FIRST Robotics sets kickoff event: The FIRST Robotics competition in
Michigan will kick off with a big program in Northville Saturday
featuring around three-quarters of Michigan's 100 teams.

FIRST is inventor Dean Kamen's nonprofit, an acronym for For
Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, and the
nonprofit sponsors an annual robotics competition that attracts
thousands of high school students and science mentors.

This year's competition is divided into three regions, which will
hold regional competitions later this winter -- the Great Lakes
Region, based in Ypsilanti, the Detroit Region, based in Detroit, and
the Western Region, based in Allendale. There's a national
competition for regional winners in Atlanta, Ga. in April.

The kickoff event will feature the disclosure of this year's specific
robotic challenge task, announced nationally by NASA. A second
kickoff event is also scheduled for Allendale. Last year, a team from
Goodrich won a national championship, along with teams from North
Carolina and Indiana.

More about the competition at www.usfirst.org
<http://www.usfirst.org> . The Saturday event begins at 9:15 a.m. at
Northville High School, 45700 Six Mile Road. The Northville event is
sponsored by Intier Automotive.