FIRST

(Redirected from FIRST robotics)

'FIRST', or 'F'or 'I'nspiration and 'R'ecognition of 'S'cience and 'T'echnology, is an organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen in 1989 in order to develop ways to inspire students in engineering and technology fields. The organization is the foundation for the 'FIRST Robotics Competition', the 'FIRST LEGO League', and the 'FIRST Tech Challenge' competition.
FIRST also operates FIRST Place, a research facility at FIRST Headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire where it holds educational programs and day camps for students and teachers.^[3]

Contents

FIRST Robotics Competition

FIRST LEGO League

Junior FIRST LEGO League

FIRST Tech Challenge

Political Involvement

Timeline

References

External links

FIRST Robotics Competition

Main articles: FIRST Robotics Competition


The first program developed through FIRST was the 'FIRST Robotics Competition' (FRC), which is designed to inspire high school students to become engineers by giving them real world experience working with professional engineers to develop a robot. The inaugural FIRST Robotics Competition was held in 1992 in the Manchester Memorial High School gymnasium.^[4] As of 2007, over 1300 high school teams totaling over 32,306 students from Brazil, Canada, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom, and more compete in the annual competition. The competition challenge changes each year, and the teams cannot reuse components created for previous robots. The robots weigh around 120 pounds (depending on the current year's rules). The kit issued to each team contains a base set of parts. Details of the game are released at the beginning of January, and the teams are given six weeks to construct a competitive robot that can accomplish the game's tasks. In 2007, teams competed in 37^[5] regional competitions throughout March in an effort to qualify for the FIRST Championship in Atlanta, Georgia in April. Previous years' Championships have been held in Houston, Texas and at Walt Disney World's Epcot. FIRST Robotics Competition

FIRST LEGO League

Main articles: FIRST LEGO League

In 1998, the 'FIRST LEGO League' (FLL), a program similar to the FIRST Robotics Competition, was formed. It is aimed at 9-14-year-old students and utilizes LEGO Mindstorms sets to build palm-sized LEGO robots, which are then programmed using the ROBOLAB software to autonomously compete against other teams^[6]. The ROBOLAB software is based on National Instruments' LabView industrial control engineering software. The combination of interchangeable LEGO parts, computer 'bricks' and sensors, and the aforementioned software, provide preteens and teenagers with the capability to build reasonably complex models of real-life robotic systems. This competition also utilizes a research element that is themed with each year's game, and deals with a real-world situation for students to learn about through the season.

Junior FIRST LEGO League

Main articles: FIRST LEGO League

The Junior FIRST LEGO League is a variation of the FIRST LEGO League, aimed towards elementary school children, in which 6-9-year-olds build LEGO models dealing with that year's FLL challenge. At least one part of a model has a moving component. The teams participate in exhibitions around the country, where they demonstrate and explain their models and research for award opportunities.

FIRST Tech Challenge

Main articles: FIRST Tech Challenge

The 'FIRST Tech Challenge' (FTC), formerly FIRST Vex Challenge (FVC), is a mid-level robotics competition announced by FIRST on March 22, 2005. According to FIRST, this competition was designed to be a more accessible and affordable option for schools. FIRST has also said that the FTC program was created for those of an intermediate skill level. FIRST Tech Challenge robots are approximately one-third the scale of their FRC counterparts. The FTC competition is meant to provide a transition for students from the FLL competition to the FRC competition. FTC was developed for the Vex Robotics Design System, which is available commercially.^[7]
The 2005 FVC pilot season featured a demonstration of the FIRST Vex Challenge using a 1/3 linear scale mock-up of the 2004 FRC Competition, . For their 2005-2006 Pilot Season, FVC teams played the Half-Pipe Hustle game using racquet balls and ramps.
For the 2006-2007 FTC Season, the FIRST Tech Challenge teams competed in the Hangin'-A-Round challenge using softballs, rotating platforms, a hanging bar, and a larger 'Atlas' ball which is significantly larger than most Vex robots and harder to manipulate.^[8][9] Competitions were held around the United States, Canada, and Mexico.^[10]

Political Involvement

Each year during his speech at the kickoff event, founder Dean Kamen gives the student participants a homework assignment. It often involves spreading the word about FIRST in various ways, such as increasing attendance at regionals (2005)^[11], mentoring rookie teams, making sure that FIRST-specific scholarships are applied for (2004)^[12], and researching the capabilities of motors and disseminating that information to other teams (2006)^[13]. In 2007, Dean's homework was for each team to contact their government officials (e.g. mayors, legislators, governors, federal officials) and invite them to a FIRST regional or the championship to expose them to the competition and increase the level of political awareness of FIRST. Any responses (or lack thereof) would be publicly posted on the FIRST Q&A forum.^[14]
The efforts to attract political attention to FIRST in 2007 were quite successful, with visits to regional including the US Secretary of Commerce, 4 US Senators, 8 members of Congress, 4 state governors, 7 mayors, and a vice prime minister. Following the FIRST Championship Event in Atlanta in April, the championship winners were invited to the White House to demonstrate their robots to President Bush and members of Congress. Further, FIRST President Paul Gudonis was invited to testify before the Congressional Committee on Education and Labor about FIRST's achievements and goals.^[15]

Timeline

Note: All years indicate the year that the championship for that game was held.

Year	FRC	FLL	FTC
1992	Maize Craze
1993	Rug Rage
1994	Tower Power
1995	Ramp 'n Roll
1996	Hexagon Havoc
1997	Torroid Terror
1998	Ladder Logic
1999	Double Trouble	Pilot Year
2000	Diabolical Dynamics	FIRST Contact
2001	Co-Opertition FIRST	Volcanic Panic
2002	Zone Zeal	Arctic Impact
2003	Stack Attack	City Sights
2004		Mission Mars
2005	Triple Play	No Limits	Demonstration
2006	Aim High	Ocean Odyssey
2007	Rack 'n Roll	Nano Quest	Hangin'-A-Round

References

1. 2006 FIRST Annual Report, Retrieved on 2007-04-05
2. FIRST At A Glance, Retrieved on 2007-04-04
3. FIRST Place
4. FIRST History, usfirst.org
5. FRC Regional Events
6. FLL History
7. What is FVC?
8. Welcome to the 2006 FVC season!
9. 2006 FVC Manual, Sect. 1-8
10. FVC Events
11. Transcript of 2005 FRC Kickoff
12. Transcript of 2004 FRC Kickoff
13. Transcript of 2006 FRC Kickoff
14. FIRST Forums: Dean's Homework
15. http://www.usfirst.org/who/content.aspx?id=5574

External links

★ FIRST website

★ FIRST Robotics Competition website

★ FIRST Tech Challenge website

★ FIRST LEGO League website

★ FIRSTwiki - Unofficial FIRST Wiki

★ Chiefdelphi - Forums

★ Other Useful Websites