HONEYWELL ENGINEERS, CORTEZ HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
BUILD ROBOT TO COMPETE IN NATIONAL COMPETITION.

Team to compete in local AZ FIRST "scrimmage" on Feb. 16.

The Cortez team has invited Kingman, Queen Creek and Highland High Schools to a robo-athletes "scrimmage" before the national competition. The "Arizona FIRST Blowout" competition will be held on Monday, Feb. 16 at 10 a.m. in the Cortez High School gymnasium, located at 8828 N. 31^st Ave.

After reaching third place for three straight years, the Honeywell/Cortez team will participate in the National Championship for the fourth time April 2- 4 at Disney World’s Epcot Center in Orlando, Fla.

The group of 17 students from Cortez and five engineers from Honeywell have been building a radio-controlled, programmable "robo-athlete," for the past six weeks. Their robot will compete in the seventh annual FIRST competition, called The Competition -- 1998, in elimination matches with robots from 150 other high school/corporate teams from around the nation.

The goal of The Competition -- 1998 is to have the radio-controlled robots collect, transport and lift balls into an 8 foot tall hexagon-shaped central goal with three rail goals extending from it. The team with the robot who scores the most points after a two minute round wins. However, the underlying purpose of the contest is to show students the value of science and technology by immersing them in an engineering project.

Honeywell’s local involvement includes sponsoring the Cortez team and providing engineers, designers and machinists to help the students plan and build their robot.

Founded in 1989 by New Hampshire inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen, FIRST, formerly U.S. FIRST, is a national, non-profit coalition developing innovative new programs to excite the next generation about science and technology.

Cortez High School is in the Glendale Union High School District, which is known for its systems approach to curriculum development and assessment and consistently high test scores in state, national and college entrance exams. Cortez has about 1,000 students in grades 9-12.