A robot invasion is about to hit New York City.
Actually, we have nothing to worry about because the bots, droids and drones will be duking it out between each other as part of the 15th Anniversary New York City FIRST Championship & Expo, which begins March 13 and runs through to Sunday, March 15 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City.
FIRST stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology." Founded by entrepreneur and science and technology advocate Dean Kamen in 1989, the not-for-profit public charity’s goal is to inspire and motivate children and young people to pursue education and careers in STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math — through mentor-based programs that also build self-confidence and life skills.
The robot competition happening this weekend is one of those programs. Over 200 teams from the New York tri-state area, Brazil, China, Turkey and the United Kingdom will compete at the Javits Center in New York, and then the winning teams will advance on towards global competition — it's almost like a real-life G Gundam.
But first, contestants will have to power their way through three robotics competitions at the FIRST Expo.
The FIRST Robotics Competition, happening all day Saturday, March 14 and Sunday, March 15, pits 66 competing high school teams against each other in a sports-like tournament.
The FIRST LEGO League Championship which occurs Saturday, March 14, has 80 middle school teams selected from 190 teams across New York City compete in LEGO-based battles. And then the FIRST Tech Challenge Expo occurs on Sunday, March 15 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
There is also a Jr. FIRST LEGO League Expo happening on Saturday and a career fair, where you can speak with over 40 college and company representatives about programs and careers in science and technology.
The 15th Anniversary New York City FIRST Championship & Expo is free and open to the public. You can visit its website here.
Photo: Warner Bros.
