Catalog Data Solutions Provides Online Catalog for 2009 FIRST Robotics High School Teams

FIRST strives to engage students in grades K-12 in exciting and innovative programs designed around the use of robotics to develop science and technology skills and motivate students to pursue careers in science, technology and engineering. PTC is a sponsor and the highest level supplier - Crown level - of the FIRST Robotics Competition. PTC is also the CAD and Collaboration sponsor for FTC. All participating teams have the opportunity to use PTC’s Windchill® content and process management software, PTC’s Pro/ENGINEER and Mathcad® engineering calculation software schools editions, and PTC’s ProductView™ visual collaboration software.

“The FIRST competition is a highly educational and inspirational experience for all participants - students, coaches, mentors, volunteers and sponsors. The practical collaboration and product design is helping to develop the skilled technology workforce of the future” said John Major, CEO of Catalog Data Solutions. “We’re proud to support PTC’s sponsorship by powering the FRC and FTC Pro/ENGINEER CAD Libraries with our CDS Catalog and CDS ModelServer technology. This online CAD model library is for the use of all competing teams and helps FIRST meet its education goals by introducing participants to online mechanical part search and CAD downloads.”

According to Robin Saitz, senior vice president and executive sponsor for PTC’s partnership with FIRST, With direct access to the FIRST CAD Library from within Pro/ENGINEER, FIRST students and mentors can quickly search for specific parts and download the CAD models. Because FIRST teams have only a few short weeks to design their robots, quick access to the kit of parts models lets the teams focus on robot design rather than modeling standard components. We are happy to work with CDS to bring these Pro/ENGINEER models to FIRST teams worldwide