Marquette, Temperance Bedford, Oxford High Schools Win Livonia FIRST

Marquette, Temperance Bedford and Oxford High Schools won the two-day Livonia District of the nationally renowned FIRST Robotics competition Saturday at Livonia Churchill High School.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics provides high school students a unique preview into the professional world of engineering, science and math, while competing with their high school peers in a varsity sport atmosphere that is fun, heart-pounding and seriously challenging.

The three winning schools are all named equal champions because FIRST Robotics is set up where teams compete as a 3-team alliance in a spirited, no-holds-barred tournament on a large playing field; complete with referees, cheerleaders, scoreboards and time clocks. Schools match up in alliances to play against another alliance of three teams.  Forming an alliance encourages teamwork, mixing engineering capabilities for the common good, and actively supports FIRST's motto: Gracious Professionalism.

The robotics season began in early January with its six-week design and build period.  The entire month of March is competition season in Michigan, as one or more district events take place across the state each weekend, for a total of nine district events.

"The FIRST Robotics Competition's district model is very much like traditional varsity sporting events where families, classmates, local government officials, media and businesses will come to cheer their teams on and discover how engineering and science can be exciting and rewarding," said Francois Castaing, president of FIRST in Michigan.

The 2011 game is called "Logo Motion," where two alliances of three teams each compete on a 27-by-54-foot field,  attempting to earn points by hanging square, round, and triangular shaped inner tubes (which represent the pieces of the FIRST logo) on posts along one end of the field.  Alliances are awarded extra points if the tubes are placed in the proper order to create the FIRST logo. Robots can also deploy Mini-Bots to race up the vertical poles at the end of the round to earn bonus points.

With Michigan's nine district events, all Michigan teams to compete at least twice within the state. Similar to sports tournaments, district competition scoring will qualify teams for the 2011 Michigan State Championship. From there, 18 teams will be eligible to advance to the international FIRST Championship in St. Louis, April 27-30.

All competitions are free and open to the public.

Michigan teams have been on the winning alliance at six of the last seven National Championships.

FIRST in Michigan is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization responsible for implementing all FIRST programs in the state. FIRST teams in Michigan currently number 172 FIRST Robotics Competition teams with approximately 310 FIRST LEGOÒ League teams with more than 3,000 students competing.

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology and engineering. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org.