FIRST teaches students many things, probably more than can be expressed in a few
lines of text on a web page.
It might be easier to clarify what FIRST is not. It is not a class (although,
from it's popularity and importance, it is becoming a class in some schools).
FIRST is not a sport, however it has the excitement and thrill of NASCAR, the
NFL and NBA combined. FIRST is not something that one person can do on their
own. FIRST is not just for the nerdy kids. And if you think nerds aren't cool,
who are the richest people in the world? (think Microsoft).
Now for what FIRST is. FIRST is for everyone. FIRST has opportunities for anyone
interested in robotics, science, electronics, physics, computer programming,
mechanics, machining, marketing, business, photography, computer animation, web
site development, project management and multimedia.
FIRST is "taught" by engineers and scientists from your community. FIRST teams
partner with local businesses for funding, and in return, the local businesses
hope to gain highly motivated and educated young graduates. Typically FIRST
teams also use school teachers as organizational people. The teachers coordinate
with the school in order to use school resources, such as computers, class rooms
and tools.
What is the object of FIRST? Every year a new contest is created. This contest
(or game) is played with robots that are built by the students. This is the animated video that was
created to describe this years game. Each team receives a kit of parts
that they use to design and build their robot. Every robot is different and
designed to play the game using team strategies that the teams determine at the
beginning of the season. Game play is divided into 2 distinct sections. The
first is autonomous mode. At this time, the robot is entirely guided and
controlled by its onboard computer and sensors. Attempts are made during
autonomous mode to score points. The second section is the tele-operated mode.
Students are now able to control the robot through a radio transmitter. It takes
incredible hand-eye coordination and patience to be a robot driver. Teams then
maneuver their robot either offensively or defensively to score or prevent
scoring by their opponents.
There is no single winner in a FIRST competition. Teams must partner with 2
other teams to create an alliance. This alliance of 3 robots competes against
another alliance of 3 robots. Initially alliances are randomly selected, but as
a tournament enters the final rounds, the top teams are allowed to select their
alliance partners. Good teams will have taken the opportunity to meet students
on other teams and talk about their robots strengths, weaknesses and strategies.
At the end they may need to pick alliance members that they feel best complement
their team.
So what's the big deal? Every team that decides to enter a FIRST competition is
immediately submersed in the most real world, true to life experience they will
have in school. Having a FIRST team is expensive, but the money doesn't need to
come from the school. Students are challenged to get corporate sponsors and also
to participate in fund raising through the entire
year. Not only do teams need money, time is also an issue. Teams only have 6
weeks, which is strictly enforced, to design, build and program their robot.
You should now be able to see that a FIRST team is more than just gears, wires,
and motors. A FIRST team is a small business, and most are operated as such.
Students that participate with a FIRST team learn technical skills along with
leadership, business, communication, time management and teamwork skills. There
is nothing in a normal school curriculum that can give students all of these
experiences that will be so crucial in their adult lives.
FIRST Objective - is all about
getting more schools involved in FIRST. Take a quick tour of this site by
pressing begin tour.