The annual FIRST® Championship, aka the Super Bowl of STEM, is a whole new ball — er robot game — this year: it’s taking place in not one, but two cities! Heading back to Houston for the second year this weekend, over 15,000 students in grades K-12, from 25 states and 42 countries, and their custom-built robots are already competing in timed matches and making adjustments on-the-fly in racecar-like pits. Then another set of over 35,000 students, friends, parents, mentors, coaches, volunteers and sponsors will take over a new location next weekend in Detroit!
FIRST® Championship, presented by Qualcomm®, is the culmination for student teams who participated in FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) —one of the largest STEM competitions and youth organizations in the world— that was founded by accomplished inventor Dean Kamen in 1989.
During heart-pounding, high-energy matches, students will put their custom-built robots to the test with the help of mentors and professional engineers. The final nail-biting rounds of the FIRST® Robotics Competition and FIRST® Tech Challenge showdowns start Saturday afternoon, April 21 and all of the #FIRSTchamp action can we watched live on Twitch this year! https://www.firstchampionship.org/watch-live.
We’ll be following along on Twitch and on social media (#FIRSTChamp) and also bringing you some exclusive stories here on the blog so make sure to check back in!
FIRST Championship offers three levels of competition and one student exhibition for students ages 6-18:
- FIRST® LEGO® League Jr. World Festival Expo (ages 6-10)
- FIRST® LEGO® League World Festival (ages 9-14; 9-16 outside the U.S., Canada and Mexico)
- FIRST® Tech Challenge World Championship (ages 12-18)
- FIRST® Robotics Competition Championship (ages 14-18)
- High school students who participate in FIRST programs – FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition – can apply for more than $70 million in college scholarships
This year’s FIRST Robotics Championship competition is called Power UP. Check out the rules below.