KSC00pp0316

Students and advisors are busy setting up their robots for the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Southeast Regional competition March 9-11 at the KSC Visitor Complex. Team 243 (left) comprises students from Fredrick Douglass High School and employees of Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems, from Marietta, Ga. The uncrated entry from Team 233 is at right. It was built by The Space Coast FIRST Team, comprising students from Rockledge and Cocoa Beach High Schools, with NASA, Lockheed Martin and Dynacs as sponsors. Teams of high school students are testing the limits of their imagination using robots they have designed, with the support of business and engineering professionals and corporate sponsors, to compete in a technological battle against other schools' robots. Of the 30 high school teams competing at KSC, 16 are Florida teams co-sponsored by NASA and KSC contractors. Local high schools participating are Astronaut, Bayside, Cocoa Beach, Eau Gallie, Melbourne, Melbourne Central Catholic, Palm Bay, Rockledge, Satellite, and Titusville