News for FIRST robotics competition – Boston regional:
News source bizjournals.com
The FIRST Robotics Competition Boston regional event kicks off today at Boston University’s Agganis Arena.
Teams practiced at the Commonwealth Ave arena yesterday. Two alliances — either red or blue — composed of three randomly selected high school teams each, squared off before a sparse but raucous crowd made up of other teams.
This year’s competition requires the robots to knock a giant rubber ball off a bridge spanning an oval track, carry it counter-clockwise around the track and either launch the ball over the bridge or pass it under it each time they pass a certain point on the track.
Some squat robots used beetle-like pincers to scoop up and carry the ball, with a launching or punching mechanism to get it over the bridge. One robot had a boxing glove attached to a telescopic arm to knock the ball from the bridge.
Other, taller robots used long arms with robotic hands or claws to grab the ball and drop it over the bridge. The robot controlled by the team from BU Academy used such a robot, RoboRed, named after the school’s terrier mascot. Robo Red is a tower on wheels with an craning arm and a claw to grab the ball.
Another robotics “battle” in Hawaii… it so cool… 
. Here the news from kgmb9.com:
Dozens of teams are getting ready for a battle of the brains at the Stan Sheriff Center. They spent the day practicing for the regional robotics competition.
The event includes 700 students from 37 high schools throughout Hawaii and the mainland. They had six weeks to design and build their robots.
The machines score points in different ways; like knocking balls off the overpass, throwing them over the rack, or picking them up and putting them back in place.
Become participant of robotics contest or robotics competition is fun. You will get many experience, meet many people who interest in robotics technology. Sometimes, you will get some money..
Today, i read a news from freep.com about FIRST Robotics Competition result in detroit city. I was happy that many students interested in robotics technology.
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Three Detroit Cody High School students were part of a winning team last weekend at Wayne State University.
A three-team alliance — Cody, Utica Community Schools and Bloomfield Hills International Academy — won the FIRST Robotics Detroit regional.
MANASSAS, VA.- Employees from Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) recently mentored more than 1,000 students from Prince William County and surrounding area schools during the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition and Tech Challenge events.
The FIRST program is designed to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and technology. FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge teams include engineers and other professionals from some of the world
In a short article, New Scientist reports that researchers at Virginia Tech University have developed a tripedal experimental robot. With its three legs, this robot, named STriDER — short for ‘Self-excited Tripedal Dynamic Experimental Robot’ — is actually more stable than 2- or 4-legged robots. As said another researcher, ‘It’s like a biped with a walking stick.’ This robot is intended to deploy sensors and cameras in difficult-to-access areas.
STriDER has been developed under the supervision of Dennis Hong, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech and director of the Robotics and mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa). You can see above the various components of this robot. (Credit: Virginia Tech University)
TOKYO — At a university lab in a Tokyo suburb, engineering students are wiring a rubbery robot face to simulate six basic expressions: anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise and disgust.
Hooked up to a database of words clustered by association, the robot _ dubbed Kansei, or “sensibility” _ responds to the word “war” by quivering in what looks like disgust and fear. It hears “love,” and its pink lips smile.
“To live among people, robots need to handle complex social tasks,” said project leader Junichi Takeno of Meiji University. “Robots will need to work with emotions, to understand and eventually feel them.
While robots are a long way from matching human emotional complexity, the country is perhaps the closest to a future _ once the stuff of science fiction _ where humans and intelligent robots routinely live side by side and interact socially.
Robots are already taken for granted in Japanese factories, so much so that they are sometimes welcomed on their first day at work with Shinto religious ceremonies. Robots make sushi. Robots plant rice and tend paddies.
TRENTON — Local teams performed strongly at this year’s New Jersey Regional FIRST Robotics Competition at Sovereign Bank Arena, with Trenton Central High School taking top tournament honors and Robbinsville High School’s rookie team coming in second yesterday. Each team’s win was shared with fellow alliance members, teams they cooperated with during the tournament. Trenton Central shared its Regional Competition championship with allies North Brunswick Township High School and Palisades High School of Kintnerville, Pa. Robbinsville High shared its Regional Finalist Award with Mount Olive High School and Aberdeen High School of Aberdeen, Md.
Robbinsville High also took home the Rookie All-Star and Highest Rookie Seed awards.
“We are just very thrilled,” Joy Wolfe, faculty adviser for the Robbinsville team, said. “We’re still finding out what these students can do as a team, and this was very unexpected. They were so excited.”
Another winter snowstorm struck New Hampshire Saturday, but that couldn’t stop thousands of students from competing in the finals of the sixth annual Granite State Regional FIRST Robotics competition held at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.
The event brings students and their mentors together in a two-day competition that emphasizes teamwork, innovation and strategy. Forty-eight high school teams from across New England participated in this year’s Granite State Regional, which was sponsored by BAE Systems.
The following local teams received awards:
