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9-15-2005 --- AUTOMATIONDIRECT SPONSORS LOCAL FIRST ROBOTICS TEAM FOR 2005-06 COMPETITION

There's a new team in Forsyth County , Georgia and they are ready to rumble!  A group of high school students from across the county have formed a team called the Forsyth Alliance to compete in the FIRST robotic competition.  The FIRST organization was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. For the Robotics Competition, registered high school teams are given a 300 pound pile of parts (sprockets, metals, motors, wires, processors etc.) and a specific task to complete.  They then have 42 days to design, build, test and ship a 130-lb. man-sized robot to accomplish this task, competing in the FIRST regional competition at the Gwinnett Civic Center in March 2006.  If successful, they will be invited to attend the World Competition in Atlanta in April. Over 23,000 students on 1000 teams from around the world participated in FIRST last year.

AutomationDirect has stepped up to make the team's entry into this season's FIRST competition possible, with financial support, donations of materials, resources and services (see photo).  "We're so excited about this new opportunity to help the community," says Tina Crowe at AutomationDirect. "This is such a perfect fit for us - how often does a company get to sponsor and support an activity that is directly related to its own day to day business operations? It means a lot to us knowing that we are doing something that will have such a tremendous impact on the lives of these kids. As you dig deeper into the FIRST Robotic Competition, you find out that it's not really about building robots, it's about cooperation, professionalism, building functioning teams, learning multiple engineering disciplines, engineering methodologies, industry relations, and community involvement - all things that are perfectly aligned with Automation Direct's corporate philosophy."

The students are already hard at work learning the skills they will need to compete.  One week they learned how to program microcontrollers from scratch and even built a virtual banner to show off their animation talents (see photo).  Another week they learned how to program servo drives and then used their knowledge to build mini-robots that could traverse an obstacle course on their own (see photo). Next up: motor controllers, pneumatics, remote wireless operator interfaces, mechanicals, transmissions, and welding.

"This will be an intense learning experience for these kids," says Rick Folea, one of the team Mentors.  "This competition is partly about building robots, but more importantly it is about building a team than can accomplish a large task using engineering design tools and processes. This competition is intentionally designed to force the kids to work in a real engineering environment where there is NEVER enough time, materials, resources, or money to do it 'right.'  To be successful they will have to keep it simple and focused and they will have to apply every bit of math, science and physics they ever learned!"

"We're thrilled to be hosting this activity for the County" says Rusty Ray at North Forsyth High School .  "We have a tremendous number of extremely advanced and technically savvy students in this county that have been looking for a creative outlet into which to channel their energies. The technical skills they will learn, along with over $8 million in scholarships offered through this competition, will make this an experience that will benefit them for many years to come."

Ben Blount, a senior at South Forsyth High, sums it up best: "I'm stoked! When I found out about this opportunity, I knew I had to be a part of it. It isn't often that a competition encompasses so many areas and teaches us valuable skills that are so applicable in today's workplace, while allowing us to have the time of our lives in competition. I love this competition: I know it will bind our team together."

For more information, check out the Robotics club Web site at: www.ForsythAlliance.com .

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