FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC)
Grades 9-12 (Ages 14-18)
About the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) (usfirst.org)
2012 FIRST Robotics Competition – Pittsburgh Regional
List of FRC Teams competing in Pittsburgh
For Teams: Marketing and Fundraising Resources
Coming Soon: List of FRC Teams competing in Pittsburgh
Contact the Regional Director for more information (pdepra@usfirst.org)
To Sponsor a Team: Contact the Team Leader directly, or email the Regional Director
Season Overview:
Pre-Season – Summer and Fall: Planning & Organizing
Fall: Registration, Training, Funding, Recruiting Team Members and Mentors
Kickoff! Saturday Jan 7, 2012 (link to kickoff page)
Build Season: ~ 6 weeks (Jan 7 – Feb 21, 2012)
Regional Competitions: 7 wks
Pittsburgh Regional: March 7-10, 2012*
FIRST Championship: April 25-28, 2012
*Note: We recommend that teams drop off robots and pit items on March 7, during designated times (tbd) in order to facilitate check-in, unbagging, and inspection processes. Teams who arrive on Thursday morning may encounter a delay in processing, depending upon the number of teams who choose to check in at that time.
FIRST combines the excitement of sports with science and technology to create a unique varsity Sport for the Mind™. FIRST helps young people discover the rewarding and engaging world of innovation and engineering. It is a sport where students play with and learn from the pros, designing and building a robot in a fascinating real-world professional experience using the industry’s most current technologies while having their robots compete in a sporting game challenge. Under strict rules, limited resources, and time limits, teams of 25 students or more are challenged to raise funds, design a team “brand,” hone teamwork skills, and build and program robots to perform prescribed tasks against a field of 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. Read more about FIRST Core Values: Gracious ProfessionalismTM and CoopertitionTM
FRC Students get to:
- Learn from professional engineers
- Build and compete with a robot of their own design
- Learn and use sophisticated software and hardware
- Compete and cooperate in alliances and tournaments
- Earn a place in the World Championship
- Qualify for more than $14.8 million in college scholarships
Unique to the program is the concept of CoopertitionTM, where teams compete with each other but also assist each other when needed. This is inherent in the design of the game, in which 2 alliances of 3 teams each are randomized throughout the qualifying matches. So, teams help each other succeed in order to ensure that all teams in their alliances will do well. This has a profound impact not only on students, but on the adults working with the teams.
2012 Pittsburgh Regional
March 8-10, 2012
Petersen Event Center
Free and Open to the Public
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