FLINT, Mich. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — March 3, 2010 — Calling all soccer fans! Calling all robot fans!! Forty of Michigan’s most talented high school robotics teams will compete March 5-6 during the Kettering University FIRST Robotics District Competition in Flint, Mich.

The game this year is called “Breakaway” – where large robots built by high school students will shoot soccer balls into goals. Some of the state’s best high school robotics teams will compete on a 27-by-54-foot field with bumps, attempting to earn points by collecting soccer balls and moving them around the competition field in three-team alliances. Additional bonus points can be earned for each robot that is suspended in air at the end of the match.

“This year’s game is really going to be action-packed and fun,” said Bob Nichols, who serves on the Kettering Planning Committee. “It blends all the competition of FIRST Robotics with the popularity of soccer among today’s youth. The event is free, so I hope families bring their children to come and check it out.”

View the Breakaway game animation.