POTSDAM – Clarkson University is sponsoring and mentoring two teams made up of local high school students in this year’s FIRST Robitics Competition, in which the teams have six weeks to build a robot from a kit of parts and no instructions.

Team 229: Division by Zero, and Team 4124: Integration by Parts, associated with students from the Salmon River and Massena Central School Districts, respectively, are expected to design, build, and program exceptionally competitive robots to compete in this worldwide annual event.

Sponsored by the U.S. Air Force, the program has existed as Team 229 since 1998, but expanded this year thanks to grants from JCPenney and NASA to include rookie Team 4124, permitting more students to get a "hands-on" experience with the robot design/build process.

Affiliated with Clarkson's nationally recognized SPEED Program, more than 20 Clarkson students receive college credit for mentoring the two FIRST teams in areas as diverse as engineering, communications and public relations. In addition to the Clarkson student mentors, the teams are advised by Massena teachers Steve Robert and Darcie Fregoe and Clarkson Professors James Carroll and Kevin Fite.

The teams competed at the Finger Lakes Regional March 8-10, in Rochester, and both teams performed at a high level, with Team 229 finishing fourth in the qualification rounds and its alliance ultimately reaching the quarter-finals of the elimination rounds. Team 4124 was selected to participate in the elimination rounds with its alliance ultimately finishing the tournament in second place.