FIRST

From FIRSTwiki

This article focuses on the FIRST Robotics Competition. FIRST Lego League has its own article.

FIRST, or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is an organization that was founded by inventor Dean Kamen in 1992 as a way of getting high school students involved in and excited about engineering and technology. The program involves teams of mentors (corporate, teachers, or college students) and high school students that collaborate to design and build a robot in six weeks. This robot is designed to play a game that is designed by FIRST and changes from year to year. This game is announced at a nationally simulcast kickoff event in January. Regional competitions take place around the United States and Canada, but FIRST has a multinational following that further includes the United Kingdom, Brazil, and soon Israel.

Teams are expected to solicit local businesses for support in the form of donations of time, money, or skills. Some teams have membership of 60 or more and have established substantial presence in their local communities by helping local FIRST Lego League teams, running classes in various technical topics, and more.

As of 2004, FIRST includes more than 900 teams (around 20,000 students) competing in 26 Regional Competitions, as well as one national competition held in Atlanta, Georgia.

The highest honor bestowed in FIRST is the Chairman's Award, which is given to the team that best manifests the FIRST spirit of gracious professionalism. Regional Chairman's Award winners then compete at the national level for the National Chairman's Award.

2004's Game is called FIRST Frenzy: Raising the Bar.

FIRST Robotics' sister organization is the FIRST Lego League. It is intended to further the same ideals that FIRST does but at a middle school level and utilizing the Lego Mindstorms robotics system.

External links

• Official FIRST Website (http://www.usfirst.org)
• Unofficial FIRST Forums as hosted by Team 47 or ChiefDelphi Forums (http://www.chiefdelphi.com)