Cleveland, Ohio – The National Robotics League (NRL) has named the finalists competing at the 2014 NRL Championships that will be held at the Lou Higgins Center at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio, on May 16-17, 2014. NRL is a metal-crunching and heart-pounding robot wars competition sponsored by the National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA) to introduce a new generation of Americans to manufacturing. NRL partners teams of middle school, high school, and post-secondary school students with local NTMA manufacturers to build robots designed to do battle.
The 2014 National Championships will feature 51 student teams from 33 schools who have competed in NRL-sanctioned competitions across the U.S., including 2013 defending grand champion Eastern Westmoreland CTC from Latrobe, Pa. Team interviews and safety inspections will take place on Friday, May 16. The competition will take place on Saturday, May 17, with the awards ceremony scheduled for 6:30 p.m.NRL has also added a new education program that is free and open to the public. The program features seminars on a range of manufacturing and NRL-related topics and feature presentations by AWT Robobots, DEPCO LLC, NASA Glenn Research Center, PiMios and the Reshoring Initiative.
NRL local and national sponsors include: GF Machining Solutions, Akron NTMA Chapter, Big Kaiser Precision Tooling Inc., Boston Centerless, DEPCO LLC, Grainger, Homeyer Precision Manufacturing, Latrobe LLC, Mosey Production Machinists, National Tooling and Machining Foundation, Northwest Pennsylvania NTMA Chapter, PartnerShip, PiMios, Royal Products, Sandvik Coromant, and Voss.
The following schools have qualified to compete in the 2014 NRL Championships:
- Ashtabula County Technical and Career Campus – Jefferson, Ohio
- Beaumont School – Cleveland Heights, Ohio
- Bloomsburg Area High School – Bloomsburg, Pa.
- Centerville High School – Centerville, Ohio
- Clairton High School – Clairton, Pa.
- Cleveland Heights High School – Cleveland Heights, Ohio
- Cochranton High School – Cochranton, Pa.
- Derry Area High School – Derry, Pa.
- Dunwoody College of Technology – Minneapolis, Minn.
- East CLC – Akron, Ohio
- EWCTC – Latrobe, Pa.
- Four Cities Educational Compact – Wadsworth, Ohio
- Frazier High School – Perryopolis, Pa.
- Greater Latrobe High School – Latrobe, Pa.
- Hempfield Area High School – Greensburg, Pa.
- Madison High School – Madison, Ohio
- NIHF STEM High School – Akron, Ohio
- North High School –North St. Paul, Minn.
- Oakwood Jr/Sr High School – Dayton, Ohio
- Ohioio University – Athens, Ohio
- Penncrest School District – Saegertown, Pa.
- Plum Borough School District – Pittsburgh, Pa.
- Propel Braddock Hills High School - Pittsburgh, Pa.
- Providence High School – Burbank, Calif.
- Ringgold High School – Monongahela, Pa.
- Riverside High School – Painesville, Ohio
- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology – Terre Haute, Ind.
- South Park High School – South Park, Pa.
- Universidad de Puerto Rico Mayaguez Campus – Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
- University of South Florida – Tarpon Springs, Fla.
- Upper Valley Career Center – Piqua, Ohio
- Villa Angela- St. Joseph H. S. – Cleveland, Ohio
Additional information including photos and video from past competitions is also available on the NRL website.
NTMA’s 1,400 member companies design and manufacture special tools, dies, jigs, fixtures, gages, special machines, and precision-machined parts. Some firms specialize in experimental research and development work as well as rapid prototyping. Many NTMA members are privately owned small businesses, yet the industry generates sales in excess of $40 billion a year. NTMA’s mission is to help members of the U.S. precision custom manufacturing industry achieve business success in a global economy through advocacy, advice, networking, information, programs and services.
Source: NTMA