a sustained impact on the FIRST Championship by actively supporting FIRST programs through leadership and personal commitment over an extended period - Mike Wade, NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland, who passed away in May, 2007
FIRST Robotics Competition Championship:
Engineering Inspiration Award - Team 359, "Hawaiian Kids", Hawaii
Championship Finalists - Team 16, "Bomb Squad", Arkansas; Team 67, "The H.O.T. Team", Michigan; Team 348, "Norwell Robotics", Massachusetts
Division Champions - Archimedes Division: Team 177, "Bobcat Robotics", Connecticut; Team 1024, "Kil-A-Bytes", Indiana; Team 1124, "UberBots", Connecticut. Curie Division: Team 16, "Bomb Squad", Arkansas; Team 67, "The H.O.T. Team", Michigan; Team 348, "Norwell Robotics", Massachusetts. Galileo Division: Team 148, "Robowranglers", Texas; Team 217, "ThunderChickens", Michigan; Team 1114, "Simbotics", Ontario, Canada. Newton Division: Team 60, "Bionic Bulldogs", Arizona; Team 233, "The Pink Team", Florida; Team 968, "RAWC (Robotics Alliance of West Covina)", California
Division Finalists - Archimedes Division: Team 365, "Miracle Workerz", Delaware; Team 842, "Falcon Robotics", Arizona; Team 987, "HIGHROLLERS", Nevada. Curie Division: Team 100, "The WildHats", California; Team 368, "TKM.368 (Team Kika Mana), Hawaii; Team 2171, "Robo Dogs", Indiana. Galileo Division: Team 254, "Cheesy Poofs", California; Team 384, "Sparky 384", Virginia; Team 1717, "D'Penguineers", California. Newton Division: Team 141, "WO-BOT", Michigan; Team 1574, "MisCar", Israel; Team 2016, "Mighty Monkey Wrenches", New Jersey
Autodesk Visualization Award - Team 867, "Absolute Value", Connecticut
Autodesk Inventor Award - Team 234, "Cyber Blue", Indiana
Chrysler Team Spirit Award - Team 1266, "The Devil Duckies", California
Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology"TM Award - Team 1690, "The Answer", Israel
General Motors Industrial Design Award - Team 233, "The Pink Team", Florida
Johnson & Johnson Gracious Professionalism Award - Team 75, "RoboRaiders", New Jersey
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award - Team 341, "Miss Daisy", Pennsylvania
Motorola Quality Award - Team 27, "Team RUSH", Michigan
Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award - Team 1024, "Kil-A-Bytes", Indiana
Underwriters Laboratories Industrial Safety Award - Team 2062, "C.O.R.E. 2062", Wisconsin
XEROX Creativity Award - Team 1771, "404 The Unknown Error", Georgia
Imagery Award - Team 365, "Miracle Workerz", Delaware
Rookie All-Star Award - Team 2352, "Metal Mayhem", Oklahoma
Rookie Inspiration Award - Team 2599, "Full Throttle", California
Highest Rookie Seed Award - Team 2337, "EngiNERDs", Michigan
Website Award - Team 115, "MVRT", California
Judges' Awards - For Engineering in Society: Team 922, "ULTIMATE", Texas; For International Achievement and Environmental Sustainability: Team 1860, "CEPHAS", Brazil; For Leading Significant Transformation and Cultural Change: Team 768, "TechnoWarriors", Maryland
FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship:
FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship Finalists - Team 3, "Mr. Roboto & SuperPals", Georgia; Team 13, "ACME-Sand Blasters", Virginia; Team 25, "Rock-n-Roll Robots", California
FIRST Tech Challenge Amaze Award - Team 74, "Team Overdrive", New Jersey
FIRST Tech Challenge Connect Award - Team 52, "Sahuarita High School", Arizona
FIRST Tech Challenge Innovate Award - Team 589, "Hammered Steel", Texas
FIRST Tech Challenge Motivate Award - Team 25, "Rock-n-Roll Robots", California; Team 32, "Einstein's Daughters", California (tie)
FIRST Tech Challenge Think Award - Team 6, "Driven Nuts", Pennsylvania
FIRST LEGO League World Festival:
Robot Performance Award - Team 1, "Green Man Group", New Hampshire; Team 8110, "Black Ocean Current", Taiwan (tie)
Innovative Design Award - Team 1490, "FOLSOM GATOROBYTES", California
Quality Design Award - Team 8005, "Alleskφnner?!", Germany
Programming Award - Team 482, "LEGO Guards", California
Research Quality Award - Team 2765, "NeXT GEN", Maryland
Innovation Solution Award - Team 8135, "ROBOOG Challenge Team", Netherlands
Creative Presentation Award - Team 1579, "SWAT (Superior Working At Technology)", Illinois
Teamwork Award - Team 1413, "Terramatix", North Carolina
Team Spirit Awards - Team 23, "ROBOWhizards", Pennsylvania; Team 8090, "Sizars", Republic of Korea (South Korea); Team 8131, "Campeones FNH", Chile
Against All Odds Awards - Team 3753, "CYBORGS", Kentucky; Team 8100, "Danger Mind", Saudi Arabia
World Festival Volunteer Award - Skip Gridley, Ohio; Walt Hickok, Michigan
Adult Mentor Award - Luan Heimlich and Lisa Everts of Team 1976, "The Inventioneers", New Hampshire
Youth Coach Mentor Award - Samantha Tan of Team 543, "SCS Penguins", Ontario, Canada
Judges' Awards - Team 2093, "Transformers", Georgia; Team 2744, "The Oddly Charged Par", Missouri
For a complete listing of awards, match results and scholarship winners, please visit FIRST online at www.usfirst.org and click on the "FIRST Championship 08" headline.