ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The second annual FIRST Global Challenge -- an Olympic-style robotic competition which attracted delegations of high school-aged innovators from 157 nations in 2017 -- is scheduled to once again unite the globe this August in Mexico City. To help ensure that every nation is represented in Mexico City, FIRST Global (www.first.global) is launching its Unite the Globe Scholarship Campaign (www.first.global/unite).
Each year, FIRST Global invites one team of student innovators from each country to represent their nation at the FIRST Global Challenge where teams are placed in shifting collaborative alliances of three teams each to solve a pressing global problem. Using each team’s self-assembled and engineered robots, each alliance works together to solve one of the 14 Grand Science and Engineering Challenges facing the world today. This year’s challenge is entitled “Energy Impact” and teams from Afghanistan to Bhutan, Syria to South Sudan, Israel to Iran, and Native Americans to Aboriginal Australians will align with two other nations to fuel power plants, activate renewable energy sources and build a resilient transmission network to compete in the “Olympics” of robotics.
“By engaging the students of the world in a collaborative competition to help solve the world’s most pressing problems, FIRST Global inspires students to learn the skills they will need to make the discoveries their parents and grandparents would consider miracles, fantasies, or just plain science fiction. Instead of focusing on their differences, national teams of young innovators engage in FIRST Global’s collaborative environment that builds trust among nations, as students develop and use the tools of science and engineering to work together to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems,” explained FIRST Global Founder Dean Kamen.
Teams will need to fully construct a robot from a standardized kit of parts, program their robot to complete this year’s Challenge, and also raise upwards of $25,000 to cover travel and other expenses -- a struggle in many nations around the world. In order to help ensure that all countries can send a team to attend the FIRST Global Challenge, FIRST Global is launching its Unite the Globe Scholarship Campaign (www.first.global/unite). 100% of donations will directly support the team attendance at the competition.
To see what countries and continental teams have committed to sending their robotics representatives to the 2018 FIRST Global Challenge, along with those with whom we are still working to find potential participants for this global event, visit first.global/fgc/attending. To forward a contact in a nation that has yet to register, please contact the FIRST Global Director of Team Relations (anisha@first.global) to pursue event registration.
FIRST Global Mission: The FIRST Global mission is to inspire science and technology leadership and innovation in young people from all nations in order to increase understanding, instill the importance of cooperation, address the world’s most pressing issues, and improve quality of life for all. This mission is accomplished through the FIRST Global Challenge, which culminates with an international robotics game that will rotate among different nations each year. By showing the youth of the world that if they communicate, cooperate, and work together using the tools of science and engineering to find solutions to the world’s grand challenges – water, energy, security, medicine, food, and education – they will be able to accomplish great things and become part of a truly global community.
FIRST Global Challenge: The FIRST Global Challenge is an annual robotics game that will address one of the 14 Grand Challenges identified by the national engineering academies of the United States, United Kingdom, and China. Each year, a different issue of global importance will take center stage as the theme of that year’s FIRST Global Challenge, which will be held in a different nation across the world.
FIRST Global’s Global STEM Corps: The Global STEM Corps (GSC) is FIRST Global’s 21st century answer to a world in need of an inspired generation of young adults ready to tackle global challenges. Through GSC, grassroots volunteers work to motivate students across the globe to pursue fulfilling, exciting, and rewarding lives through STEM education by mentoring them for an “Olympics”-style robotics event. These community-based volunteers range from civic minded high school and college students, to entire university robotics and engineering departments. The STEM Corps brings the universal elements of science, cooperation, and competition to the world stage by connecting mentors and FIRST Global competitors online and over the phone – making it possible to stay in touch anytime, anywhere.
FIRST Global’s Higher Education Network: Leading universities around the world including Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Yale and Technion are among the founding members of the FIRST Global Higher Education Network. Participating institutions in the FIRST Global Higher Education Network are partnered with their nation’s FIRST Global robotics team and provide them with technical mentoring (on the tasks associated with designing, building, and programming FIRST Global robots) and guidance to inspire the next generations of leaders in STEM.
FIRST Global Founder: Dean Kamen is a prolific inventor, entrepreneur, and tireless advocate for science and technology innovation. His roles as an inventor and an advocate are intertwined with his passion for practical, real world uses of technology, and his personal determination to spread excitement for and the virtues of STEM to the more than two billion youths around the world. Dean’s drive comes from his firm belief that the tools of science and engineering will help equip the world’s youth to solve the most pressing global challenges we face as a planet, both today and tomorrow.
