Prompt: Change Your World! You have the opportunity to identify a current challenge and tell us how your idea/product/invention would change our world for the better! It might be something that makes a positive difference in the lives of individuals, in your neighborhood, in the world at large, or - even - in space. It may save lives or make daily life easier. It may be the next best thing to clean our oceans, generate power, or sustain & steward our resources. Its up to you. But you need to clearly state the design challenge you identify; then create a 30-second animation that communicates your solution to meeting that challenge. Of course, if robotics comes into play thats great, but not a requirement.

Our Interpretation:To eliminate the danger of horrific accidents and environmental pollution caused by tractor-trailers, we came up with the idea to run an electromagnetic cargo train through a vacuum tube. We replaced the need for diesel by using the piezoelectric effect to generate power from the vibrations of passing cars.

Prompt: Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate) is a design discipline that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies. The core idea is that nature has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with: energy, food production, climate control, non-toxic chemistry, transportation, packaging, and a whole lot more.

For this year, you have been presented with a difficult design challenge. You have decided to look to nature to inspire your design solution. Choose a design in nature that solves your design challenge. To help you to develop your own 30-second animation for this year's competition, here are some items that you should include:

1. What is your real life design issue?
2. What design did you use in nature to help solve it?
3. How does it work or help?

Our Interpretation: The TechHOUNDS are excited to present the new animation for the 2009 season, titled "Antroids." Our design challenge is the problem of clearing rubble after a devastating earthquake. We look to small ants that are able to transport large amounts of material through teamwork to solve this challenge. New robotic ants are designed in this animation to clear rubble and find survivors that are trapped.

This animation is Team 868's way of "replenishing the Earth FIRST from the ground up". Below are our storyboards:

This animation created in 2007 represents how FIRST principles can be applied to make our future better.

Our 2006 Animation Team created this fun, 30-second animation that illustrates the principle that anything is possible.

This international-award-winning 30-second animation, created by our Animation Team in 2005, emphasizes the lifelong skills that FIRST brings out in any FRC team.

Our 2004 CAD/Animation division made this playful animation showcasing our robot traveling around our school.