The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is the premier engineering challenge for high school students. Teams of students, working closely with teachers and volunteer mentors, have six weeks to conceptualize, design, build, program, modify and test a robot to participate in a competition that changes each year.
Every January, FIRST unveils the competition or “game” at an annual kick-off event that is simulcast to locations around the world. Teams receive a “kit” of common parts that are used to build the core systems of the robot, but they won’t find an instruction manual! Students work with hundreds of components, including engineering mainstays such as programmable radio controllers, motors, electrical circuitry and mechanical parts. Following the six-week design and build phase, teams enter one of 52 regional competitions, including the DC Regional.
The season culminates with the FIRST Championship in St. Louis, MO, a three-day event attended by thousands of students, families, volunteers, sponsors and friends.
Learn more at FIRST Robotics Competition.