FIRST

FIRST is an organization that provides opportunities for students to compete in a robot designing and building challenge. FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. FIRST has several competitions that are based on age. The FIRST Robotics Competition is for high school students, the FIRST Tech Challenge is for middle school students, and the FIRST Lego League is for elementary school students.

In FRC, every year teams are given 6 weeks from the kickoff in January to plan, design, and create a robot to compete in the given challenge. FIRST places restrictions on the teams to encourage innovative and collaborative thinking, like that of professional engineers.

In addition to building robots, FIRST is an organization that encourages teams who work well together in order to achieve their goals. Students work on creating team uniforms, buttons, and flyers. Many teams also reach out to their communities for support. Many teams also upkeep a website, like our own. A team produces more than just a robot. Together, they produce a complete set of ideas and goals.

This year's challenge, Overdrive, has presented us with our team's second interesting challenge. We are currently working on our robot and will be competing February 28, February 29, and March 1 at the UIC Pavillion.

For more information, please go to our Links section to find the FIRST Robotics Website.