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 sets (NXT or RCX) to build palm-sized Lego robots, which are then programmed using the ROBOLAB software to autonomously compete against other teams[9]. The ROBOLAB software is based on National Instruments' LabView 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.[citation needed] 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.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 competition to the FRC competition. FTC was developed for the Vex Robotics Design System, 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. For their 2005-2006 Pilot Season, FVC teams played the Half-Pipe Hustle game using racquet balls and ramps.

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

FIRST Robotics Competition

The first program developed through FIRST was the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), which is designed to inspire high school 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 gymnasium. As of 2008[update], over 1500 high school teams totaling over 37,000 students from Brazil, Canada, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom, 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 120 lb (54 kg), 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$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 in April. Previous years' Championships have been held in Houston, Texas and at Walt Disney World's Epcot. 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.

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