OAKVILLE, ON --(Marketwired - January 13, 2016) - For many Canadian high school students the new year and academic term brings with it the launch of a fresh FIRST Robotics competition season. Siemens Canada and its employees are excited to play an active role in 2016, by promoting learning about technology and manufacturing to tomorrow's talents by sponsoring and supporting six enthusiastic robotics teams; five in Ontario and one in Quebec.
The FIRST Robotics competition is an intense "real-world engineering" challenge. Under strict rules, with limited resources and time limits, teams of 25 students or more raise funds, design a team "brand," hone teamwork skills, and build and program robots to perform prescribed tasks against a field of competitors. Built from scratch in only six weeks, the robots compete in a series of high intensity "robo-sports" at events organized throughout Ontario and Quebec.
The 2016 competition challenge FIRST STRONGHOLD was revealed January 9. FIRST STRONGHOLD is a medieval-themed tower defense game in which two alliances of three teams each compete to score points by breaching the opponent's outer works and capturing the opponent's tower. Watch the FIRST STRONGHOLD competition game reveal video HERE
In addition to a total $30,000 financial sponsorship of the teams, Siemens has provided an in-kind grant of laptops to some of the student teams, which have been refurbished by employee volunteers as part of the company's Corporate Social Responsibility program. The laptops are preloaded with a free High School Edition of Siemens' Solid Edge® software to assist students with the design of their robot. Solid Edge delivers advanced CAD technology used by leading companies. Other robotics teams can also download Solid Edge High School Edition .
Siemens volunteer mentors from a variety of disciplines will also be supporting the teams with educational talks and technical workshops. Siemens employees will also volunteer as judges at a FIRST Robotics competition.
The all-star line-up sponsored by Siemens includes the following teams:
- Knight Vision from Holy Names Catholic School - Windsor, Ontario
- Chargers from Garth Webb Secondary School - Oakville, Ontario
- Wildebots from Robert Bateman High School - Burlington, Ontario
- The Red Devils from Oakville Trafalgar High School - Oakville, Ontario
- Spartans from Craig Kielburger Secondary School - Milton, Ontario
- Les aigles d'or from École secondaire Honoré-Mercier - Montréal, Québec
Siemens will be sharing news from the teams via its official Twitter page. Follow us @SiemensCanada for the latest updates and visit the FIRST Robotics Canada website HERE for more information and competition dates.
QUOTES:
"The students engaged with FIRST Robotics teams represent the future leaders in Canadian industry and by supporting them we help cultivate an interest and a passion in technological innovation and engineering. This benefits not only our future leaders, but Canadian industry, communities and the country as a whole. We're honoured to sponsor and assist these high school robotics teams and can't wait to see the competition results!" - Joris Myny, SVP, Digital Factory and Process Industries & Drives, Siemens Canada
" FIRST Robotics Canada is proud to partner with Siemens Canada as a Corporate team sponsor. The funds made available to teams will allow more students to compete in FIRST programs and potentially represent Canada at the FIRST world championships. Best of luck to all teams and Siemens employees who are serving as mentors." - Mark Breadner, Executive Director, FIRST Robotics Canada
About Siemens Canada For more than 100 years Siemens Canada has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality and reliability. Siemens technology in the fields of electrification, automation and digitalization helps make real what matters to Canadians. From the Atlantic to Pacific oceans, more than 4,800 employees in Canada work together to deliver solutions for sustainable energy, intelligent infrastructure, healthcare, and the future of manufacturing. One of the world's largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of gas and steam turbines for power generation, a major provider of power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions and automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a foremost provider of medical imaging equipment and a leader in laboratory diagnostics. Sales for Siemens Canada in fiscal 2015 (ended September 30), were $3.0 billion CAD. The company has 46 offices and 15 production facilities across Canada. Further information is available at www.siemens.ca .
Note: Siemens and the Siemens logo are registered trademarks of Siemens AG. Solid Edge is a trademark or registered trademark of Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. All other trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks belong to their respective holders.
For more information, please contact: Ann Adair VP Communications & Government Affairs Siemens Canada Phone: 416.567.7831 E-mail: ann.adair@siemens.com Follow us: www.twitter.com/siemenscanada
