Jan 25 2011
Autodesk, Inc. has declared its intention to be one of the sponsors at the FIRST Robotic Competition, by offering its software, mentoring research students and offering grants to participating teams from the US.
The competition will pose a huge challenge to high-school students, testing their team working skills in creating a robot in six weeks. The annual event encourages science, technology, engineering and math skills. It is a breeding ground for future engineers. According to Joe Astroth, chief education officer at Autodesk the contest is aimed at taking studies beyond the classroom. The company has been encouraging students to face challenges in design and engineering sectors.
This year’s event will see more than 2,200 teams spanning 45,000 high-school students from across the globe participating. In the Kit of Parts category, teams will be given the company’s Inventor 2011 software. Using this they will have to design, imagine and simulate robots three dimensionally before they start to build, which will help them save crucial time and raw material. They will examine alternate designs. The kit contains tools actually used by professional engineers. Participants will also get to use the company’s three dimension design, development and other gaming software including raw material.
The company is sponsoring 20 US teams, giving each one $5,000 to be paid as registration fee and present two teams with the Autodesk Excellence in Design award at the contest being conducted in St. Louis, Mo, from April 27 to 30, 2011.
Source: http://www.autodesk.com