The 2012 FIRST Robotics Challenge Kick Off will be held at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Lake Michigan College’s Mendel Center, Upton Hall room 100-1003, in Benton Harbor.

This live televised NASA broadcast from FIRST Headquarters in Manchester, N.H., will announce the “challenge” for the more than 250,000 students and their 90,000 volunteers in all 50 states and 55 countries. Teams will also receive their kit of parts so that they can begin designing and building their robots for competition.

The Lake Michigan College event will be a local kick-off for several teams in the Michigan area. The event begins at 9:30 am, with the live NASA feed then teams will be able to view a partial play field that will be set up so they can learn the game for 2012.

The Niles FIRST Regional Competition will be held at Niles High School March 23-24.  There are currently 32 teams slated for this event with eight more anticipated.

This event raises the curtain for the six weeks that each team has to design and build their robot. Beginning in March, Regional FIRST Competitions will be held throughout the world. From there, state competitions will be held and culminate with the World Championship.

FIRST in Michigan’s website is http://firstmichigan.org.