RINGFEDER Sponsors Local High School Robotics Program
Westwood, New Jersey- Ringfeder Corporation recently sponsored the Pascack Valley Regional High School District's FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Team for the 2006 school year. The Pascack Valley team competed in a New Jersey regional event, winning the New Jersey Judge's Award Day 1 as well being a regional finalist in the South
Carolina- Palmetto regional event in 2006.
The FIRST Robotics Competition stages short games played by remote control robots that are designed and built in 6 weeks by a team of students, teachers and mentors. The students then pilot the robots in a competition against students from other teams in timed events. The robots were designed to launch balls into goals, while human players entered balls into play, and scored points when the robot threw or pushed balls into corner goals.
According to Ringfeder Corporation President Carl Fenstermacher, "It is important for American competitiveness in the global market that we continue to produce, nurture and inspire engineers. Ringfeder Corporation is doing our small part toward that end."
FIRST was founded by inventor Dean Kamen to inspire students'
interest and participation in science and technology and to promote educational values in technology, engineering, management and teamwork skills. Teams of students are paired with sponsor companies to provide mentorships. The robotics competition provides an engineering challenge for students, along with teachers and mentors, to design and assemble a viable solution.
"We feel that engineering is not a popular field among young people," says Fenstermacher. "Everyone is looking for flashy and quickly rewarding jobs. It is important that young people, especially young women, realize that engineering can be a very rewarding field, emotionally and financially. FIRST shows young students that designing and building something can be fun, because the results can be immediately tested and proven. The robot competitions that follow the designing and building phases put the whole process into perspective for the students through the thrill of a friendly battle between schools. These competitions allow students to see how others solved the same problems and may inspire even better ideas next year."
The Pascack Pioneers- Team 1676 of the Pascack Valley Regional High School District became part of FIRST in 2005. In their first year, the Pioneers went to the New Jersey Regional and won the Rookie All-Star award in 2005. The victory brought the team to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA for the 2005 National Championships, where they competed as part of the Archimedes division.
For more than 35 years, Ringfeder Corporation has been the leading manufacturer of keyless locking devices in North America.
The company markets a wide range of power transmission components including friction springs, keyless shaft/hub connections, flexible couplings, rubber disc couplings, torque limiters and torque wrenches along with a wide range of other specialty and custom made products.
For more information on Ringfeder or the entire line of Ringfeder products, log on to www.ringfeder.com or call 1-800-245-2580.
For more information on this release or additional photography, please call advantage marketing communications at 908-850-8710.
