FIRST

No, I’m not making a reference to the people that try to comment first on public comment boards.

FIRST is an organization created to get kids interested in science and technology while exercising gracious professionalism. Their big  project is their middle-and-high-school robotics competitions. I have been participating in FIRST robotics competitions since 2003.

There are three different kinds of FIRST competition I have been involved with. FLL, or FIRST Lego League, was the first one I worked with. In FLL, the object of the game is to get a robot made entirely out of LEGO pieces across a themed obstacle course that is also made out of LEGOs, and attempt to get as many points as possible. In addition, each team of about 5-10 kids must put together a research presentation based on a themed assignment they are given at the beginning of the FLL season. All of this has to be done in a time frame of about 3 months, from the time the assignment is released in late August or early September, to the local and state tournaments in December.

This past year, I joined FRC team 1533, Triple Strange. In FRC, a large group of high school students must build a big metal robot and run it on a special field, completing various tasks to score points. On each team there are teenagers working as engineers, marketers, animators, programmers, and game strategists. The build season lasts about six weeks, ending in a regional competition or, for the regional winners, the world competition in Atlanta, GA.

I joined FTC team 731, Wannabee Strange, when I joined Triple Strange. In FTC, like FLL and FRC, each team must run a ‘bot on an official field. FTC combines the two other competitions, with a smaller team and robot like FLL, and older kids and metal kits like FRC.

Advertisement