NASHOBA TECH ROBOTICS Team Preparing for Competition     

They have their marching orders, and they're working feverishly to design and build a robot that can carry out those orders.

Students on Nashoba Valley Technical High School's FIRST Robotics team must build an automaton that can fulfill the tasks laid out in this year's competition, called Recycle Rush - that is, stack recycling bins on a platform and properly dispose of "litter" in the form of pool noodles.

All teams in the regional competition have six weeks from the time FIRST Robotics announces the challenge until the competitions begin in March to design and build their robot.

Nashoba Tech's team is scheduled to compete March 6 at Reading High School and, if it gets past that competition, again on March 26 at Northeastern University.

Nashoba Tech's team is mentored by Engineering Technology instructor Jeffrey Scheminger and Programming & Web Development instructor Douglas Becker, with assistance from Raytheon employees Rick Nagle and Leon Reitman.

Major sponsors of the team include UTC Aerospace Systems, Raytheon and the Friends of Nashoba Tech.

FIRST, an acronym of "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology," is an international program founded by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway.