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Exciting Changes to Match Play

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Over the past decade, FIRST ® Tech Challenge has continued to grow, serving the FIRST mission of creating excitement and exposing students to the wonderful world of science, technology, engineering and math. With growth, must come change, as most of our community has seen through our evolution of robot technology. We continue to work to make this program more accessible and affordable, while still engaging and challenging students of all skill levels. Since the 2015 season, FIRST Tech Challenge has moved away from a centralized control system to the Android based platform you see today. The increased reliability of the Android based/REV platform, is allowing us to improve the flow of the matches. We are making significant and exciting changes that teams and volunteers need to be aware of for the 2017-2018 season. Autonomous to Driver Controlled Transition Starting in the 2017-2018 season, there will no longer be a hard stop following the autonomous period to transition to the driver c
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Qualcomm, Our Presenting Sponsor Championing FIRST Relic Recovery

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The company behind why you love your smartphone plans to livestream the FIRST Tech Challenge kickoff on FIRST’s Twitch channel! Happy Kickoff FIRST Tech Challenge teams, Garrett Ponder here from Qualcomm . We are so excited to return as the SeasonPresenting Sponsor of FIRST TechChallenge Relic Recovery , and we think you are going to love this season’s game. As you know, Qualcomm has been supporting FIRST for the past 11 years and we are thrilled to have Qualcomm Snapdragon processors at the heart of the FIRST Tech Challenge control system for the 3rd year in a row. You are all an inspiration to us and we are extremely proud of what you accomplish each season. This year we are going to try something new. We will be hosting the San Diego kickoff event at our headquarters in San Diego, and guess what? It will be livestreamed on the FIRST Twitch channel so you can join us. We’ll have a couple familiar faces sharing their inspiration with our FIRST Tech Challenge community and we’ll be
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Kickoff is coming - are you prepared for the season ahead?

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There are many ways teams need to get prepared for the upcoming season. Of course, teams first need to register and order their robot kit. At FIRST® Tech Challenge, we are anxiously waiting to share with you the official game challenge for FIRST® RELIC RECOVERY SM . Make sure you’re part of the big announcement by attending Kickoff event in your area or tuning into the game and season page Saturday, September 9 at 12:00 P.M. EDT. After the game challenge is announced, it’s time to prepare your team!      Complete team registration and required screenings      Order robot kit and parts Now the adventure really begins! Teams now get to strategize ways to complete each task in the game challenge, and work together to design, program and build. One of the best ways to help your team prepare, is with an official FIRST® RELIC RECOVERY SM field. As resources vary for each team, we have provided several options for teams to access field and game elements for practice and prepare. We want you
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Good news, after the success of the sweepstakes programs last season FIRST Tech Challenge is having another this year! We are giving away 4 HP Pavilion Touch Screen Laptops over the last two weeks of August and first two weeks of September. These are a perfect complement to the FIRST Tech Challenge robotics kit and will allow teams to have a dedicated team computer. No more sharing or repurposing a computer for the season! If you’ve already registered no problem, we’ve automatically entered all teams who have registered this season into the sweepstakes. You haven’t registered your team yet for the season? No problem, go here to register: https://my.firstinspires.org/AccountManager/Account/Register Not ready to register yet but still want to get in on the sweepstakes? go here: http://info.firstinspires.org/laptop-sweepstakes We know you’ll find a million ways to put these laptops to good use, none better than competing in Relic Recovery this season.
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Congrats on an Incredible Season

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Whew, what a season - capped off by the first ever Festival of Champions right here in Manchester, New Hampshire.  Thanks to everyone who made this year a success. The students were tremendous and our program grew for the 12th year in a row. I’ve been with FIRST for 10 years and I’m still amazed by the passion, drive, and intellect demonstrated by our teams. Our planet faces big problems, but with this generation I have great confidence we will meet those challenges. Our volunteers share this hope, it’s why they dedicate millions of person-hours each year to make this possible. Although they may not have had FIRST when they were young, they see the critical need, and the amazing benefits. FIRST Tech Challenge alone held over 800 events last season and every single one depended on these outstanding volunteers. I know of no other organization in the world that attracts such passionate, and intelligent folks. Finally, a huge thank you to the FIRST Tech Challenge staff. Believe it or not t
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FIRST Class 2017 - Festival of Champions

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Participating Teams and Schedule We are excited to announce and celebrate our FIRST Tech Challenge Teams competing at our FIRST Class 2017 - Festival of Champions!  Advancing from St. Louis: Team 5466, Combustible Lemons, from Davenport, Iowa - Inspire Award Winner Team 8686, Height Differential, from St. Paul, Minnesota - Alliance Captain                 Team 6929, Data Force, from Littleton, Colorado - 1st Pick                                                             Team 5916, BoBots, from Earlville, Maryland - 2nd Pick                                    Advancing from Houston: Team 3491, Fix-It, from Victoria, BC, Canada - Inspire Award Winner                                                   Team 724, RedNek Robotics Wun, from Sun River, Montana - Alliance Captain                                    Team 4216, Rise of Hephaestus, from San Diego, California - 1st Pick                                                   Team 8651, Wait For It…, from Pearl, Mississippi - 2nd Pick   
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Team 6220 talks new REV Robotics Expansion Hub and plans for next season

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Team 6220 Centripetal is part of Swerve Robotics club from Woodinville, WA . This season, Team 6220 had a unique opportunity to assist the FIRST Tech Challenge with testing and roll-out of a newly approved electronics module. Read on to learn about their experiences with the new REV Robotics Expansion Hub. Q: Tell us a little bit about Team 6220 Centripetal.  How long have you been participating in the FIRST Tech Challenge?  Who are the members and mentors that make up the team? A: 6220 has been in FIRST Tech Challenge for 5 seasons, but our current team make-up has been together for 2 years. We have 8 students, a coach/hardware mentor, and an assistant coach/software mentor. Our coach is Dr. Fraser, and our Assistant Coach is Dr. Geffner. As for students, our team captain this year was Jarrod, who put a lot of time into team management. Our systems engineer was Miyu, who did a lot of our CAD and notebook, and who also made a VR simulator of the game in Blender. Our hardware lead was
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