In a somewhat related note;

January 30 and 31st - Saitama elementary and junior highschool robot competition!!!
Categories are:
Mouse bot (maze)
Lifters (Pick up and deposit balls or some such into a goal)
Shooters

Bots are not truely autonomous machines. Rather, they are mechanical inventions controlled by either a wired tether or RC controls (Think battlebots without the battle).
Still, its impressive and encouraging when young minds create an electro-mechanical machine to solve a problem.

I for one plan on being there to support the kids.
Anyone else interested in checking it out?

ahh yes.. the boyscout troup was a rescheduled event. They were supposed to do that last month.

I need to get the exact date from him.

As for the saitama competition, it is Saitama city. The stadium I believe.
Ill have more once I can get the poster translated :)

Looking on Google...

Saitama Prefecture has a display center for kids at Kita-Yono (on the Keihin-Tohoku line, next to Saitama Super Arena) and a few contests going on there. If you're in the area, it may be worth stopping at.

http://www.pref.saitama.lg.jp/A07/BF00/KGhome/chitekizaisan/robo/

The Saitama City "Rigakusha no Tamago" ("Budding Scientists"?) Contest is I guess what you're talking about, info in Japanese on this page:
http://www.pref.saitama.lg.jp/A07/BF00/KGhome/chitekizaisan/robo-joho/
being held at the Saitama Municipal Youth Astronomical Museum, across from Komaba Stadium where the Urawa Reds play.

I'll put it on my calendar. Sounds like a fun way to spend a Saturday.

Different event, same place?
The robot compo is the end of January.
I just checked, and as it turns out, its not a "public" event. So, I'll go as a teacher, and take lots of photos and try to write up a story about it.

Unfortunately, other memebers of THS may not be able to attend. I'll see what I can do, but it will most certainly be a limited number.

Same event.

I just wasn't clear. The first link is Saitama Prefecture's page, and the second link has a list of events including yours (second from the bottom, on Jan 30 and 31)

There's no event listing for January yet at the museum's page.

It might be worth passing out THS cards to the teachers there, just to let them know we're willing to help. Or maybe just leaving a stack of flyers.

yeah I looked again.. sounds like the same event (my kanji reading is beyond terrible). what confused me was the dates.

But yes you are right. I am actually wanting to get super involved in this competition each year. The school district will be teaching a simple robots class in junior high starting in the 2011 school year. Each school can evaluate and choose the kits they want to use. Im hoping to have a THS kit and curriculum by then to roll out to them as an option.

Im finding out more info about who can attend. I might be able to get 2 or 3 others in. Still a long way off, so when its more clear, I'll let you all know.

In the meantime, about 6 to 8 students at my school will be working on a build soon for the competition.
So thats going to be a lot of fun.