• Robotics a great way to experience engineering in a team-supportive environment and get a glimpse into the challenges and applications of technology in the real world.

• Robotics is a team-oriented activity and there is a role for everyone. You collaborate with others, share ideas, work towards common goals, and there are tangible accomplishments for your efforts. And when you go to competitions, you take it to the next level, connecting with students from other schools and places.

• Robotics activities provide a setting where girls feel encouraged to not only learn about robotics, engineering, and technology, but also to learn, explore, experiment, fail, try again, and grow.

• Robotics routinely demands creative and novel applications of diverse STEAM concepts — math, physics, coding, electronics, product design, hardware design, fabrication and mechanical engineering, just to mention a few. With the boundaries between these disciplines blurring, robotics is an ideal activity for the next generation of innovators and engineers.

• On a robotics team, you learn much more than technical skills. You develop skills that are valued in college and career settings — resilience, critical thinking, clear communication, teamwork, ethical decision-making, empathy, optimization, systems thinking, and project management.

Getting Girls into Robotics by Kaitlyn Ludlam, (Team 86)

Each year, the robotics challenge FIRST gives us a fun and challenging problem to solve. It neatly encapsulates various kinds of engineering, management, and marketing under one umbrella. Our team operates like a small business whose “product” is a robot. Students take on roles in design, software, mechanical, electrical, marketing and drive, manage various departments, and work together as a team to deliver their product.

The energy at FIRST Robotics Competitions is powerful, much like a sporting event. What makes them unique is a culture within FIRST called ”Gracious Professionalism.”  Walk through the pit area of any competition and you will see teams helping one another fix their robots, talking about new ideas, and learning from one another. Also, the format of FIRST Robotics Competitions encourages teams to interact with and support one another. Teams compete as alliances of three, meaning each match features two alliances working together against each other to achieve the game's objectives. To advance in the competition, each team and robot must make a significant contribution to the alliance’s performance and success.

We choose to build FRC robots because FIRST is a well known program colleges and employers recognize, and the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) challenges are fun, deep and broad. Your experience with FIRST is one that will last a lifetime.