Jan 3, 2013

Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726 dwayne c brown@nasa gov

MEDIA ADVISORY: M13-003

NASA KICKS OFF 2013 FIRST ROBOTICS SEASON WITH LIVE BROADCAST JAN 5

WASHINGTON -- NASA Television will broadcast the annual FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Kickoff event on Saturday, Jan 5, starting at 10:30 a m EST from Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester The event also will be streamed live on NASA's website

As in past years, NASA plays a significant role by providing public access to robotics programs to encourage young people to investigate careers in the sciences and engineering Through the NASA Robotics Alliance Project, the agency provides grants for almost 250 teams and sponsors four regional student competitions, including a FIRST regional competition in Washington that will be held March 28-30

Each year, FIRST presents a new robotics competition scenario where each team receives an identical kit of parts and has six weeks to design and build a robot based on the team's interpretation of the game scenario Other than dimension and weight restrictions, the look and function of the robots is up to each individual team This year more than 2,500 teams from 49 states, and 12 countries will participate

Engineer Dean Kamen founded FIRST in 1989 to help convince American youth that engineering and technology are exciting and 'cool' fields NASA participation in the FIRST program is provided through the NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate in Washington

For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit:

http://www nasa gov/ntv

For a complete a list of the regional events, corporate sponsors and other details, visit:

http://www usfirst org/

For more information on the NASA's Robotics Alliance Project visit:

http://robotics nasa gov

-end-

To subscribe to the list, send a message to: hqnews-subscribe@mediaservices nasa gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: hqnews-unsubscribe@mediaservices nasa gov

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: example@example.com

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

https://aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/NASA_REPORTS/example/example com/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

<[program_url]/list/[list]>

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at:

<mailto:[list_owner_email]>

The following physical address is associated with this mailing list:

[physical_address]