Hughes Network Systems, a leading provider of broadband satellite technologies and services, has announced that it has supported the FIRST Robotics Competition for the DC Region, which was held from March 25-26 at Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
This competition promotes technology and science education for high school students as they construct and program a robot to execute specific tasks competing against other teams. The winners of this competition would get a chance to participate in the International competition, which would be held from April 27-30 in St. Louis’ Edward Jones Dome in Missouri. Hughes has also been the chief sponsor of the Chesapeake Regional FIRST Robotics competition, which was conducted in early March in the Baltimore Convention Center.
According to Dr. Arunas Slekys, the Vice President of Hughes, the company was dedicated to help students develop a profound interest in science and technology, which could lead to the development of the future engineers. The FIRST gives each team a real time challenge, by giving them an opportunity to design a working robot and allow them to compete against their peers. Slekys also mentioned that they were thrilled to participate in the FIRST program once again and found the students were highly extraordinary. The company has been supporting for the past five years the FIRST Robotics, and its executives were also providing their services as judges in both the Chesapeake and the DC Regional competitions.
Dr. Rajeev Gopal, who is one of the judges for the DC competition and the Senior Director of Hughes in the Defense and Intelligence Systems Division, observes that he was continually awed by the advanced robots created by the students. According to him, a lot of effort and creativity goes into each entry for the competition, which motivates them to reach the heights in innovation.