The FIRST Championship is a four-day

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist human ...

championship held annually in April at which

FIRST First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

student robotics teams compete. For several years, the event was held at the

Georgia Dome The Georgia Dome was a domed stadium in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west, it was owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of the Georgia World Congress Cent ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

, but moved to the

Edward Jones Dome The Dome at America's Center is a multi-purpose stadium used for concerts, major conventions, and sporting events in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Previously known as the Trans World Dome from 1995 to 2001 and the Edward Jones Dom ...

in St. Louis, Missouri in 2011, where it remained through 2017. In 2017, the Championship was split into two events, being additionally held at the

George R. Brown Convention Center The George R. Brown Convention Center (GRB), opened on September 26, 1987, is located on the east side of Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The center was named for internationally recognized entrepreneur, engineer, civic leader, philan ...

and

Minute Maid Park Minute Maid Park is a retractable roof stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. It opened in 2000 as the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Houston Astros. It has a seating capacity of 41,168, which includes 5,197 club seats and 63 lu ...

in Houston, Texas. In 2018 and 2019, the Championship was held in Houston and

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

at the TCF Center and

Ford Field Ford Field is a domed American football stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It primarily serves as the home of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), as well as the annual Quick Lane Bowl college football bowl game, state champ ...

. The event comprises four competitions; the

FIRST Robotics Competition FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work during a six-week period to build robots capable of competing in that year's game that wei ...

Championship, the

FIRST Tech Challenge FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), formerly known as FIRST Vex Challenge, is a robotics competition for students in grades 7–12 to compete head to head, by designing, building, and programming a robot to compete in an alliance format against other te ...

World Championship, the FIRST Lego League World Festival, and the FIRST Lego League Junior World Expo. The FIRST Robotics Competition is a ten-week program in which high-school students build 125-pound (54 kg) robots designed to compete in a game that changes each year. Students are given sets of parts to use, but they can also use off-the-shelf or custom-made parts. The FIRST Tech Challenge is a mid-level competition program for middle school and high school aged students with a more accessible and affordable robotics kit. FIRST LEGO League is a competition program for

elementary Elementary may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Elementary'' (Cindy Morgan album), 2001 * ''Elementary'' (The End album), 2007 * ''Elementary'', a Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin album, 1977 Other uses in arts, entertainment, a ...

and

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...

students using

LEGO Mindstorms Lego Mindstorms is a hardware and software structure which develops programmable robots based on Lego building blocks. Each version includes computer Lego bricks, a set of modular sensors and motors, and Lego parts from the Technic line to ...

robotics kits. Teams for each program compete in tournaments at a state and regional level. The winning teams from each of these tournaments join the global competition at the FIRST Championship. The FIRST Championship was formally held in conjunction with the FIRST Robotics Conference, which covers a wide variety of topics in science, technology, engineering, and robotics fields. The 2011 championship was also host to the Collegiate Aerial Robotics Demonstration, a pilot collegiate FIRST program. In 2015, to expand, it was announced that the FIRST Championship would be divided into multiple venues. The new Innovation Faire featuring displays and demonstrations from FIRST Sponsors, Partners and Suppliers took place at the

Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel The Marriott St. Louis Grand Hotel is a hotel located in the Washington Avenue Historic District in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The hotel was renovated in 2015. History The Hotel Statler St. Louis was designed by George B. Post & Sons and wa ...

, The

World Championship and the

Junior FIRST Lego League FIRST LEGO League Explore (FLLE) (formerly known as FIRST LEGO League Jr.) is a non-competitive robotics program designed for children ages six to ten. It is one of the programs established by FIRST. FIRST LEGO League Explore follows the same the ...

World Festival took place at Union Station (St. Louis), and the FIRST LEGO League World Festival as well as the

Championship took place at the

and

America's Center America's Center is a convention center located in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, and is situated next to the Dome at America's Center, the former home of the National Football League's St. Louis Rams (now the Los Angeles Rams) and the curren ...

. The new arrangement was designed to give an "Olympic Village" feel and allow for more space to expand each individual program. In 2017, the Championship was split into 2 championships, one occurring in Houston and the other a week later in St. Louis. The second Championship was moved to Detroit for 2018 and 2019. In 2020, FIRST decided to move the closing ceremonies for all programs from Minute Maid Park and Ford Field to the convention centers in Houston and Detroit respectively. The 2020 FIRST season was suspended on March 12, 2020, resulting in the cancellation of the Championship events in Houston and Detroit, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. The FIRST LEGO League World Championship was held as a virtual competition on April 18 and 19, 2020 and hosted by FLL Share and Learn. The 2021 FIRST Championship in Houston and Detroit were cancelled due to the

. The events were replaced by a virtual ceremony at the 2021 FIRST Global Innovation Awards on June 28–30, 2021. Despite originally announcing dates for both Detroit and Houston for 2022, the 2022 FIRST Championship is now scheduled solely for Houston and is planned for April 20-23, 2022.

Host cities

*''1992'':

Manchester, NH Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644. Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Ham ...

*''1993–1994'': Nashua, NH *''1995–2002'': Orlando, FL, at Epcot Center,

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...

*''2003'': Houston, at Reliant Park (now known as NRG Park) *''2004–2010'': Atlanta, at

*''2011–2017'': St. Louis, at Dome at America's Center,

(2015-2017), Union Station (St. Louis) (2015-2017) *''2017–2019'': Houston, at

and

*''2018–2019'': Detroit, at

Cobo Center Huntington Place (formerly known as Cobo Hall, Cobo Center, and briefly as TCF Center) is a convention center in Downtown Detroit, owned by the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority (DRCFA) and operated by ASM Global. Located at 1 Washi ...

and

*''2022–2023'': Houston, at

1992 was the first year of the FIRST Robotics Competition. Just over 20 teams competed at one event, which was held at Memorial High School in Manchester, New Hampshire. In 1993, the sole competition was held at Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, New Hampshire. In 1994, the competition was held at Nashua High School. In 1995, FIRST had grown to the point to which they had outgrown the one competition, so they moved to a regional qualifier system, and thus the FIRST championship was born. From 1995 through 2002, the championship was held at Epcot Center in Orlando. Reliant Park in Houston was the venue for 2003. Atlanta served as host city from 2004 through 2010. In 2005, the contract with Atlanta was extended through 2007 with options for 2008 and 2009. In 2009, St. Louis was selected, from three finalists, to serve as host city for 2011 through 2013. In 2012, the tenure at St. Louis was extended until 2014. In 2013, the tenure in St. Louis was once again extended for three additional years through 2017. The 2017 through 2019 championships consisted of two championship events, located in two different cities on back to back weekends. The 2017 championships was held in St. Louis, centered at the Edward Jones Dome, and in Houston, Texas, at the

, Toyota Center, and

. 2017 marked St. Louis's final hosting of the event for the foreseeable future, ending its seven years hosting the event, as well as FIRST Championships's return to Houston, following the 2003 Championships at NRG Park. In 2018 and 2019, Houston continued to host a championship, with

taking St. Louis's place. The Detroit championships took place at

and

FIRST Robotics Competition

The FIRST Robotics Competition Championship is the final and largest event of the season. The winners of each regional competition as well as the top teams from each district advance to the FIRST Championship. They are placed into one of the 8 divisions to compete. The winning alliance from each division (a set of 4 teams) moves on to compete on the Einstein Field. The winning alliance on the Einstein Field is declared the FIRST Champion. The FIRST Robotics Competition Championship was initially divided into 4 divisions: * Newton * Galileo * Archimedes * Curie In 2015, the 4 divisions were further divided into 8 divisions (not including the final Einstein Field) and expanding naming to share more breadth in hero innovators: * Newton * Galileo * Archimedes * Curie * Tesla * Hopper * Carver * Carson In 2017, the first year of the split championship, 4 more divisions were added bringing the total to 12 divisions (not including the final Einstein Field in each city), with six divisions in each city. The six division winning alliances played a round-robin tournament to determine their location's champion, who then played the other city's champion in July at the FIRST Festival of Champions in New Hampshire. On February 6, 2018, FIRST announced that the Festival of Champions would not happen from the 2018 season onward. Due to this, the winners of both championships will now be considered world champions. Houston: * Carver * Galileo * Hopper * Newton * Roebling * Turing St. Louis/Detroit: * Archimedes * Carson * Curie *

Daly Daly or DALY may refer to: Places Australia * County of Daly, a cadastral division in South Australia * Daly River, Northern Territory, a locality * Electoral division of Daly, an electorate in the Northern Territory * Daly, Northern Territory, a ...

* Darwin * Tesla There are many awards that are presented to FRC teams at the Championship. These awards include the Engineering Inspiration Award, the Industrial Design Award, the Gracious Professionalism Award, the Entrepreneurship Award, the Industrial Safety Award, the Rookie All-Star Award, the Rookie Inspiration Award, the Woodie Flowers Award, and the Dean's List Award. The most prestigious award is the Chairman's Award, which recognizes the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate both on and off the field.

Recent winners

FTC World Championship

Before 2014, after all FTC teams have competed in state / regional championship tournaments, the winning teams move on to the FTC World Championship. The Inspire Award-winning teams and the captain teams of the Winning Alliance in the regional tournaments are automatically eligible for the world championship. If there are still spots available, additional teams may be picked by a lottery system. From 2014 and on, teams compete in Qualifying Tournaments in order to qualify for their state/regional Championship. At that Championship, teams compete for a spot at one of 4 Super-Regionals. Depending on the presence/number of teams in each state, determines the number of teams that move on to a Super-Regional. Teams then advance from their Super-Regional to the World Championship. Starting in the 2018–2019 season, Super-Regionals will be abolished and FTC teams will advance to the World Championship directly from their state/regional Championship. At each championship, awards are presented to recognize teams for their performance in the competition, their robot's design, and their efforts to spread the message of FIRST. These awards include World Championship Finalist and Winner, the Design Award, the Connect Award, the Innovate Award, the Motivate Award, the Think Award and the Judges' Award. The most notable awards are the World Championship Inspire Award and the award given to the winning alliance. The FTC World Championship is currently held in

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

and

, an arrangement that will continue until at least 2021. FTC has four divisions that teams are randomly divided into. There are two divisions per Championship. Houston: * Franklin * Jemison Detroit: * Edison * Ochoa Up until the end of the 2016 season, winning alliances from Franklin and Edison went on to compete in the finals on the DaVinci Field. In 2017, FTC teams joined FRC teams to play their finals matches on the Einstein Field.

Recent winners

FLL World Festival

The top competitions in FLL program are

FLL Open Championships FIRST LEGO Challenge League Open Championships are robotics competitions held and managed by FIRST LEGO League Partners to bring FIRST LEGO League Challenge teams from many states, regions and countries together to compete in host cities around ...

and FLL World Festival. The Open Championships are managed by FLL Partners with a goal to bring teams from different regions to complete and showcase their achievements. Currently, there are two Open Championships, FLL Open European Championship and FLL US Open Championship. FLL Open Asian Championship was held in 2008 in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan. However, it did not return in 2009.Open Asian Championship
, ''FIRST Japan'' - accessed May 23, 2009 FLL World Festival is hosted and managed by FIRST. The teams are often the Champion's Award team at the state or national level with some other criteria including special nomination from FLL Operational Partners globally. In 2009, there were 84 teams from 27 countries that joined the festival with the theme ''Climate Connections''. The award categories include Innovative Design Award, Quality Design Award, Programming Award, Research Quality Award, Innovative Solution Award, Creative Presentation Award, Teamwork Award, Team Spirit Awards, Against All Odds Awards, Outstanding Volunteer Awards, Adult Coach/Mentor Awards, Young Adult Mentor Awards, and Judges' Awards. The most notable awards are Champion's Award and Robot Performance Award.

Recent winners

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:First Championship For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology Lego Recurring events established in 1992 Student robotics competitions