2009 NEW JERSEY FIRST ROBOTICS COMPETITION FEBRUARY 27-28: Robots Built by High School Students Headed for “Lunacy” Competition

There’s method in the madness occurring in
Trenton at the Sovereign Bank Arena on February 27-28, 2009. The 13th
annual New Jersey FIRST Robotics Competition will feature 61 teams of
high school students with the robots they designed and built facing off
in a game called “Lunacy.”

The NJ FIRST Robotics Competition
is free and open to the public on Friday, Feb. 27 and Saturday, Feb.
28, 2009 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sponsored by Johnson & Johnson, the
New Jersey FIRST Robotics Competition will involve approximately 2,000
students from schools throughout the state as well as from
Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, Maryland and Canada.

FIRST is
an acronym for the phrase, “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science
and Technology” and the competition involves more than outscoring
opponents in a game. Teams are also judged on design, team spirit,
professionalism and ability to overcome problems. To successfully
compete in FIRST, teams must function as entrepreneurs, creating
business plans, raising funds, marketing and managing the project.

Established
by renowned inventor Dean Kamen, FIRST is intended to spark an
appreciation of science and technology in young people. Since its
inception in 1989, FIRST has grown into an international movement with
a wide following.

“FIRST is more than a robotics competition.
It’s a proven way to help excite high school students about science,
technology, engineering and math,” said Sheri McCoy, Worldwide
Chairman, Pharmaceuticals Group, Johnson & Johnson, who leads the
company’s sponsorship of New Jersey FIRST. “Working side-by-side with
mentors who are engineers, scientists, marketers and communicators,
high school students discover new career options and learn important
professional skills.”

Each year the FIRST organization selects
a new theme for the game played in the regional contests and
championship. This year’s game called “Lunacy” will involve robots
picking up 9-inch game balls and placing them in trailers hitched to
opposing robots during a two-minute, 15-second match. Additional points
are awarded for scoring a special game ball, the Super Cell, in the
opponent’s trailers during the final 20 seconds of the match. The game
is played on a low-friction floor, which means teams must contend with
the laws of physics.

Six weeks ahead of the FIRST contest
season, registered teams receive kits containing parts needed to
construct the machines but no instructions. Working with adult mentors,
the students design, build and program their robots to meet the game’s
engineering specifications. Through the process, they learn how to
collaborate and focus on tasks to turn out an effective product.

This
year more than 42,000 high school students on 1,686 teams from the
United States, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Israel, Mexico, the
Netherlands, the Philippines, Turkey and the United Kingdom will
compete in 41 regional competitions leading up to the FIRST
Championships at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta April 14-16, 2009.

“Prowess
playing the game is great and FIRST teaches participants how careful
preparation and teamwork leads to success, measured in a variety of
ways,” said Randy Schaeffer, regional director, New York City/New
Jersey FIRST! “They will use a range of skills that give them a glimpse
of what it takes to compete in a technologically driven global economy.”

NJ
FIRST gratefully acknowledges the long-standing support of Johnson
& Johnson as its sponsor. The 2009 competition marks the 13th
straight year of Johnson & Johnson’s leadership support. Other NJ
FIRST sponsors are ADP, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, MetLife, New
Jersey Institute of Technology, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

New York
City/New Jersey FIRST! is based at New Jersey Institute of Technology
in Newark. For more information on starting a FIRST team or sponsoring
a team, call Randy Schaeffer, regional director, 973-596-3234.

Public Relations Contact: Rosica Strategic Public Relations