FIRST

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FIRST

FIRST, or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is an organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen

Dean Kamen

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline and profession of applying Technology and science knowledge and utilizing natural laws and physical resources in order to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and process that safely realize a desired objective and meet specified criteria....
and technology

Technology

Technology is a broad concept that deals with an animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects an animal species' ability to control and adapt to its Natural environment....
fields. The organization is the foundation for the FIRST Robotics Competition
FIRST Robotics Competition

The FIRST Robotics Competition is a high school robotics competition organized by FIRST. As of early 2007, 1,303 high school teams of 32,500 students from Brazil, Canada, The Netherlands, Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and others compete to build 100 to 120 pound robots that can complete a task that changes every year....
, FIRST LEGO League
FIRST Lego League

The FIRST Lego League is an international competition for elementary and middle school students . It is arranged by the FIRST organization.Each year the contest focuses on a different real-world topic related to the sciences....
, Junior FIRST Lego League
Junior FIRST Lego League

The Junior FIRST Lego League is a Lego league designed for children ages six to nine. It is one of thecompetitions established by FIRST. The JFLL is based upon the topics given to the FIRST Lego League; for example 2007's topic was Power Puzzle....
, and FIRST Tech Challenge
FIRST Tech Challenge

The FIRST Tech Challenge , formerly the FIRST Vex Challenge , is a mid-level robotics competition targeted toward high-school aged students. It offers the traditional challenge of a FIRST competition but with a more accessible and affordable robotics kit....
competitions.

FIRST also operates FIRST Place, a research facility at FIRST Headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire

Manchester, New Hampshire

Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the largest city of northern New England, an area composed of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine....
where it holds educational programs and day camps for students and teachers.

Philosophy
FIRST seeks to promote a philosophy of teamwork and collaboration among engineers and encourages competing teams to remain friendly, helping each other out when necessary.

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Encyclopedia

FIRST, or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is an organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen

Dean Kamen

Engineering

Technology

Manchester, New Hampshire

Philosophy

FIRST seeks to promote a philosophy of teamwork and collaboration among engineers and encourages competing teams to remain friendly, helping each other out when necessary. The term frequently applied to this ethos is "gracious professionalism," a term coined by Woodie Flowers

Woodie Flowers

Woodie C. Flowers is a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His specialty areas are engineering design and New product development, he holds the Pappalardo Professorship and is a MacVicar Faculty Fellow....
which supports respect towards one's competitors and integrity in one's actions. As Dean Kamen is so fond of saying, FIRST is not about building robots. At every level of competition FIRST is about getting people involved in Engineering in a fun and interesting way.

FIRST Robotics Competition

The first program developed through FIRST was the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), which is designed to inspire high school

High school

High school is the name used in some parts of the world to describe an institution which provides all or part of secondary education. The term originated in Scotland and spread to the New World countries as the high prestige that the Scottish educational system had at the time led several countries to employ Scottish educators to develop the...
students to become engineers by giving them real world experience working with professional engineers to develop a robot. The inaugural FIRST Robotics Competition was held in 1992 in the Manchester Memorial High School

Manchester Memorial High School

Manchester Memorial High School is a four-year comprehensive school in Manchester, New Hampshire with an enrollment of approximately 2,268. The school's Latin motto is "scientia est potentia."...
gym

GYM

GYM is a sound format for the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis.The name stands for Genesis YM2612, since the file contains the data sent to the Yamaha YM2612 sound chip in the console....
nasium. , over 1500 high school teams totaling over 37,000 students from Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
, Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, Israel

Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
, the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, and more compete in the annual competition. The competition challenge changes each year, and the teams can only reuse certain components from previous years. The robots weigh around , depending on that year's rules. The kit issued to each team contains a base set of parts. Registration and the kit of parts together cost about US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States and was defined by the Coinage Act of 1792 to be between 371 and 416 grains of silver ....
6000. In addition to that, teams are allowed to spend another $3500 on their robot. The purpose of this rule is to lessen the influence of money on teams' competitiveness. Details of the game are released on the first Saturday in January, and the teams are given six weeks to construct a robot that can accomplish the game's tasks. In 2008, teams participated in 41 regional competitions throughout March in an effort to qualify for the FIRST Championship in Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the Capital and most populous city in Georgia , as well as the 33rd largest city in the United States of America with a population of 519,145....
in April. Previous years' Championships have been held in Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States of America and the largest city within the state of Texas. As of the 2007 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million within an area of 600 square miles ....
and at Walt Disney World

Walt Disney World Resort

Walt Disney World Resort is the most visited and largest recreational resort in the world, containing four theme parks; two water parks; twenty-three themed hotels; and numerous shopping, dining, entertainment and recreation venues....
's Epcot

Epcot

Epcot is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. The park is dedicated to international culture and technological innovation. The second park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1982 and was named EPCOT Center until 1994....
.. Each year the First Robotics Competition has scholarships for the participants in the program. In 2008 there was $9.8 million worth of scholarships from 108 colleges and universities, associations, and corporations.

FIRST Lego League

In 1998, the FIRST Lego League (FLL), a program similar to the FIRST Robotics Competition, was formed. It is aimed at 9 to 16-year-old students and utilizes Lego Mindstorms

Lego Mindstorms

LEGO Mindstorms is a line of Lego sets combining programmable bricks with electric motors, sensors, Lego bricks, and Lego Technic pieces .Mindstorms originated from the programmable sensor blocks used in the line of educational toys....
sets (NXT or RCX) to build palm-sized Lego robots, which are then programmed using the ROBOLAB software to autonomously compete against other teams. The ROBOLAB software is based on National Instruments

National Instruments

National Instruments, or NI , is an United States company with over 4,000 employees and direct operations in 41 countries. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it is a producer of automated test equipment and virtual instrumentation software....
' LabView

LabVIEW

LabVIEW is a platform and development environment for a visual programming language from National Instruments.The graphical language is named "G"....
industrial control engineering software. The combination of interchangeable Lego parts, computer 'bricks', sensors, and the aforementioned software, provide preteens and teenagers with the capability to build reasonably complex models of real-life robotic systems. This competition also utilizes a research element that is themed with each year's game, and deals with a real-world situation for students to learn about through the season.

Junior FIRST Lego League

The Junior FIRST Lego League is a variation of the FIRST Lego League, aimed towards elementary school children, in which 6-9-year-olds build Lego models dealing with that year's FLL challenge. At least one part of a model has a moving component. The teams participate in exhibitions around the country, where they demonstrate and explain their models and research for award opportunities.

FIRST Tech Challenge

The FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), formerly FIRST Vex Challenge (FVC), is a mid-level robotics competition announced by FIRST on March 22, 2005. According to FIRST, this competition was designed to be a more accessible and affordable option for schools. FIRST has also said that the FTC program was created for those of an intermediate skill level. FIRST Tech Challenge robots are approximately one-third the scale of their FRC counterparts. The FTC competition is meant to provide a transition for students from the FLL

FIRST Lego League

The FIRST Lego League is an international competition for elementary and middle school students . It is arranged by the FIRST organization.Each year the contest focuses on a different real-world topic related to the sciences....
competition to the FRC competition. FTC was developed for the Vex Robotics Design System

Vex

The Vex Robotics Design System is a robotic kit intended to introduce students as well as adults to the world of robotics. The Vex Robotics Design System is centered around the Vex Starter Kit ....
, which is available commercially.

The 2005 FVC pilot season featured a demonstration of the FIRST Vex Challenge using a 1/3 linear scale mock-up of the 2004 FRC Competition, FIRST Frenzy: Raising the Bar

FIRST Frenzy: Raising the Bar

FIRST Frenzy: Raising the Bar was the 2004 game for the FIRST Robotics Competition. The game included elements from previous years' games, including mobile goals, "capping" goals with large inflatable balls, and others....
. For their 2005-2006 Pilot Season, FVC teams played the Half-Pipe Hustle

Half-Pipe Hustle

Half-Pipe Hustle was the first official FIRST Vex Challenge game, taking place in 2005-2006. In this challenge, robotics teams built robots from the Vex design kit to compete in competitions across the United States and in other nations, in matches consisting of a 45-second autonomous period, followed by a 2-minute operator control period in whi...
game using racquet balls and ramps.

For the 2006-2007 FTC Season, the FIRST Tech Challenge teams competed in the Hangin'-A-Round

Hangin'-A-Round

Hangin'A Round was the name of the robotics contest at the 2006 FIRST Vex Challenge. The contest involved building a robot from a kit that could attain a higher score than the opposition by placing the softballs into the colored goals, possessing the ?atlas ball?, and by being parked on the platform or hanging from the bar....
challenge using softballs, rotating platforms, a hanging bar, and a larger 'Atlas' ball which is significantly larger than most Vex robots and harder to manipulate. Competitions were held around the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Political involvement

Each year during his speech at the kickoff event, founder Dean Kamen

Dean Kamen

Dean L. Kamen is an United States entrepreneur and inventor from New Hampshire. Born in Rockville Centre, New York, he attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute, but dropped out before graduating....
gives the student participants a homework assignment. It often involves spreading the word about FIRST in various ways, such as increasing attendance at regionals (2005), mentoring rookie teams, making sure that FIRST-specific scholarships are applied for (2004), and researching the capabilities of motors and disseminating that information to other teams (2006). In 2007, Dean's homework was for each team to contact their government officials (e.g. mayors, legislators, governors, federal officials) and invite them to a FIRST regional or the championship to expose them to the competition and increase the level of political awareness of FIRST. In 2008, it was to inform the media more about FIRST. Any responses (or lack thereof) would be publicly posted on the FIRST Q&A forum.

The efforts to attract political attention to FIRST in 2007 were quite successful, with visits to regional including the US Secretary of Commerce, 4 US Senators, 8 members of Congress, 4 state governors, 7 mayors, and a deputy Prime Minister. Following the FIRST Championship Event in Atlanta in April, the championship winners of the Chairman's Award in the FRC (#365), FTC (#801), and FLL competitions were invited to the White House to demonstrate their robots to President Bush and members of Congress. Further, FIRST President Paul Gudonis was invited to testify before the Congressional Committee on Education and Labor about FIRST's achievements and goals.

In 2008, former President of the United States

President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
George Herbert Walker Bush spoke at the World Championship in Atlanta.

Timeline

Note: All years indicate the year that the championship for that game was held.

Year	FRC	FLL	FTC
1992	Maize Craze Maize Craze Maize Craze was the game in the inaugural year of the FIRST. This game was played with four individual robots trying to collect tennis balls into their starting base....
1993	Rug Rage Rug Rage Rug Rage was the game used in the 1993 edition of the FIRST. In it, 4 teams competed individually to collect as many large 13" and small water-filled balls within their goal area....
1994	Tower Power Tower Power Tower Power was the 1994 game for the FIRST....
1995	Ramp 'n Roll Ramp 'n Roll Ramp 'n 'Roll was the 1995 game for the FIRST Robotics Competition....
1996	Hexagon Havoc Hexagon Havoc Hexagon Havoc was the 1996 game for the FIRST Robotics Competition....
1997	Toroid Terror
1998	Ladder Logic Ladder logic Ladder logic is a philosophy of drawing electrical logic schematics. It is now a graphical language very popular for programming Programmable Logic Controllers ....
1999	Double Trouble Double Trouble (FIRST) *Double Trouble* was the 1999 game for the FIRST Robotics Competition....	Pilot Year
2000	Co-Opertition FIRST Co-Opertition FIRST Co-Opertition FIRST was the 2000 game for the FIRST Robotics competition....	FIRST Contact First contact First contact may refer to:In anthropology,* First contact , a first meeting of two previously unknown cultures* First Contact , a documentary by Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson...
2001	Diabolical Dynamics Diabolical Dynamics Diabolical Dynamics was the 2001 game for the FIRST Robotics Competition....	Volcanic Panic
2002	Zone Zeal Zone Zeal Zone Zeal was the 2002 game for the FIRST Robotics Competition. In it, robots playing in alliances of 2 competed to move goals and balls into various zones within the playing field....	Arctic Impact
2003	Stack Attack Stack Attack Stack Attack is the game for the 2003 FIRST competition. In Stack Attack, two teams of two robots each attempt to win by moving large Sterilite bins into their zone and arranging them into stacks....	City Sights
2004	FIRST Frenzy: Raising the Bar FIRST Frenzy: Raising the Bar FIRST Frenzy: Raising the Bar was the 2004 game for the FIRST Robotics Competition. The game included elements from previous years' games, including mobile goals, "capping" goals with large inflatable balls, and others....	Mission Mars
2005	Triple Play Triple Play (FIRST) Triple Play was the name of the 2005 season FIRST game....	No Limits	Demonstration
2006	Aim High	Ocean Odyssey	Pilot Year: Half-Pipe Hustle
2007	Rack 'n Roll Rack 'n Roll Rack 'n Roll is the game for the 2007 FIRST Robotics Competition season, announced on January 6, 2007. In it, two alliances of three teams each compete to arrange torus game pieces on a central arena element known as 'The Rack'....	Nano Quest Nano Quest Nano Quest was the challenge theme in the 2006 FIRST Lego League. It revolved around nanotechnology. Students were to select an application of nanotechnology, make improvements to it, and share what they did with other people....	Hangin'-A-Round Hangin'-A-Round Hangin'A Round was the name of the robotics contest at the 2006 FIRST Vex Challenge. The contest involved building a robot from a kit that could attain a higher score than the opposition by placing the softballs into the colored goals, possessing the ?atlas ball?, and by being parked on the platform or hanging from the bar....
2008	FIRST Overdrive FIRST Overdrive FIRST Overdrive was the 2008 game for the FIRST Robotics Competition, announced on January 5, 2008. In it, teams competed to complete counterclockwise laps around a central barrier while manipulating large diameter "Trackballs" over and under overpasses to score additional points....	Power Puzzle	Quad Quandary Quad Quandary Quad Quandary is the first challenge theme for the new FIRST Tech Challenge with similar general rules regarding the specifications of the robot and the game play....
2009	Lunacy Lunacy (FIRST) game_title = Lunacy\| logo =...	Climate Connections	Face Off Face Off (FIRST) The FIRST Face Off is the robotics competition event in the 2009 FIRST Tech Challenge . Two teams battle to score points by placing Puck into designated areas....

External links

- Unofficial FIRST Wiki