Tomorrow, the’re fighting tooth-and-nail at the University of South Florida Polytechnic. Well, maybe circuit-and-servo. The school is the site of the 2nd Annual USF Poly RoboBattle, an event for more than 175 high-school students from Florida and South Carolina.
The RoboBattle is a regional qualifying round in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge. Through the competition students learn to design and build robots with both “radio- and autonomous-controlled behavior using the TETRIX robotic design system.” The teams develop robots to meet a series of tasks defined in the competition, and them challenge teams on the way to a state championship.
“The FIRST Tech Challenge lets high-school students experience the fun and excitement of complex problem solving in a positive and supportive team environment. It also helps them discover the excitement and rewards of science, technology, and engineering.” — says Dr. Naomi Boyer, executive director of USFP’s Extended University.
This year’s competition will include 22 teams from Lakeland, Bartow, Winter Haven, Tampa, Largo, Orlando, Miami, Longwood, Weston and New Smyrna Beach, and Mt. Pleasant, S.C.
At 10 am USF Polytechnic CEO Marshall Goodman will open the competition. Competition rounds will take place from 10:15am until 3pm with a short lunch break. Goodman will lead the awards ceremony at 3 pm. There will be additional matches after the ceremony until 6pm.
photos from 2009 event credit: Tom Hagerty for Lakeland Local
Bio: The short line? Father, husband, writer. My online presence is primarily through as the editor, writer, and occasional photographer for the news sites, Lakeland Local, a sampling of the news, concerns, and events for Lakeland, Florida, and Metro i4 News, which covers the Interstate 4 corridor in Central Florida. Both sites feature the work of myself and other contributors. As a hobby, I manage a forum and some web sites that feature a pulp fiction series written by Lester Dent -- Doc Savage Organized, Doc Savage Info, and Flearun.
