What's FIRST?

FIRST, an acronym for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, was founded by inventor Dean Kamen in 1989. FIRST's main goal is to inspire students in the field of engineering and technology.

Now there are four branches of FIRST:
  • "FIRST Robotics Competition" or FRC for high-school students
  • "FIRST Tech Challenge" or FTC with TETRIX parts for middle-school students and beginner high-school students
  • "FIRST Lego League" or FLL with the Lego Mindstorms NXT platform for students in Jr. High or middle school
  • "Junior FIRST Lego League" or JFLL, which is for elementary school students.
FIRST also promotes a term called "Gracious Professionalism", coined by Woodie Flowers, which encourages good sportsmanship and a professional environment.

FRC at a Glance

FRC is the FIRST Robotics Competition in robotics design and innovation for high school students across the country, as well as internationally. Short for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology", the FIRST competition entails working together as a team to construct robots that can overcome the myriad of obstacles placed before them, and succeed. Teams independently design and build robots to compete in events across the country. The purpose of the FIRST competition is to give students practical experience in engineering and design, as well as an opportunity to work collaboratively with, and learn from, professional engineers.

Every team is provided a standard kit of parts, and given six weeks in which to design and construct their robot from the ground up. Students must learn to organize their time, and manage their teams, to effectively accomplish the goals. In order to succeed the team must operate as efficiently as the machine they are creating. They must ensure that they will have enough time alotted within the six week build period to design, fabricate, program, and test the robot, then debug and solve any problems that may arise.

A central part of FIRST, and the long-standing motto, is the idea of "Gracious Professionalism". FIRST operates by means of students helping students so that they may all succeed. Before, during, and after competitions teams collaborate to solve issues and share trade secrets, allowing students to gain an invaluable education. Scholarships are available for participating students in their graduating year from a large, diverse assortment of colleges.

Montclair Robotics, Team 555, has been participating in FIRST for 9 years to date.


 

Quick Facts

Location: Montclair, NJ

Team Size: 19 Students, 3 Mentors

Rookie Year: 2001

Team Motto: Don't worry, it's only temporary... unless it works and actually passes inspection.

Learn More About Our Team!

Upcoming Events

Kick-Off @ NJIT

January 8, 2011

NJ Regional @ Sovereign Bank

March 3-5, 2011

NY Regional @ Javits Center

March 11-13, 2011

Calendar

FIRST

FIRST is an acronym for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology". FIRST organizes a wide variety of robotics competitions, ranging from Legos to 120 pound, 5 foot tall robots. FIRST promotes a collaborative and professional environment among its many teams and teammates, and encourages help from engineers and mentors from a range of professional backgrounds.

Learn more about FIRST!
FIRST website

Our Sponsors

We are very thankful to our sponsors:
  • Montclair Board of Education
  • Josh and Judy Weston
  • Montclair High School MFEE
  • Metal Cutting Corporation
  • Studio 042
  • Memory Arts LLC
  • Montclair Society of Engineers
  • Montclair Learning Center
Parental Support:
Special thanks to all of the parents involved in supporting our team.

Learn More About Our Sponsors!


Learn More About How You Could Become One!