In the FIRST Robotics Competition, the largest and most challenging of the competitions designed by by FIRST, high school teams partner with local professionals who mentor in marketing, product development, engineering, computer programming, electronics, and manufacturing.
The corporations, however, do not only provide mentors. FIRST also emphasizes partnership with corporations as a source of funding. In return, these corporations-turned-sponsors have the opportunity to identify future talent for their organizations.
The teams have just six weeks to design, build, and program their robots before shipping them to the competition site after the new challenge is presented in early January. With a sophisticated kit of parts including motors, sensors, cameras, and electronics, teams build robots that may be as tall as 5 feet and weigh up to 120 pounds.
Competitive game play is fast-paced, combining pre-programmed actions during an autonomous mode and radio remote control for the remainder of the game. The robots compete on a tournament playing field that is 26'8" wide by 54' long. However, the size and tournament field vary from year to year, depending on the game. Each season culminates with more than 40 regional tournaments, including those staged in Honolulu, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City and Seattle, as well as two in Canada and one apiece in Brazil and Israel. These regional tournaments ultimately lead up to the Championship held in Atlanta. FIRST Robotics is about more, however, than just building and fielding a robot. Participation in the FIRST program simulates the new product development and marketing cycle. This provides a real-life situation in which high school students can test and hone their science, technology, management and marketing skills. FIRST also engenders in its teams the culture of “gracious professionalism” in which teams that may compete against each other are also willing to share knowledge and resources.
FIRST Robotics is a year-round activity that requires a significant investment of time and participation, both on the part of students and adult volunteers. While the building of a robot is the primary task of a FIRST team, other members also work on equally important “non-robot-build” projects. This includes building relationships with corporate sponsors, creating newsletters and other marketing materials, and mentoring rookie FIRST teams.
While members assigned to the design, strategy, programming and construction teams must be able to devote at least three nights per week and both weekend days during the six-week build, “non-robot-build” activities, such as community outreach, marketing, corporate fundraising, and media, are more evenly distributed throughout the year. Team members who work on “non-robot” building activities are as vital and as much a part of FIRST Robotics teams as are members who build, program, and drive the competition robot.