Incredibots Academy

FTC is one program run by a bigger organisation. Knowing how that organisation is put together saves you a lot of time. You will know who sets the rules, who runs your events, and who to email when something goes wrong.

The short version

FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. It is a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Manchester, New Hampshire. It runs team-based robotics programs for young people aged roughly 5 to 18, in more than 100 countries.

Its stated purpose is to prepare young people for the future. Its stated vision is a culture where "science and technology are celebrated". The idea is that engineering should get the kind of attention school sports get.

Where it came from

1989 — the founding: Inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST to get young people interested in science and technology.

1992 — the first competition: Twenty-eight high school teams competed in the first FIRST Robotics Competition, held in a school gym in New Hampshire.

Late 1990s — younger students: FIRST partnered with the LEGO Group on a program for younger students, which became FIRST LEGO League.

Mid-2000s — FTC: FIRST Tech Challenge started as a pilot for middle and high school students, sitting between the LEGO program and the full-size FRC robots.

Dr. Woodie Flowers, an MIT professor and a longtime FIRST advisor (1943–2019), coined Gracious Professionalism. The next lesson covers what that means. Today, FIRST's sponsors and partners include more than 200 Fortune 500 companies.

The program ladder

FIRST runs a program for each age group. Plenty of students go through more than one.

Program	Who it is for	What the robot is like
K–8 programs (FIRST LEGO League today)	Elementary and middle school	Classroom-scale kits. FIRST has announced a new generation of K–8 programs, with new names, from the 2027–28 season.
FIRST Tech Challenge	Grades 7–12 (ages ~12–18)	18-inch robots, built from kits or custom parts, programmed in Java or Blocks. This site.
FIRST Robotics Competition	Grades 9–12 (ages ~14–18)	Robots up to about 125 lb, big teams, big budgets, industrial-style build.

FTC's sweet spot

FTC robots are small enough to build on a kitchen table and cheap enough for a school club. They are also complex enough that students do real engineering: CAD, machining, Java, control loops, sensors. That is why it suits a student-run team so well.

Who you actually deal with

"FIRST" can mean three different groups of people. Mixing them up is how emails go unanswered.

FIRST headquarters: Writes the Competition Manual, releases the game every September, runs team registration through the FIRST Dashboard, and runs the FIRST Championship. They answer rule questions only through the official Q&A forum.

Your Program Delivery Partner: The regional organisation that runs FTC where you live. It schedules your league meets and qualifiers, assigns event capacity, often gives out rookie grants, and knows every regional deadline. This is your most important contact. Find yours on the FTC events site or ask FIRST.

Event volunteers: Referees, judges, inspectors, field resetters, and queuers. Almost every FTC event is run by volunteers, many of them parents, alumni, and engineers. Be kind to them. You will probably be one someday.

Email your regional partner in week one

Introduce your team, ask for the season's event calendar, and ask about rookie grants and loaner parts. Rookie teams that do this in September have a much easier season than teams that first make contact in December.

Check yourself

Your team is unsure whether a mechanism is legal under this season's rules. Who gives you an official answer?

You know who FIRST is. Next: the values it runs on, and why they are judged as seriously as your robot.