Pack Expo connects with FIRST Robotics teams

For the second year, PMMI, owner and producer of PACK EXPO, has invited local FIRST Robotics teams to demonstrate their entries in the 2013 FIRST Robotics Competition at PACK EXPO Las Vegas (Sept. 23–25, 2013; Las Vegas Convention Center). FIRST is a national organization that strives to connect students to “real-world engineering,” and show where STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and math — can lead them.

Five teams of high school students will display and demonstrate the frisbee-throwing robots they entered in this year’s “Ultimate Ascent” contest, a game designed to test the accuracy of the robots’ aim:

Cimarron-Memorial High School (Las Vegas, Nev.)
Northwest Career & Technical Academy (Las Vegas, Nev.)
Coronado High School (Henderson, Nev.)
Boulder City High School (Boulder City, Nev.)
Foothill High School (Henderson, Nev.)

Teams will spend a half day demonstrating their robots in action, and the rest of the day exploring the show floor.

“FIRST allows K–12 students to experience the STEM subjects as practical applications for what they learn in school,” said Maria Ferrante, vice president, Education & Workforce Development, PMMI. “By bringing them to PACK EXPO, we also open up to them an environment where they can see technology in action, and can imagine themselves designing and/or using packaging and processing machinery.”

To learn more about the FIRST Robotics Competition, visit www.usfirst.org.