Excitement and enthusiasm filled the air Saturday as the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy’s robotics team learned the details of this year’s FIRST Robotics challenge.

Inventor Dean Kamen was joined by former Presidents George  Bush and Bill Clinton, will.i.am, frontman of The Black Eyed Peas, and a host of other celebrities via video to launch the 21st FIRST^® Robotics Competition (FRC^®) season today with the Kickoff of a new robotics game called “Rebound Rumble".

is an annual award given by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to between 20 and 40 recipients per year, in any discipline, who “show exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work.”  The award consists of $500,000, paid over the course of five years.  There are no requirements as to how the award winners spend the prize, as it is considered to be an investment in their future contributions to society.