2013 Zero Robotics Tournament Opens ISS Research Facilities to Coding High Schoolers

GLASTONBURY, Conn., June 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- TopCoder®, Inc., the world's largest competitive Community of nearly 500,000 digital creators, today announced registration has opened for an algorithm competition from Zero Robotics which seeks computationally efficient code solutions to control a satellite in space. The online challenge begins September 7^th with a live webcast kickoff and is open to all eligible high school students. Complete details about the competition and registration are available at http://www.zerorobotics.org

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120306/NY64242LOGO )

Competitors in the tournament will be tasked with programming active experimental satellites called  SPHERES. The competition starts online where teams compete to solve an annual challenge guided by mentors. Students can create, edit, share, save, simulate and submit code, all from a web browser. After several phases of virtual competition, finalists are selected to compete in a live championship aboard the International Space Station. There is no cost to participate.

How to register
1) Go to http://www.zerorobotics.org.
2) Log In or Create an Account.
3) Click "Tournaments" and register for the High School Tournament 2013.
4) Create a team and invite other users.

Sponsored by DARPA, NASA, and CASIS and run by the MIT Space Systems Laboratory, TopCoder and Aurora Flight Sciences, Zero Robotics is a programming tournament that opens the SPHERES satellite research platform to the general public. Originally developed to engage U.S. middle and high school students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), Zero Robotics includes a web-based development environment to create programs for the SPHERES satellites and run simulations to evaluate resulting performance. 

About TopCoder, Inc.
TopCoder is the world's largest competitive community of digital creators with nearly 500,000 members representing algorithmists, software developers and creative artists from over 200 countries. The TopCoder Community creates digital assets including analytics, software and creative designs and solutions for a wide-ranging client base through a competitive, rigorous, standards based methodology. Combined with our extremely talented community this groundbreaking methodology results in superior outcomes for our clients. For more information about sponsoring TopCoder events and utilizing TopCoder's software services and platforms, visit www.topcoder.com.

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Jim McKeown
TopCoder, Inc. 
860.633.5540 
[email protected] 

SOURCE TopCoder, Inc.