The History Of FIRST

In the Beginning• The organization was started

in 1992, by Dean Kamen. (Inventor of the Segway)

• Dean started with a small robotics competition for high school students

• This competition became known as FIRST Robotics

• Every year there is a different game for FIRST Robotics.

Picking the Game• There is a board of directors to

pick the game each year.• The some original members of

this board were most likely Dean Kamen, Woodie Flowers, and Dave Lavery.

• These 3 people are still a big part of FIRST today, because they introduce the game every year.

The Game• The game is announced every January and then

teams have 6 weeks to build the robot.• It can be any thing from Basketball to tic-tac-

toe.• The game is usually played in 2 minute matches.

Build Season• In these 6 weeks the robot

most be strategized, designed, built, programmed, and hopefully practiced with.

• At the end of the 6 weeks, the robot is shipped and the robot is not seen until competitions.

 

• In 1998, FIRST created FIRST Lego League for middle school students to participate in.

• Lego league uses a game to try and solve a purpose as well as to compete.

• Later, in 2005, FIRST created a JR. Lego League for elementary school students.

• Most recently, in 2005, FIRST created a VEX League, which features tiny FRC robots on smaller fields with different games.

Other Competitions

Local Competitions

• After FIRST was so successful, local teams started to create smaller competitions to help their teams stay in shape for the coming year.

• OCCRA is one of these competitions started in Oakland Country. (Oakland County Competitive Robotics Association)

• With the help of teams in the area, we will use OCCRA to give people a feel of what FIRST Robotics is like.

Our Plan For This Year

• September/October- Start workshops and cover Competition Basics, Robot Basics, and various important teams.

• November/December- watch OCCRA competitions while continuing workshops.

• January/February- Help with FRC teams across Oakland Country, while continuing workshops.

• March/April- Help with FRC competitions and watch FRC competitions