Robot uprising: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade ribbon will be cut by robots

The Emmy Award winning annual tradition that is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, celebrates its 87th incarnation with the addition of robots to its repertoire of giant balloons and one-of-a-kind floats. The ceremony will be opened by five award winning FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams and their robots this Thursday, November 28th, at 9 am.

FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, Robotics Competition is a not-for-profit organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen, aimed at inspiring youth interest and participation in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Kicking-off the ceremony presents the youths with the unique opportunity to appear live before three million people, with another 50 million watching from home.

 
Founded in 1989, FIRST is supported by over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and grants more than $16 million in college scholarships

“We are extremely excited and thankful for this unique opportunity that Macy’s has given us,” said FIRST Founder, Dean Kamen. “Tuning into the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is an American tradition, and this year the first thing people will see in the parade is FIRST. Thanks to Macy’s, we have the chance to pique the curiosity of millions of young people, as well as potential Mentors, Sponsors, and Volunteers.” Macy’s shares these sentiments, recognizing that public exposure is vital in encouraging young people to pursue a STEM education.

The five FIRST Robotics Competition teams, along with their adult mentors, will travel across country courtesy of sponsorship provided by Southwest Airlines and FedEx. These teams include:

• Team 1538, The Holy Cows, from San Diego, Calif.;
• Team 1477, Texas Torque, from The Woodlands, Texas;
• Team 180, S.P.A.M., from Stuart, Fla.;
• Team 16, The Bomb Squad, from Mountain Home, Ark.; and
• Team 25, Raider Robotix, from North Brunswick, N.J.

The robots were designed from scratch for FRC’s Ultimate Ascent season challenge. No instructions were given; instead, students worked with their adult mentors to design original robots using a kit of motors, batteries, control systems, a PC, automation components and various other parts that each team received. Together, they spent six weeks designing, building, programing, and of course, testing their robots to meet the engineering challenge. Finalists were selected to partake in the parade and robots were modified for specific parade-related tasks.

Team Torque’s “Sonic” robot is tasked with the actual ribbon cutting while the other four robots will fire confetti. Once these tasks are complete, each of the 150-pound, 12 V battery-operated machines will be driven the entire 2.5 mile stretch of the parade to its Herald Square destination.

Visit FIRST for the full press-release.