Who Will Make It to the FIRST Robotics Competition's Hall of Fame This Year?

April 22, 2014
Students from around the world will have the opportunity to participate in a "real-world engineering" experience.

Mouser Electronics, Inc., TE Connectivity and Altera will sponsor this week's 2014 FIRST Championship in St. Louis—a robotics competition that promotes STEM education.

The event is set to take place April 23-26 at the Edward Jones Dome and will be a global affair. Innovative students from around the world will participate in an Aerial Assist(SM) contest that will include student-built robots competing to toss balls into goals.

Mouser is a leading engineering resource and global authorized distributor of semiconductors and electronic components.  They will be the sponsor of the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Hall of Fame area at the event, along with TE Connectivity and Altera.

Through FIRST —For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology—students in grades K-12 will be able to engage in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills. The FIRST Robotics Competition, is one of four FIRST programs, and provides high-school students with a "real-world engineering" experience.

Mouser's hope is to inspire and foster young people's interest in science and technology.

"We are proud to sponsor an event that celebrates the brightest young minds of today and the engineers of the future," said Kevin Hess, Mouser's Vice President of Technical Marketing. "The FIRST Championship event puts the spotlight on innovative students from around the world who are solving real-world engineering challenges."

The FRC Hall of Fame exhibit highlights and celebrates the past recipients of the Chairman's Award – the highest honor awarded in FRC—and holds them as examples for other teams to emulate. This award goes to the team that best exemplifies the goals and values of FIRST, regardless of the point scores.

Mouser will also staff a large booth in the exhibition hall featuring its unique capabilities as the design-fulfillment distributor, offering the newest products and advanced technologies from over 500 manufacturers.

In addition, Mouser was a contributing sponsor of the FRC Regional Competition in Irving, TX and the FRC Kits of Parts (KoP) in partnership with the Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA). Each FRC team received a KoP, which includes motors, batteries, a control system, a PC and a mix of automation components — with no instructions.
 
Teams had six weeks to transform their kit into a working robot designed to perform specific tasks. This year's competition is the Aerial AssistSM based on the robots designed as part of the previous competition.  Mouser has been a major supporter of the FRC Regional and FIRST Championship for the past several years.