June 27th, 2015 at the Longmont Museum in Colorado

PARIS--After an exciting few months of trials and competition, the NAO Challenge finals are just around the corner with 13 teams competing on June 27th, 2015 at the Longmont Museum in Colorado.

Aldebaran, the world leader in humanoid robotics, launched the first edition of the NAO Challenge contest in the United States in April 2015 with support in part by the Innovation Center of St. Vrain Valley School District, headquartered in Longmont, Colorado. The goal with the competition is to get students excited and motivated about learning, especially math, science, programming and technology disciplines included in STEM learning, in addition to teamwork and creativity.

NAO, Aldebarans flagship product, will be used to allow students to explore fields in an engaging way. NAO is a 58-cm tall humanoid robot with the ability to see, hear, communicate, interact with its surroundings and more.

During the competition, teams of 2-5 students, with a teacher mentor, compete in 4 different contests according to the rules and regulations explained on the NAO Challenge website. A complete list of entry details and competition guidelines can also be found there. Students are able to participate whether or not their school has a NAO robot.

Finals will take place in Longmont, Colorado at the Longmont Museum on June 27th, 2015, during which a local team of judges made up of professors and partners, notably IBM and IBM Watson Labs, will decide the winner of each category.

The Innovation Center provides students with access to cutting-edge technologies and to experts in the field. Their student-designers have been collaborating with classroom teachers and NAO experts to develop curriculum for autistic and English language learner (ELL) students.

The first place grand prize winning team will receive a NAO robot, with additional prizes available.

Schedule for the day of the finals is as follows:

* Introduction: 9:00-9:30 am
* Testing time for teams: 9:30-11:00 am
* Competition: 11:00-3:00 pm
* Score calculation: 3:00-3:30 pm
* Awards Ceremony: 3:30-4:30 pm

Schedules are subject to change.

The public is invited to come and watch the competition at the Longmont Museums Stewart Auditorium at 400 Quail Road, starting at 11 am. Admission is free. Registration for the event is open and suggested.

About Aldebaran
Established in 2005, Aldebaran has 450 employees and is headquartered in France with offices in China, Japan and the United States. For almost 10 years, Aldebaran has been driving technology into a new world by designing humanoid robots and has become the worldwide leader in humanoid robotics. Our robots (NAO, Pepper, Romeo) are used in more than 70 countries in various fields, such as research, education, retail, care, tourism or entertainment. Aldebaran is a SoftBank Group company, holding 95% of its capital.
Aldebaran, names and logos NAO, Romeo, Pepper and NAOqi are registered trademarks of Aldebaran in France and other countries.