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 The
first program developed through FIRST was
the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), which
is designed to inspire high school students about
career opportunities by giving them real world
experiences working with professionals. Each year
FRC introduces a new game as a challenge for the
students and mentors to develop strategies and
a robot for playing the game. There is much more
to FRC than building a robot and playing a game.
As of 2009, nearly 1800 high school teams totaling
over 45,000 students from Brazil, Canada, Israel,
Mexico, Netherlands, United States, United Kingdom,
and more compete in the annual competition.
Details of the
game are released at the beginning of January,
and the teams are given six weeks to construct
a competitive robot that can accomplish the game's
tasks. The robots weigh around 120 pounds
(depending on the current year's rules). The teams
are limited to a set budget each year that they
have to maintain. The purpose of this rule is to
prevent well-funded teams from outspending newer
(funding-challenged) teams. The competition challenge
changes each year, and the teams cannot reuse components
created for previous robots.
- 1,809 teams
- 45,225 high-school students
- Teams from 48 states in the U.S., Australia,
Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Herzegovina,
Israel, Mexico,
the Netherlands, Turkey, and the U.K.
- 43 Regional events in the U.S., Canada, and
Israel; seven District competitions and one State
Championship
in Michigan
- FIRST Robotics Competition Championship
at the FIRST Championship in Atlanta,
GA, April 15-17, 2010
- Robots were built in 6 weeks from a common
kit of parts provided by FIRST, and
weighed up to 120 lbs.
(excluding battery and bumpers)
Information from the
FIRST website, 2009
2009 FRC competition
in Atlanta, Georgia
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