Press Releases

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. – April 22, 2009 – Motorola congratulates the local WildStang robotics team on its success at the 2009 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) International Championship held this past weekend in Atlanta.  Mentored and coached by Motorola engineers, WildStang was undefeated throughout the championship.  The team is comprised of students from Prospect, Rolling Meadows and Wheeling High Schools in Illinois.

The FIRST International Championship is the culmination of months of hard work, innovative thinking and intense competition.  With the help of volunteer mentors, students have six weeks to design and build a robot that can perform competitive functions. The students and their robots then compete at local and regional competitions, vying for a chance to advance to the championship. This year’s championship drew more than 10,000 students and 533 robots from 23 countries to compete in three levels of robotics challenges.  WildStang was the leader of the winning group of teams for the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship, joined by teams from Michigan and California.

“The students’ attention to detail and hard work really paid off and contributed to our success,” said Raul Olivera, Motorola engineer and coach of the WildStang team. “FIRST shows students the connection between the cool technology they can use to build these robots, and the math and science concepts they learn in the classroom.”

"These competitions are exciting not only for the students, but also for the employee volunteers who have devoted a tremendous amount of time and energy helping the students build the robots and advising on teamwork and strategy,” added Dan Green, Motorola engineer and WildStang team leader. “The value of FIRST becomes evident to both students and mentors as teams from all over the world work together with technology to accomplish something great.”

This year the Motorola Foundation provided $1 million in support of FIRST programs in the U.S. (Illinois, New York, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, California and Pennsylvania) and internationally (Chile, Germany, Haiti and Israel). 120 teams were sponsored by Motorola at the elementary school, middle school and high school levels and more than 60 Motorola volunteers led teams, coordinated regional events and judged robotics competitions, exemplifying the company’s dedication to educating and inspiring the next generation of scientists and inventors.

“The Motorola Foundation is dedicated to programs that make science and technology accessible through hands-on experiences designed to engage and inspire students,” said Eileen Sweeney, director, Motorola Foundation. “Innovation is in our DNA at Motorola and our involvement with FIRST showcases our unique ability to link employee talent to the communities where we live and work.”

Additional details about FIRST can be found at: http://www.usfirst.org/. 

About Motorola Foundation

The Motorola Foundation is the independent charitable and philanthropic arm of Motorola. With employees located around the globe, Motorola seeks to benefit the communities where it operates. The company achieves this by making strategic grants, forging strong community partnerships, fostering innovation and engaging stakeholders. Motorola Foundation focuses its funding on education, especially science, technology, engineering and math programming. For more information, on Motorola Corporate and Foundation giving, visit www.motorola.com/giving.