U.S. robotics competition to be held

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency is sponsoring the first District of Columbia regional high school robotics competition this week.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the event will be open to the public Friday and Saturday at the District of Columbia Convention Center in Washington.

"The competition is a unique varsity sport of the mind designed to help discover the interesting and rewarding life of engineers and researchers," NASA said.

The competition will include more than 60 high school teams from Virginia, Maryland, Washington, California, Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, Indiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

A total of 45 regional competitions are planned, with April's championship round taking place in Atlanta.