What Is FIRST? The Organization Behind Our Robotics Team
If you’ve heard us talk about our robotics team and wondered what “FIRST” actually means, you’re not alone! It’s one of those terms that gets thrown around a lot in the robotics world, so let’s break it down.
FIRST Is an Acronym
FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. Operating as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization for more than three decades, FIRST prepares young people for the future through a suite of welcoming, team-based robotics programs for ages 5–18 (K–12).
In other words, it’s not just a robotics club — it’s a global movement dedicated to getting young people excited about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
| Program | Grade Levels | Teams Worldwide | US Teams | Students Worldwide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) | 9–12 | ~3,468 | ~3,000 | 86,700+ |
| FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) | 7–12 | 7,000+ | ~6,500-7,000 | 109,000+ |
| FLL (FIRST LEGO League) | K–8 | Data not published | ~25,000+ (Est.) | 650,000+ |
Statistics based on the 2024–2025 season. Sources: firstinspires.org
To put it all in perspective, the FIRST Championship alone is massive — the 2026 event in Houston drew 50,000 attendees, including 19,000 students on over 1,000 teams from 66 countries.
| FTC Robot Showcase | FTC Competition Energy |
|---|---|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STC2B8TUVnc
Who Founded FIRST?
FIRST was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen to inspire youth to get involved in science and technology. Kamen is himself a renowned inventor, perhaps best known for creating the Segway and a portable dialysis machine. He believed that scientists and engineers deserved the same kind of cultural celebration that athletes receive — and he built FIRST to help make that happen.
His vision is perhaps best captured in his own words:
“You have teenagers thinking they’re going to make millions as NBA stars when that’s not realistic for even one percent of them. Becoming a scientist or engineer is.” — Dean Kamen, Founder of FIRST
What Is FIRST’s Mission?
The mission of FIRST is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.
FIRST’s thrilling, sports-like challenges build self-confidence and collaborative problem-solving skills and have a proven and lasting impact on STEM learning and interest. Teams don’t just build robots — they conduct research, fundraise, design, build, and showcase their work, all guided by a core set of values.
FIRST is backed by a global community of mentors, educators, volunteers, sponsors, families, alumni, and program delivery partners, including more than 200 Fortune 500 companies. That means students get exposure to real-world professionals and industry mentors throughout the experience.
What Programs Does FIRST Offer?
FIRST offers programs for nearly every age group, creating a pipeline from elementary school all the way through high school:
- FIRST LEGO League (FLL) — Aimed at younger students, using LEGO robotics to introduce basic engineering and programming concepts.
- FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) — For students in grades 7–12. Teams design, build, and program their own robots from scratch to compete in a themed annual challenge. This is the program our team competes in!
- FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) — The most advanced and large-scale program for high school students, widely known as “the varsity sport for the mind.”
What Makes FIRST Different? The Two Bedrock Values
What truly sets FIRST apart from every other competition is its culture and values. Every FIRST program is built around two core principles:
1. Gracious Professionalism
Gracious Professionalism is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community.
This means our students are expected to bring their absolute best — technically and personally — while treating every other team, mentor, volunteer, and spectator with genuine kindness and respect.
2. “Coopertition“
Coopertition is displaying unqualified kindness and respect in the face of fierce competition. It was founded on the concept and a philosophy that teams can and should help and cooperate with each other even as they compete.
You won’t find teams trash-talking each other at a FIRST event. Instead, you’ll see competing teams sharing tools, helping fix each other’s robots, and cheering each other on. That’s the FIRST culture, and it’s something we are incredibly proud to be a part of.
How Does a FIRST Competition Actually Work?
Here’s where it gets really exciting. At the Kickoff event, during the first week of January, a specific problem is announced simultaneously across the country, which defines both the goals the robot has to achieve and the rules, both technical and strategic, that the robot and team must follow. Every team has 6 weeks from the Kickoff to design and build a robot to achieve those goals.
That’s right — every team in the country finds out the challenge at the exact same moment, and the clock starts ticking. Six weeks of designing, building, programming, testing, and refining — then it’s time to compete.
The competition has a rather unique format. Each team works with a 3-team alliance to compete against another 3-team alliance. These are known as the Red Alliance and the Blue Alliance. Teams will be on different alliances throughout the duration of the competition.
In qualifying matches, teams are assigned randomly to an alliance, so in one match they may be on the Red Alliance, and in the next match, they may be on the Blue Alliance. Each team accumulates the points they received in individual matches. At the start of playoff rounds, the 8 highest ranked teams become alliance captains and may select the other teams on their alliance.
This alliance format is one of the things that makes FIRST competitions so unique and exciting. Strategy matters enormously — not just how well your robot performs, but how well you work with and choose your alliance partners.
It’s About More Than Robots
FIRST’s vision is to transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders.
The skills students gain through FIRST — teamwork, communication, problem-solving, leadership, and resilience — follow them far beyond the competition floor. Many FIRST alumni go on to careers in engineering, medicine, business, and technology, crediting the program as a turning point in their lives.
Our Team and FIRST
We are proud to be part of the FIRST family as a FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team competing in the Aero Coast League, spanning from Pensacola to Tallahassee. Every time we build, compete, and engage with our community, we are living out the FIRST mission.
Stay tuned to this blog for updates on our season, our robot builds, our competitions, and everything happening with our team. We’re just getting started — and we can’t wait to show you what we’re made of!
Go team! 🤖