ABOUT FIRST

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen. Mr. Kamen is an inventor and entrepreneur who is well known for creating the Segway Human Transporter. He created FIRST as a non-profit organization to provide a means to motivate young people to pursue educational experiences and career opportunities related to science, technology, engineering, and math. Additionally, youth who participate in FIRST experiences build their self-confidence and learn other important life skills.

In addition to the knowledge and skills acquired by high students as they participate in the FIRST activities, FIRST also supports the educational aspirations of these students by making available over $18,000,000 in college scholarships from 150 scholarship providers. This scholarship money will support nearly 900 individual scholarship opportunities for this season’s FIRST participants.

Each year FIRST creates a new challenge for its teams in FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) and reveals this in early January in a live feed video kick-off. The teams then have about six weeks to design and build their robot, weighing up to 120 pounds excluding battery and bumpers, starting with a kit of common parts. The teams enter their robot in two or three local competitions. These competitions culminate in the FIRST Championship held each year in April.

Michigan is one of the leading states with FRC teams in the US, and the Livonia Warriors of Livonia, Michigan are proud to be one of those teams.

What is FRC? First off, FRC is not Battlebots*. FRC, or FIRST Robotics Competition is a sport where high school students design, build, and program robots compete by playing a game with and against other robots. FIRST, or “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology” was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen (inventor of the Segway). The 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity designs accessible, innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math, while building self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills. FRC involves teams of high school students and adult mentors who design, fabricate, and program a large robot that will compete at one or more regional tournaments with 40+ schools each year. Success at the qualifying events enables teams to compete at the FIRST Championships in against 800+ schools (in two competitions of 400 schools each) from around the world. Information taken and adapted from: https://www.central7663.org/what-is-frc