First Robotics

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an organization that’s dedicated to helping High School students discover their passions for STEM and robots by hosting tournaments, championship games, and ways to bond and form a team.

Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work during six weeks to build robots capable of competing in that year's game that weighs up to 135 pounds and around 18’’x18’’x18’’. Robots complete tasks such as scoring balls into goals, hanging on bars, placing objects in predetermined locations, and balancing robots on various field elements. The game, along with the required set of tasks, changes annually. While teams are given a kit of a standard set of parts during the annual Kickoff, they are also allowed and encouraged to buy or fabricate specialized parts. FIRST Robotics Competition is one of five robotics competition programs organized by FIRST, the other four being FIRST LEGO League Discover, FIRST LEGO League Explore, FIRST LEGO League Challenge, and FIRST Tech Challenge.

FIRST Tech Challenge logo with interlocking red and blue shapes above the text.

FTC, also known as the First Tech Challenge, is when teams spend 6 weeks working on designing, building, and coding their robots to fight an Alliance-Styled battle where your teams are selected randomly.

Challenges and game rules are announced every September of each year, and teams modify their old robot or build a new one based on the challenge's requirements and conditions. Teams convene in buildings where regional and national teams come together to compete. The top scorers of points based on the competition win the game.

Robots are built from steel frames and parts provided on FIRST’s website. They are coded through Android based software and hardware, usually through Android Studio @ Java.

FIRST Robotics Competition logo with red and blue triangles interlocked.

FRC, also known as the First Robotics Competition, is where teams' dreams lie. This usually happens after the teams have completed building their robots, attended a few FTCs, and feel ready to fight for the trophy.

FRC is the actual test of engineering and coding, as robots will need to battle it out autonomously and with manual control to score the most points based on the specified requirements. This competition emphasizes the importance of STEM education, teamwork, and innovation, with students often learning valuable lessons and where teams will find out who will advance to the FIRST Championship to fight for the trophy through awards and games.

Aside from all of this, the end lesson of this competition is to bring students, mentors, and their community together through Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition, which outlines how everyone should treat each other and how to operate. Ultimately, it’s not just about building the best robots but also about creating the best leaders, innovators, engineers, or coders who will go on to change the world.

2025's FRC - ReefScape |

2025's FRC - ReefScape |

There should be an introduction about the challenge, but we are not in 2025’s challenge.