Folks:
Kettering to host robot competition: Robots will roll during the Fifth Annual Kettering Kickoff on Saturday, at Kettering's Connie and Jim John Recreation Center. The high school robotics competition is affiliated with FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a national effort that uses fun to inspire youth to explore career possibilities in engineering, science and technology. (The event also uses loud music. Hey, these are youth, y'know.) The event is a head-to-head competition between large radio-controlled robots built by teams of high school students and sponsoring engineers. Twenty-six teams, mostly from Michigan, are scheduled to participate. Kettering Kickoff serves as an organizing event to "kick off" the start of the 2005 competition season but still using the game, rules and robots of the 2004 FIRST national competition. Kettering's robotics contest is free and open to the public. The day's schedule includes opening ceremonies at 9 a.m., seeding matches until mid-day, a lunch break and an afternoon of elimination rounds leading to the tournament championship between 3:30 and 5 p.m. Teams are from Allen Park, Auburn Hills, Bloomfield Hills, Clarkston, Fenton, Flint, Goodrich, Grand Rapids, Pontiac, Royal Oak, Saginaw, Swartz Creek, Troy, Utica, Warren, West Bloomfield and Zeeland in Michigan and Canton and Sylvania, Ohio.
You go guys!
Best,
Jim
Hello:
Automation Alley Gala Event / Educational Program of the Year award U.S. FIRST Robotics
The evening also featured awards in seven categories, led by Larry Yost, the retired CEO of ArvinMeritor of Troy, as Legend CEO. (In keeping with the evening's light-hearted tone, Yost said he was ready to pay more than Patterson asked for initial membership in Automation Alley when it was formed in 1999, and that "Brooks Patterson left money on the table." Patterson replied that ArvinMeritor's dues increase was in the mail.) Ron Wood of Modern Engineering of Rochester Hills was named CEO of the Year. Other winners included Phil Bertolini of Oakland County government as CIO of the Year (and who I can vouch has one heck of a lot of fun with his staff); CogniTens of Wixom as Emerging Technology Company of the Year; Jenn Cornell of Eiler Communications of Ann Arbor as Automation Alley Member of the Year; Clarity Technologies Inc. of Auburn Hills as Technology Company of the Year; and
FIRST Robotics as Educational Program of the Year.
http://www.automationalley.com/gala/
Best,
Jim
