EVERYONE BELONGS HERE
Open to Everyone — Ages 6 to 106
Robotics teams are built by far more than just the kids who touch the robot. Whoever you are, whatever you bring to the table — there is a job here with your name on it.
If you are a person, you are probably welcome on this team. We mean that.
The Two Rules — That’s It
FIRST, the parent organization that runs FTC, applies exactly two rules to age and team size. Both of them are about competition-day legality, not about who’s allowed to be involved with the team.
Those two limits exist because of insurance and pit-area safety regulations — FIRST is responsible for thousands of students at competitions and has to enforce sensible caps. They do not mean only twelve-to-eighteen-year-olds are welcome at meetings, on outreach trips, or in the build space.
The Team Is Bigger Than the Roster
The official roster has an age range. The team does not. Here’s how that works in practice.
UNDER 12
Younger Siblings & Curious Kids
Younger siblings are absolutely welcome to attend meetings alongside their parents. Bring crayons, bring snacks, bring a curious six-year-old — we’ve all been there, and watching a robot get built is one of the best ways for a younger kid to decide they want to do this someday.
12 TO 18
The Competition Students
This is the FTC roster age range — the students who build, program, drive, scout, and present to judges. Middle schoolers and high schoolers, all on the same team.
19 AND UP
Parents, Mentors, & Anyone with a Skill
College students home for the summer. Parents who’ve never touched a robot but can run a spreadsheet. Retired engineers, accountants, photographers, marketing folks, carpenters, truck drivers, professors, librarians. We need both technical AND non-technical mentors equally, and we welcome them at any age — whether you’re 19, 60, or 96.
We Need Non-Technical People Just as Much as Technical Ones
This bears repeating because it doesn’t sink in the first time: an FTC team without strong non-technical work will not advance. The robot is half the equation. The other half is everything that happens off the field — outreach, fundraising, writing, organizing, photography, the engineering portfolio that judges read before awards are decided. Without all of that, even a great robot stalls out at the regional level.
1 · Writing the engineering portfolio
The 15-page document judges read before they hand out awards. If you’re a writer, a former technical writer, an English teacher — or just a parent who’s good with words — this role alone can change a team’s award outcomes.
2 · Running social media and the team blog
Posting build updates to Instagram. Writing match recaps. Keeping the Open Alliance blog current. Documenting the season so future teams — and our own judges — can see the work.
3 · Coordinating sponsor outreach and thank-you letters
Pitching local businesses, writing the ask, sending the thank-you letters that keep funders coming back next year. This is the role that quietly keeps the team funded.
4 · Planning travel, hotels, and meals for tournaments
Booking hotel blocks, mapping van routes, building meal schedules, tracking who has allergies. A travel coordinator is the difference between a chaotic competition weekend and a smooth one.
5 · Organizing community outreach events
Demo days at local festivals, school visits, library STEM nights, partnerships with civic groups. The team showing up in the community is what wins the Connect Award.
6 · Photography and graphic design
Field shots from competition. Robot reveal photos. T-shirt and patch design. The team logo. Flyers for fundraisers. If you have a camera or a copy of Canva, you’re hired.
7 · Bookkeeping and finance
Tracking 501(c)(3) finances, logging donations, keeping receipts, and filing the team’s annual paperwork. Critical to keeping the tax-exempt status that makes donations possible.
8 · Anything else that makes a team function as a team
Pizza Fridays. Build-day breakfast. Driving carpools. Bringing snacks. Hosting a meeting when the regular space falls through. Watching the little ones so a parent can mentor. Every team has unsung MVPs — come be one.
If your student wants to code or build but you don’t, there’s still a giant list of roles you can fill. Same goes for mentors — we welcome technical AND non-technical mentors equally. The best teams in FTC have adult mentors filling both lanes, not just the engineering one.
We’re Judged on Community Engagement
A lot of people don’t realize this: at FTC competitions, we get formally judged on how much of an impact our team has on the community around us. Outreach events, mentoring younger kids, demo days at local festivals, partnerships with civic groups — all of it counts toward awards. Community work is not a “nice to have.” It is part of the score.
The Inspire Award is the most prestigious honor in FTC and the surest path to the State Championship and Worlds. You cannot win it without a strong community-impact story. The Connect Award is given to the team that most actively builds relationships with the engineering and STEM community around them — and is essentially impossible to win without sustained non-technical work all season long. Both awards reward the people doing outreach, writing, hosting, and connecting just as heavily as the people writing code.
IN SHORT
If you can do anything, you have a place here.
Write, organize, mentor, drive carpool, take photos, run a spreadsheet, design a flyer, or just bring snacks for a build day — there’s a place for you here. Reach out.
Ready to find your spot?
Drop in to a meeting, or email us and tell us what you’d like to do. Doesn’t matter if you’ve never been near a robot.