Arapahoe Community College will serve as host of the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Robotics Competition on Saturday, March 13, from 8 a.m.to 4 p.m. in the Waring Theatre in the Main Building. Competitors, high school students, parents, volunteers and interested citizens are expected to attend this event. 

FTC is designed for those high school students who want to compete head-to-head, using a sports model. Teams of up to 10 students in grades 9 through 12 and aged 14 to 18 will design, build and program their robots. They will compete in an alliance format against other teams. They will use a robot kit programmed using a variety of languages that is reusable from year-to-year. Teams, including coaches, mentors and volunteers, are required to develop strategy and build robots based on sound engineering principles.

“ACC is hosting this competition in our effort to continue promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM),” said Dean Linda Comeaux. “Everyone is welcome to come watch and cheer on Denver’s future engineers. Come see what great young minds can do.”

Awards will be given for the competition and for community outreach, design and other real-world accomplishments. The top two winners will go to a world tournament.

FIRST Tech Challenge grew out of a need for a mid-level robotics program to transition teams from Lego League to Robotics Competitions. Piloted for two years as the FIRST Vex Challenge, FTC became an official FIRST program and was renamed FIRST Tech Challenge in 2007.

The FTC Competition Kit challenges students’ creative problem-solving skills by enabling them to build robots that do amazing things. Students design and construct robotic devices that can be autonomously programmed or operator-controlled to perform various tasks that expand the boundaries of experimental intelligence. For more information about FTC, go to www.coloradofirst.org/ftc.

The competition is free and open to the public. For more information about the event, contact Dean Comeaux at 303.797.5997 or linda.comeaux@arapahoe.edu.

The Main Building of Arapahoe Community College is located on the east side of Santa Fe at College Drive, 5900 South Santa Fe Dr., just south of historic downtown Littleton. Waring Theatre is on the second-floor above the West Entrance to the building.

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