ROBOTICON Tampa Bay 2019 To Attract 1,000 Young Roboticists

TAMPA, FL —More than 1 000 students from around Florida will descend on the University of South Florida Yuengling Center, 12499 USF Bull Run Drive in Tampa Oct. 12-13 for the seventh annual ROBOTICON Tampa Bay K-12 STEAM Showcase.

This high-energy, gear-gnashing event is free and showcases the power of hands-on, mentor-driven STEAM education and what youth guided by adult mentors can accomplish. The event runs from 10am to 5 pm Saturday and Sunday. ROBOTICON 2019 is a Manufacturing Day event.

With support from the USF College of Engineering,Hillsborough County, Lockheed Martin, USF Connect and the Florida High Tech Corridor, USF Research and Innovation,Frontier, SOFWERX, SourceToad , Armed Forces Electronics and Communications Association, Bay Area Manufacturing Association,Women in Technology, PLuGHiTz Corp. and other community organizations, ROBOTICON Tampa Bay provides students an opportunity to enjoy a full-scale pounds, as well as FIRST Tech Challenge (seventh- to 12th-grade teams) and FIRST LEGO League (four- to eighth-grade teams) scrimmages and practice games, and a FIRST LEGO League Jr. Expo for the youngest roboticists, ages 6 to 9.

This year, ROBOTICON is Star Wars-themed, and students will encounter R2D2, the occasional Storm Trooper and a few other intergalactic visitors. There will also be a USF College of Engineering Expo and an Industry Showcase, in partnership with Synapse, showcasing commercial and industrial science, technology and academic exhibits.

Guests will also be able to tour Team Pits to see team members working on their robots and have a chance to talk to students, explore hands-on engineering exhibits and STEAM demos, and learn about the Tampa Bay Advanced Manufacturing & Robotics Center (AMRoC) developed by Foundation for Community Driven Innovation at 2149 University Square Mall in north Tampa.

The Foundation for Community Driven Innovation is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting academic achievement, economic development and the spirit of innovation by facilitating fiscal sponsorship for youth robotics teams, and by supporting hands-on learning and events like Gulf Coast MakerCon, Tampa Bay’s annual maker festival and ROBOTICON Tampa Bay.

The FCDI is also the founder of Tampa Bay’s only public Fab Lab, the Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics Center at University Mall.

Click here for free tickets to ROBOTICON.