Beach Cities Robotics and TRW Open House

Beach Cities Robotics Team 294 did a daylong demonstration at TRWs Open House on Saturday, September 28th, 2002. About thirty student members of the team showed off their national championship 2001 robot, their current and future activities. The audience included hundreds of TRW Employees & Sub-contractors and their families walking around the TRW Campus, stopping to see exhibits and hearing about the interesting things TRW does and supports.

Beach Cities Robotics
FIRST Team 294   Redondo Union High School
Mira Costa High School
http://www.bcrobotics.org
Contact:Cheryl Miller, Team Mom
310-944-9334 H 310-963-9337 cell
310-944-9336 fax cheryl@bcrobotics.org    

September 30, 2002

Immediate Release

Beach Cities Robotics and TRW Open House

Beach Cities Robotics Team 294 did a daylong demonstration at TRWs Open House on Saturday, September 28th, 2002. About thirty student members of the team showed off their national championship 2001 robot, their current and future activities. The teams ten-year-old programmer, Alex Kiritz, showed off his robot prototype. The audience included hundreds of TRW Employees & Sub-contractors and their families walking around the TRW Campus, stopping to see exhibits and hearing about the interesting things TRW does and supports.

TRW has been a partner with Beach Cities Robotics Team 294 for seven years and has supported their stunning growth and accomplishments through the past years. The TRW Foundation has partnered with five teams in three states. TRW engineer Dale Hall has been with TRW for nearly thirty-five years, and has been with Beach Cities Robotics for nearly five years.

The team learns on January 4th, 2003, what the new seasons competition is and they have six weeks to build a robot to fit the competition. The team won a regional image award in 2001, and is working towards winning that award again in 2003. Beach Cities Robotics Team 294 revealed their plans for a new robot cart built from a donated golf cart. The cart is designed to turn right, turn left, and reverse, then breakdown and fit into the robot shipping crate. The cart will include a boombox blaring Surfin USA, a police beacon, and the driver in the teams cool sunglasses donated by Disneys XGames. The team is going to make their control board look like a surfboard, and an antenna topper of a surfer painted in their team colors, courtesy of SB Surf, surfs" on the robot.

The team is experimenting with a new transmission design using a two speed gearbox instead of bicycle chains. The team is applying for FIRSTs highest award, the Chairmans Award. They have created a poster explaining FIRSTs value of Gracious Professionalism. The competitions are free and open to the public. The LA Regional is at the Los Angeles Sports Arena Friday April 4th -- Saturday April 5th , 2003.

The team launched their new website, www.bcrobotics.org, in June of 2002 documenting past activities and new season plans. Besides building a robot, team members have opportunities to participate in many other activities, including animation, CAD, computer programming, electronics, engineering, finance, fundraising, grantwriting, machining, mechanical design, project management, planning, publicity, welding and website design. The team meets at RUHS Auto Shop, 620 Diamond St., Redondo Beach, three times a week; 4 p.m. -- 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. -- 4 p.m. Sundays. Interested 9th -- 12th graders attending MCHS or RUHS, parents, and interested community can stop by to see whats going on. Call 310-944-9334 for more details.

Beach Cities Robotics is unusual in that two rival schools, MCHS and RUHS, combine to compete regionally and nationally together in FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) www.usfirst.org.    ; Beach Cities Robotics is the only west coast team to have won a national championship.

http://www.bcrobotics.org/20022003/publicrelations/pressreleases/alex.jpg

http://www.bcrobotics.org/20022003/publicrelations/pressreleases/092802trwteampic.jpg

http://www.bcrobotics.org/20022003/publicrelations/pressreleases/pressrelations.htm

Photo opportunities are at all robotics meetings Tu 4-7p, Thu 4-7p, Sun 10a-4pm.

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