Microchip Technology has revealed that they have sponsored the 2011 VEX Robotics World Championship in Orlando that was held from April 14-16.
Microchip would also handle the sponsorship of two more regional VEX Robotics competitions in Arizona for the competition season to be held between 2011-2012 to demonstrate their commitment towards developing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) disciplines. The 2011 VEX Championship is the foremost event for the high school and top middle school and college VEX Robotics teams. A representative of Microchip would be the judge at the championship and the company would also present a technical award during the course of the event. Microchip products have been used by VEX competitors all over the world in their robot designs. The PIC18F8520 8-bit microcontroller designed by Microchip is being utilized in VEX’s dual control and autonomous starter bundles and the C Compiler developed by Microchip is being presented as a programming option.
The competition motivates students to become interested in STEM subjects and also promotes critical life skills such as project management, teamwork and problem solving among the team members. Over 200 annual tournaments are being conducted with 2500 teams from 20 countries and it is the largest high school robotics program in the world. According to Steve Sanghi, the CEO and President of Microchip, the future innovators would come from the present day students and this was the reason for their company’s support of the VEX Robotics Championships. Microchip was also promoting STEM education among the students by getting them interested in technology.
For the Arizona regional competitions, which are to be sponsored by Microchip, a grant would be given to the tournament partners for both these events, which would cover the cost of the game kits, playing field, trophies and the electronics. Two rookie teams would also gain grants from Microchip, which would cover a complete VEX Robotics classroom lab kit and also include their registration fee for the VEX Robotics Competitions. Microchip has long been supporting STEM initiatives and it has also sponsored the FIRST Robotics competitions for the past eleven years with many of their employees acting as mentors and volunteers in the FIRST teams.
Source: http://www.microchip.com/