FIRST Robotics Competition Returns to Thompson-Boling Arena
UT welcomes more than 2,500 students, families and teachers from around the region to Thompson-Boling Arena Thursday through Saturday, March 23-25, for the annual Smoky Mountains Regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition.
UT’s Tickle College of Engineering helps sponsor the event in which teams of high school students compete to develop robots capable of performing specific tasks based on a central game theme.
This year’s competition—STEAMWORKS—blends the knowledge students have of robotics with a science fiction subculture known as steampunk. In this type of fiction, Victorian-era society has some pieces of modern technology, only they are powered by steam.