FalconX is one of nearly 3,500 teams in the Global FIRST Robotics Competition program. This program aims to give high school students the chance to get real, hands-on STEM experience by giving a yearly challenge and having the teams compete with robots built by the students.
“We call FIRST Robotics Competition the ultimate Sport for the Mind. High-school student participants call it ‘the hardest fun you’ll ever have.’ Under strict rules, limited time and resources, teams of students are challenged to raise funds, design a team “brand,” hone teamwork skills, and build and program industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game against like-minded competitors. It’s as close to real-world engineering as a student can get. Volunteer professional mentors lend their time and talents to guide each team. Each season ends with an exciting FIRST Championship.”
-Quoted from the FIRST Robotics website
Every year in January, FIRST releases a video announcing what that year’s competition will be. Once the game’s rules have been released, teams around the globe race to build robots designed for the specific year’s challenge in a manner of months!
Competitions are huge, exciting events, and require a lot of teamwork among different high schools and in the team. FalconX usually attends two competitions every year, which are up to 3 days long, usually from Friday-Sunday. They require a lot of commitment and time from students, mentors, and parents, but are an extremely rewarding time to show off everything our robot can do.
