Atlanta, GA. –- April 2005 -– Five-foot, 130-pound robots ran rampant at the Georgia Dome 21 through 23 April. Man versus machine? Well, not exactly...

The FIRST Robotics Championship, an annual event that teams high school students with professional engineering and business mentors, took place 21-23 April at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Students designed and built robots for a high-tech and high-intensity competition, complete with an immense crowd of spirited super-fans, team uniforms and logos.

"It's overwhelming to see all these high school students running around and screaming and cheering... cheering on their robots," commented Dan Green, Motorola engineer and FIRST Robotics mentor.

In a battle of 'bot versus 'bot, FIRST is comprised of three different competitions:

• FIRST Robotics is a competetion of five-foot, 130-pound robots created by high school students to maneuver and compete in a game against other teams' robots.
• FIRST Lego League Robotics is a competition of robots, programmed and built entirely out of Legos, by students age nine through 14. These Lego bots compete against other teams' robots to complete a pre-determined set of tasks.
• FIRST VEX Robotics -- new at this year's Championship event -- is a mini version of the FIRST Robotics event. The FIRST Vex Challenge provides a new lower-cost, more accessible opportunity for students to participate in FIRST.

Motorola sponosored teams in each of FIRST's competitions:

• C.O.D.E., comprised of students ages nine through 14, supported by mentors from Motorola in Schaumburg, Illinois. C.O.D.E. built and programmed Robot 293 that addressed the specific needs of people who face physical challenges in today's society.
• SigmaC@ts from Dillard and Taravella High Schools, supported by mentors from Motorola in Plantation, Florida. SigmaC@ts built Robot 108 and competed in the FIRST Robotics Curie Division of this year's National Championship.
• WildStang from Rolling Meadows and Wheeling High Schools, supported by mentors from Motorola in Schaumburg, Illinois. WildStang built Robot 111 and competed in the FIRST Robotics Newton Division of this year's National Championship. A sub-set of the team, nicknamed Mini Stang, competed in the FIRST VEX Robotics competition.

Each year, about 30 Motorola engineers volunteer their time to be mentors and work with area students during a six week period, providing advice, support and encouragement.

"We try to get kids more involved in technology at a younger age," explains Dan. "Trying to get them to look up to engineers as role models and look at engineering and technology as possible career paths for them and kind of show them that science and engineering are cool!"

And very clearly, these Motorola engineers are succeeding. In the words of some of the students themselves:

• "Motorola mentors have been great! They've really taught us a lot!"
• "Sometimes they become more like a family: you see them every day; they're always there."
• "My life has changed a lot because I have Motorola mentors helping me."

Furthermore, students' futures are noticably impacted. Hundreds of students who participate in FIRST Robotics pursue engineering as a career. And proof that Motorola's mentors make a lasting impact: 13 former FIRST Robotics student participants are now Motorola engineers. More than half of those Motorola engineers are now mentors for those same teams of which they were a part as students, thus completing the "Life Cycle."

All Motorola-sponsored FIRST Robotics teams walked away from this year's National Championship event with awards in hand:

Team C.O.D.E.

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