140 California schools have registered for Robotic Idol, nowseeking sponsors to aid with equipment cost

LOS ANGELES, June 10, 2013 --

ALDEBARAN ROBOTICS, the worldwide leader in the continually growing field of humanoid robotics and an academic partner with the most innovative universities and schools, encourages local organizations searching for sponsorship opportunities to consider endorsing schools interested in competing in Robotic Idol, a programming competition for grades 6-12.

In February 2013, a new extra-curricular program for California students in grades 6-12 was announced called "Robotic Idol". This program uses an advanced humanoid robotic platform called NAO, a fully-programmable, interactive, and autonomous robot. Students involved in the competition will program NAO to dance taking into account the physical theories of motion, balance, and control. The purpose of Robotic Idol is to stimulate STEAM education using physics and math concepts while programming NAO, especially among girls, to show them that STEAM programs are within reach and guide them towards careers in science and technology fields.

Since its announcement, 140 schools in the state of California have shown a strong interest in the competition. Due to budget constraints, some schools are finding it difficult to come up with the funding to purchase the equipment required and are seeking sponsors. Sponsors not only have the ability to provide the finances for a school to participate in this innovative robotics competition, but they are enabling students with the tools needed to develop their skills in STEAM education. Sponsored teams will get to keep the equipment used for Robotic Idol and use these tools in lessons such as computer science, robotic kinematics, or using NAO in math and physics to determine theories of motion within the school year.

Sponsors will certainly receive recognition at the competition, and additional high-visibility branding opportunities are possible. Sponsors are encouraged to find creative ways to fund their participation in the Robotic Idol competition. Robert Barboza, founder of Kids Talk Radio, is creating a summer camp program for students involved in his robotics club. The three week summer camp provides intensive programming workshops in association with NAO. The top five performing students of the summer camp will form the team designed to compete in Robotic Idol. The fees and donations associated with the summer camp will be used to cover the cost of the Robotic Idol special package.

"At Kids Talk Radio, we created a Backpack Robotics afterschool and summer camp program focused on Robotics and Computer Science using NAO. By offering students a chance to use a humanoid robot they have become more interested and excited to learn STEAM and now all of them want to participate in the Robotic Idol Competition. The summer camp registration process is underway and we hope to sell out by July. Our goal is to purchase another Robotic Idol package to have two teams of students to represent the city of Long Beach, CA at the competition" says Bob Barboza, Founder of Kids Talk Radio.

Sponsors of Robotic Idol will be leading the way in STEAM education. The benefits of becoming a sponsor are not only seen throughout the country through various marketing initiatives, but felt by the participants of the competition. Organizations interested in learning how they can sponsor a local school in Robotic Idol can contact Cedric Vaudel at cvaudel@aldebaran-robotics.com for more information.

To learn more about Robotic Idol, visit http://www.roboticidol.com.

About Aldebaran Robotics

Founded in 2005 by Bruno Maisonnier and now established in France, the US and China, ALDEBARAN ROBOTICS designs, produces and sells humanoid robots in order to contribute to the betterment of humankind. There are currently over 3,500 NAO robots operating in schools and universities in over 70 countries worldwide for education and research. ALDEBARAN ROBOTICS has a team of 300 people, 40% of whom are engineers and doctors, involved in developing and producing its robots.

For further information about ALDEBARAN ROBOTICS, please go to: http://www.aldebaran-robotics.com