Calendar Listing
CSM Maryland FIRST Tech Challenge Championship. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Dec. 11, College of Southern Maryland, La Plata Campus, Physical Education (PE) Center, 8730 Mitchell Road, La Plata. High school teams from Maryland and Washington, D.C. compete in FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) in a fast-paced game called Get Over It! on a 12-foot-by-12-foot field of play. High-spirited competition begins with four qualifying rounds where teams use robots to dispense, gather and place batons-some with hidden magnets-into goals rated for level of difficulty. Robots must maneuver over cliffs, mountains, bridges, and uneven surfaces just as robots such as the Mars Rover maneuvered on the rocky surface of Mars. Qualifying teams compete in quarter- and semi-finals for a chance to go to the World Championships at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis in April. Last years CSM competition qualified the World Champion Under the Son team from Hollywood. Free. http://www.ftc.csmd.edu. To view a video on the FIRST Tech Challenge 2010 Get Over It! competition, visit http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc/content.aspx?id=962.