(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- The recruitment period is over. The competitors have been selected. Let the games begin! The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced that 11 university teams will square off May 2–6 in two contests designed to prove the viability of advanced technologies for robotic manufacturing automation and microrobotics. The Virtual Manufacturing Automation Competition (VMAC) and the Mobile Microrobotics Challenge (MMC) are both part of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Anchorage, Alaska.

Vying for top honors in the VMAC will be two teams from Georgia Tech, Atlanta; one group from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico; and an international squad from the University of Zagreb, Croatia.

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