NRB Bearings Ltd. and PTC, the Product Development Company, is pleased to announce the results of the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) competition held on Sept. 8, 2010, at NRB Bearings Ltd. in Thane, Mumbai, the first-ever robotics competition held in India. The winners of this year’s FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) are -

The competition was created and conducted with FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) of Manchester, N.H., USA; and Techtronics and brought to India by NRB Bearings Limited and PTC . The Indian robotics competition was designed for 9th grade students with a view to developing their skills and abilities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

The seven school teams, consisting of 10 members, were each provided with ‘the robotics kit of parts’ and three industry mentors. Over a period of 11 weeks, the teams worked with their mentors to create a competitive robot. The robots, created by the winning student teams with support from the mentors, competed in the FTC program HotShot! The objective of HotShot! is straightforward—build a robot from a kit of about 1,200 parts that has the ability to shoot plastic balls into goals in and around a 13.7-square-meter playing field. The winning team is the one that scores
the most goals in a two-and-a-half minute round.

PTC provided the teams and helped them underwrite with Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire and Windchill software to design collaborate and manage the robot designs. PTC and NRB together underwrote the cost of this year’s program in India and provided program management, NRB Bearings has prepared and supported the teams by providing training, mentoring, and support at their manufacturing plants through its engineering and Human Resources mentors. NRB Bearings also underwrote the cost of this year’s program with PTC.

“NRB’s contribution was to ensure that The FIRST Tech Challenge in India is focused. on inspiring an interest in Science and Technology, in youth specifically from underprivileged schools and regions. I firmly believe all our children are equally capable of succeeding in high technology fields and contributing to the India of the future. if given support and training of the caliber provided by committed young engineer-mentors from NRB. It was with this aim in mind that we created a template for the program to follow in future years The competition held yesterday at our Thane plant demonstrates the change that such an initiative can make in the lives of these students,” said NRB Bearings Ltd. President and Chief Executive Officer, Harshbeena S. Zaveri.

“PTC is very proud to be associated with FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) and to partner with NRB Bearings Ltd. In this initiative, said PTC’s spokesperson, John D. Stuart, PTC’s Senior Vice President of Education and Country Manager of PTC Eastern Europe. By focusing PTC’s corporate social responsibility programs around STEM-based initiatives, we are investing in our youth and equipping them with the technology skills they need in order to be successful in the future. It is no less of an opportunity for us to interact with such bright minds of today who will transform India into the next era of innovation. The enthusiasm of schoolchildren in tackling a very challenging design problem is a tribute to them, their parents and their mentors.

“FTC is designed for those who want to compete head-to-head, using a sports model where teams of up to 10 students are responsible for designing, building, and programming their robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams,” said Ken Johnson, Director of the FIRST Tech Challenge. “The robot kit is reusable from year-to-year and is programmed using a variety of languages. Teams, including coaches, mentors and volunteers, are required to develop strategy and build robots based on sound engineering principles. Awards are given for the competition as for well as for community outreach, design, and other real-world accomplishments.”

“PTC is committed to building the future engineers of India - inspiring young students to pursue technology and engineering professions meeting both the needs of our customers and industry,” said Rafiq Somani, Country Manager, and PTC. “PTC is proud to continue our sponsorship of this important STEM literacy movement from FIRST. Going forward, we hope to expand our reach across rural India and develop a multi-layered pipeline of engineers for the future.”

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