FIRST Robotics Changes The Game In Michigan

The FIRST Robotics competition in Michigan has an entirely new structure.

FIRST is a competition among high school teams that build robots to complete specific assigned tasks -- usually picking up and carrying objects around a race or obstacle course.

Instead of four major regional tournaments around the state -- each of which charged a steep entry fee -- FIRST will instead hold seven smaller "district competitions" across the state, leading up to a state championship April 2-4 at Eastern Michigan University.

FIRST officials said the move cut the cost of competition in half, from $10,000 for one of the old regional events to $5,000, with a guarantee of entry in at least two district events.

Each district competition has also been trimmed back from three days for the old regionals to two days.

Also for the first time, the districts are now limited to Michigan-based teams.

FIRST now has 134 registered Michigan teams, up from 118 last year.

Each district event will see 40 teams playing 12 rounds of competition. After those rounds, the top eight teams will be allowed to pick two "alliance partners" for the elimination round of competition, resulting in 24 of the 40 teams making  the elimination round.

A total of 64 teams will advance from the district round to the state finals.

At the state finals, round robin play will also lead to an elimination round, and 18 teams from the state finals will advance to the world championships in Atlanta in May.      

FIRST officials said Michigan is a prototype for the new compeittion structure.              

Teams will learn this year's competition in kickoff events around the country Saturday, Jan. 3. They\'ll also get their kit of basic robotics equipment at that time. Teams then have six weeks to build their robot -- after which they must lock up the robot until their competition day.

Kickoff events will be held at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Saginaw Valley State University in University Center and Novi High School in Novi.

FIRST Web sites have been abuzz with rumors of what the competition might be. FIRST officials at the organization\'s New Hampshire headquarters have issued three sets of clues, all very oblique -- the first, a picture of a fish.

FIRST, an acronym for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, was founded in 1989 by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen. Its first competition was in 1992.

More at www.usfirst.org.
Read the team blogs at www.TeamDelphi.com.