FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) has announced its 2006 competition: Aim High. Papers all over the country have coverage. Like a strange combination of basketball and soccer, robots score points in Aim High by shooting nerf balls into hoops or rolling them thru goal nets.

Aim High looks to be quite fun for the spectator. As a robotics guy, I have two minor concerns. First, the size restrictions may make the robots look more homogenous. Second and more importantly, the autonomous period continues to shrink. It’s a scant 10 seconds this year. I hope future contests will encourage greater innovation in machining and AI. Nonetheless, I cannot wait to see this year’s competition.