A Photo of the FIRST® Robotics Competition Available on Business Wire's Website and AP PhotoExpress

Today about 50,000 high-school-aged FIRST(R) Robotics Competition (FRC(R)) students bid goodbye to the nearly 2,100 robots that they spent the last six weeks building. FedEx Corp. provides transportation costs for more than 1,000 robots across the U.S. that will ship to the FIRST Regional Competitions taking place during March and April in 48 states. During "FIRST National Robot Ship Day," FedEx will move 227 tons of U.S. robots and crates, at an average of 400 pounds per FIRST Team, through its networks. "The Chicago Knights (FIRST Team 1739)" and "The YCLA Eagles (FIRST Team 3416)" -- both of Chicago -- released their robots for competition from the Illinois Institute of Technology like thousands of counterparts across the U.S. today. The sports-style robotics competition season culminates in the 2011 FIRST Championship at the Edward Jones Center, April 27-30, in St. Louis. (Photo/Christopher Jim Prisching)

  • Today about 50,000 high-school-aged FIRST(R) Robotics Competition (FRC(R)) students bid goodbye to the nearly 2,100 robots that they spent the last six weeks building. FedEx Corp. provides transportation costs for more than 1,000 robots across the U.S. that will ship to the FIRST Regional Competitions taking place during March and April in 48 states. During "FIRST National Robot Ship Day," FedEx will move 227 tons of U.S. robots and crates, at an average of 400 pounds per FIRST Team, through its networks. "The Chicago Knights (FIRST Team 1739)" and "The YCLA Eagles (FIRST Team 3416)" -- both of Chicago -- released their robots for competition from the Illinois Institute of Technology like thousands of counterparts across the U.S. today. The sports-style robotics competition season culminates in the 2011 FIRST Championship at the Edward Jones Center, April 27-30, in St. Louis. (Photo/Christopher Jim Prisching)

CHICAGO--()--A photo of high-school-aged students who participated in the FIRST Robotics Competition is available on Business Wire's Website and AP Photo Express.

Let the competition begin!

Today about 50,000 high-school-aged FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®) students bid goodbye to the nearly 2,100 robots that they spent the last six weeks building. FedEx Corp. provides transportation costs for more than 1,000 robots across the U.S. that will ship to the FIRST Regional Competitions taking place during March and April in 48 states. During “FIRST National Robot Ship Day,” FedEx will move 227 tons of U.S. robots and crates, at an average of 400 pounds per FIRST Team, through its networks. “The Chicago Knights (FIRST Team 1739)” and “The YCLA Eagles (FIRST Team 3416)” ― both of Chicago ― released their robots for competition from the Illinois Institute of Technology like thousands of counterparts across the U.S. today. The sports-style robotics competition season culminates in the 2011 FIRST Championship at the Edward Jones Center, April 27-30, in St. Louis. FIRST was founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen to inspire an interest and appreciation among young people in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6621966&lang=en

Contacts

FIRST
Dennis Garrigan, 617-797-3800
dgarrigan@usfirst.org
or
FedEx Corp.
Deborah Willig, 901-508-4377
deborah.willig@fedex.com

Release Summary

2011 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) National Robot Ship Day sponsored by FedEx Corp.

Contacts

FIRST
Dennis Garrigan, 617-797-3800
dgarrigan@usfirst.org
or
FedEx Corp.
Deborah Willig, 901-508-4377
deborah.willig@fedex.com