High school students participate in the FIRST competition in January through March, a period of time we call “build season”. The culmination is the regional competition – robots, kids, music – a rock festival for robots! But before the festival comes the designing and building of the robot to meet the specifications and challenges set out by FIRST. From kick-off to shipping we have six and one half short weeks to get a robot designed, up and running. It is intense; it is challenging and most of all – it’s fun!
During the pre and post build season we offer technology-oriented workshops and programs such as drive-train design, pneumatic systems, programming, and animation with the help of mentors from the community. Students are mentored in the safe use of hand and power tools with safety always being paramount.
Our programs accommodate students with a wide array of interests, including computer programming, web design, electrical and mechanical engineering, media relations, organization, robot construction.
The organization is student-run, under the oversight of mentors and a board of directors. As such, there are also opportunities for students to experience aspects of managing the organization as a business, which include budgeting, writing, photography, fund raising, planning and marketing.
Students are divided into three sub-teams: design (CAD/Solidworks), build, and programming. The project management team is formed every year to develop a plan for the build season.
The FIRST® Robotics Competition is a high-school robotics competition that inspires students to pursue engineering and teaches them about the rewards and challenges of working together under pressure.
