Upcoming Event: Inventor Dean Kamen to Unveil Youth Invention Award Winners on June 19th at 10:30 a.m.

On Tuesday, June 19th at 10:30 a.m., the FIRST LEGO League will be having an award ceremony to honor the finalists in the 2011 contest; Food Factor.  The contest consisted of multiple challenges.  The first was to research and present on an innovative solution to a problem that all food faces; how to reach the consumer without being spoiled or contaminated.  The teams would each focus on a specific problem and work out a way to fix it.  They would then present their findings to the contest judges.  The other challenge consisted of a "Robot Game."  The teams had to construct a robot using LEGO Mindstorm parts, and then have that robot perform autonomous specific tasks relating to food transportation.

At the ceremony, the teams will demonstrate their inventions for the attendees before the winners are announced.  The winner will recieve funding and assistance from Edison Nation to bring their product to market, and the runners-up will win cash from the X PRIZE Foundation to help improve their inventions.  Representatives from various organizations (listed below) will also be speaking.  Videos of the team's work are also below.

To see FIRST on STEMconnector.org, click here.

Location: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Madison Building; 600 Dulany Street; Alexandria, Va.

When: Tuesday, June 19, 2012: Ceremony: 10:30 a.m. – noon, Eastern Media Avail: noon – 1:00 p.m.

SPEAKERS:

• Margaret Focarino, Ph.D., Commissioner, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

• Elisabeth Hagen, M.D., Undersecretary, Food Safety, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture

• Margaret Hamburg, M.D., Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration

• Dean Kamen, Inventor and Founder, FIRSTJon Dudas, President, FIRST

• Robert K. Weiss, Vice Chairman and President, X PRIZE Foundation

• Louis Foreman, Founder of Edison Nation and Emmy Award-Winning PBS Television Show, Everyday Edisons