March Madness comes to Wayne State

After six weeks of preparation, 33 high school teams from Southeast Michigan will descend on Wayne State University's Matthaei Athletic Complex March 17 for the FIRST Robotics Detroit Regional Championships.

This is the third year Wayne State is hosting the event, which can best be described as March madness engineering style. Two other regionals are scheduled for Michigan, one at Eastern Michigan University beginning March 9, and the other at Grand Valley State on March 30.

"These high school engineering students represent the best of our next generation of technology experts," said Irvin D. Reid, president of Wayne State University. "They are the innovators, designers and engineers of tomorrow's technology and science."

Each high school team had six weeks to design and deliver their individual robot to meet the specific game requirements of this year's competition, once the rules were announced January 7 by FIRST Robotics in Manchester, N.H.

Teams compete in a spirited, no-holds barred tournament on a large playing field complete with referees, cheerleaders, scoreboards and time clocks. This year's game called "Aim High" requires robots to score as many goals as possible by shooting rubber balls into one of three goals on the playing field. Two teams made up of alliances of three schools each compete one-on-one.

Besides opportunities to earn FIRST Robotics scholarships, Wayne State, through its Honors Program, is offering four-year full tuition Presidential Scholarships to qualifying FIRST participants. To be eligible, students must apply to Wayne State, have a 3.5 GPA, and have taken the ACT (American College Test) entrance exam.

FIRST's rules require that teams learn how to work together and form alliances, pairing up in a way that maximizes each team's robot capabilities against another alliance of three teams on the field at the same time. In addition to the championship trophy, awards are given to teams for sportsmanship, entrepreneurship, creativity and spirit as well as industrial design, technology, Web site design and animation. Particular emphasis is placed on developing partnerships between schools, businesses, and universities to provide an exchange of resources and talent, highlight mutual needs, build cooperation, and expose students to new career choices.

Michigan high school teams have won FIRST's national championship in each of the past four years. More than 100 teams are competing in the 2006 Michigan's regionals, comprising some 4,000 people, including students, teachers and sponsors. Michigan boasts the highest percentage of participation of any state in the country.

In all, more than 28,000 high-school-aged young people will be competing on more than 1,125 teams from around the globe, including Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Israel, Mexico, the U.K., and almost every U.S. state.
Teams that score well in the regionals will advance to the National Championship Event in Atlanta, beginning April 27.

Attendance and parking is free to the public, beginning Friday, March 17, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, March 18, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wayne State's Matthaei Athletic Complex is located at the intersection of Warren Avenue and the southbound Lodge Freeway Service Drive on the southwest corner of campus.