OXFORD – As the RoboRAVE New York robotics competition set to be hosted by Oxford Academy approaches this Saturday, organizers are inviting the public to attend a keynote address on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. entitled, "Why Robotics?"

The program will be held in the Oxford Academy Middle School auditorium, and, like the competition Saturday, is free to attend. The all-day competition on Saturday will feature more than 20 teams competing with their robots from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

At Thursday's program, guest speakers from RoboRAVE International (Russ Fisher-Ives, Director), NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (Joseph Minafra, Lead of Innovation and Technical Partnerships), and Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc./RoboRAVE California/RoboRAVE India (Chendra Garikipati) will take to the stage to educate the public on the fascinating art of robotics. Each attendee at "Why Robotics" will also have a chance to win one of three robotics kits.