NORWICH – The Chenango County FIRST TR-X 145 Robotics Team recently held their 2011 kick-off at the Norwich Senior High School. Through a live feed provided by NASA, originating from Manchester, NH, at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 8, the team learned of the new challenge for 2011 along with other teams nationwide.

Inventor Dean Kamen and will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas launched the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®) 20th anniversary season with the a new robotics game called “LOGO MOTION™.”

FIRST teams received a kit of Parts made up of motors, batteries, a control system, a PC and a mix of automation components – but no instructions. Working with mentors, students have six weeks to design, build, program and test their robots to meet the season’s engineering challenge. Once these young inventors create a robot, their teams participate in competitions that measure the effectiveness of each robot, the power of collaboration and the determination of students.