First FRC Robotics Competition:

Date: March 04, 2017
Time: 10:30 AM - 7:00 PM
Venue: Blacksburg High School
Description: Blacksburg High School hosts the FIRST FRC Robotics Competition on Saturday, March 4, 2017 and Sunday, March 5, 2017.

Saturday Schedule:
• 8:00 am - 5:00 pm - Technology and Scholarship Row Open
• 10:00 am - 1:00 pm - FLL Jr. Expo
• 10:30-11:00 am - Opening Ceremonies
• 11:00 am - 1:00 pm - Qualification Matches
• 11:00 am - 3:00 pm - Guided Public Tours
• 1:00-2:00 pm - Lunch
• 2:00-7:00 pm - Qualification Matches

Thirty-eight teams from six states will be in Blacksburg High School competing in a First FRC Robotics tournament qualifier. These students will build 120 pound robots in six weeks to meet the First Steamworks Challenge. Teams must cooperate with their alliance partners to prepare their airships for the ultimate long distance race.

To see a video of how the competition works, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMiNmJW7enI

Admission is free and open to the public.

FIRST Robotics Competition is recognized as the premier high school engineering challenge. Teams of students, working closely with teachers and volunteer mentors, have six weeks to conceptualize, design, build, program, modify and test a robot to participate in a competition that changes each year. Every January, FIRST unveils the challenge or “game” at an annual kick-off event that is simulcast to locations around the world.

Teams receive a kit of common parts that are used to build the core systems of their robots, but they won’t find an instruction manual. No two robots will be built or operated in exactly the same way. Students work with hundreds of components, including engineering mainstays such as programmable radio controllers, motors, electrical circuitry, pneumatic components and mechanical parts. Each team has to decide its own game strategy, and has to design and fabricate a machine within tight specifications on size, weight and materials.

To view Sunday's event, visit: http://www.NextThreeDays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=419923.

For more information, visit: https://www.firstchesapeake.org/first-programs/frc/first-chesapeake-district-events/southwest-va or http://www.firstinspires.org/team-event-search/event?id=22469.