FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC)

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an international youth organization that operates the FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST LEGO League, FIRST LEGO League Jr., FIRST LEGO League Jr. Discovery Edition, and FIRST Tech Challenge competitions. Founded by Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers in 1989, its expressed goal is to develop ways to inspire students in engineering and technology fields. As of 2019, over 3,700 high school teams totaling over 46,000 students from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Turkey, Mexico, and the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and mainland China, and more compete in the annual competition, with more than 7500 teams.

 

The first and highest-scale programme developed through FIRST is the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), which is designed to provide real-world experience and inspire students to become engineers. Teams are issued with a kit containing a base set of parts. The competition challenge changes each year, and the teams can only reuse some components from previous years. The robots weigh at most 125 pounds (56.7 kg), without batteries and bumpers. Teams are given six weeks to construct a robot that can accomplish the game's tasks.