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http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...nnovator-Award

Today's blog comes from Jamee Luce, FRC Team Advocate.

Do you see yourself as an innovator? The truth is, every robot that gets created in an FRC build season is a unique innovation, so if you have built an FRC robot, then YOU ARE AN INNOVATOR!

The way we think about the solutions to each year’s game is exactly the same way that professional engineers, designers, and scientists think about the products and inventions that they develop. By thinking about a solution to an FRC game, you are thinking just like Newton, Tesla, Carson, and even Dean himself!

Why not put that innovative process to work towards some of the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Engineering Challenges that will face our culture in the near future? This is exactly the question that FRC and the Abbott Fund are asking you: Why not you?

Sponsored by the Abbott Fund, the foundation of the global healthcare company Abbott, the FIRST Future Innovator Award is your chance to really think about the three challenges chosen for the Award and innovate your unique solution. Have you ever thought about how to provide clean water to the world? Or how data can improve health? What about the kind of tools that future engineers and scientists will need? The chosen Grand Engineering Challenges are:

• Access to clean water
• Advancing health informatics
• Engineering the tools of scientific discovery

The FRC Staff challenges each and every one of our FRC teams to submit an invention pertaining to one of the above topics for this amazing award! Besides the incredible opportunity to change the world with a brand new idea, you could win $5,000, plus be recognized at the 2016 Championship! You still have plenty of time to submit an idea, and it really is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1. Create a username here.
2. Summarize (in 100 words or less) the problem your idea solves, as well as a general idea of your innovation.
3. Provide written (no more than 2 pages) or video documenting outlining your innovation.

It’s that simple. The idea itself is more important than the quality of your written documentation or videography! Submissions are open through October 30, 2015. More information can be found here.

So, what are you waiting for?