PTC Backs FIRST Robotics Competition

By Sara Ferris

PTC (Needham, MA)  will serve as a FIRST Collaboration Sponsor for the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition, an educational initiative founded in 1989 by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen. More than 125,000 students in grades K-12 participate each year in the competition. The goal of FIRST is to design accessible, innovative programs for children that build science and technology skills and interests,  as well as self confidence, leadership, and life skills.

PTC will offer a hosted version of its collaboration solution Windchill, to be used by FRC teams to improve collaboration among team members. During the intense 6-week build season, teams can create Web-based project portals and online discussion forums. Document management capabilities will enable all team members to view, measure, and mark up designs without access to the CAD application. Windchill also includes project management features such as the ability to define and manage milestones, tasks, deliverables, and resources. An FRC template will be provided with a “Getting Started “guide, online tutorials, and FRC schedule.

More than 150 participating teams have already registered to use Windchill to manage their FRC projects. Participating teams may also use the school editions of PTC’s Pro/ENGINEER and Mathcad products.

“We’re excited to welcome PTC as a sponsor for the FIRST Robotics Competition,” said Dean Kamen, founder, FIRST. “PTC’s software donation allows the teams to work with collaboration technology throughout all phases of the competition. Additionally, sponsorship provides an exciting opportunity for PTC and its employee mentors to make a rewarding investment in our future technology workforce.”

Beyond PTC’s software and hosting contribution, PTC has launched an outreach program to the broader PTC ecosystem, including employees, PTC/USER, resellers, and customers,  to encourage individuals to mentor FRC teams in their local area or volunteer at one of 41 regional competitions.

“For over 20 years, PTC has been solely focused on helping the world’s leading manufacturing companies bring great products to market. We are a company largely comprised of engineers developing product development solutions used by engineers throughout the world. PTC is committed to advancing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education initiatives, and we are proud to be the FIRST collaboration sponsor, ”said Jim Heppelmann, executive vice president and chief product officer, PTC. “FIRST ignites students with a passion for learning and applying science and technology skills that will benefit them throughout their lives. These students are the engineers, scientists,  technologists, mathematicians, and innovators of tomorrow. The synergy between FIRST and PTC is clear and will benefit all participants.”

FRC teams can visit http://frc.ptc.com/Windchill-signup to register.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.