Robots for science: Check out Kamen’s cool competition

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Author: USRobots

Today and tomorrow, about 1,500 high school students from all over New England will participate in Kamen's FIRST Robotics Competition. Teams of students built robots to complete a series of tasks. Winners of the 33 regional contests move on to the championships at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

Consider, for a moment, that thanks to Dean Kamen, the Manchester Millyard inventor and entrepreneur, thousands of students good at science and math will have the thrill of competing before thousands of fans in arenas that normally house athletic contests.

Athletes get the attention and adoration in our entertainment-crazy culture, but engineers make the world go around. Think Manny Ramirez is rich? No athlete is on the Forbes list of the world's 100 wealthiest people. Three software engineers are in the top ten.

Manchester is home to more and more science and math whizzes, thanks to companies like Texas Instruments and Kamen's DEKA Research and Development Corp. If city leaders are able to work out a deal with UNH-Manchester to create new lab and classroom space for more science and technology courses, the city could become something of a destination location for young people with aspirations to succeed in the sciences.

But before kids can get to the graduate student level, they have to get through high school. The National Science Board noted last month that American students do very poorly on international science tests. Even America's most advanced science students are near the bottom in international comparisons. Everything we can do to nurture a love for science among our young people is important. Kamen's competition can do that, but only if students get involved.

If you know a young person who might find science an interesting pursuit in life (or who needs some convincing that science and math are important and relevant), why not take him or her to the Verizon Wireless Arena today or tomorrow and check out the battling robots? The FIRST competition is open to the public, and who knows, it might provide the spark that a young person needs to get interested in science and math.