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FIRST® (For Inspiration & Recognition of Science & Technology) is a robotics program designed to catch the interest of young students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). It is composed of five different programs: FIRST Lego League Discover (Ages 4-6), FIRST Lego League Explore (Ages 6-10), FIRST Lego League Challenge (Ages 9-14), FIRST Tech Challenge (Ages 12-18), and FIRST Robotics Competition (Ages 14-18).
FIRST is set up like a sport: you train for many months (constructing a robot and practicing operating) and then you go to a tournament competition and compete against other local teams in a qualifier. If you win the qualifier, then you get to move on to the state competition. After that, you get the chance to compete against the world with teams from many different countries. Each year the competition challenge and many rules change for each individual program. This gives a level of fairness to rookie teams and experienced teams.
FIRST was founded by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway, and Professor Woodie Flowers way back in 1989. It was originally just the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), a high school intensive level robotics building competition. FIRST truly helps set students up for their future through inspiration, knowledge, experience, and even scholarships. Each year the FIRST has scholarships for the participants in the program. In 2015, there were $20 million worth of scholarships from 180 colleges and universities, associations, and corporations for both FTC and FRC Juniors and Seniors.
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FIRST Website LinksOfficial FIRST
FIRST LEGO League Explore & Challenge FIRST Tech Challenge Website FIRST Robotics Challenge Website 
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Who Is Dean Kamen?
Dean Kamen is an inventor, an entrepreneur, and a tireless advocate for science and technology. His roles as inventor and advocate are intertwined-his own passion for technology and its practical uses has driven his personal determination to spread the word about technology''s virtues and by so doing to change the culture of the United States.
As an inventor, he holds more than 440 U.S. and foreign patents, many of them for innovative medical devices that have expanded the frontiers of health care worldwide. While still a college undergraduate, he invented the first wearable infusion pump, which rapidly gained acceptance from such diverse medical specialties as chemotherapy, neonatology, and endocrinology. In 1976, he founded his first medical device company, AutoSyringe, Inc., to manufacture and market the pumps. At age 30, he sold that company to Baxter International Corporation. By then, he had added a number of other infusion devices, including the first wearable insulin pump for diabetics.
Following the sale of AutoSyringe, Inc., he founded DEKA Research & Development Corporation to develop internally generated inventions as well as to provide research and development for major corporate clients. Kamen led DEKA''s development of the HomeChoiceTM peritoneal dialysis system for Baxter International, Inc. The HomeChoiceTMsystem allows patients to be dialyzed in the privacy and comfort of their home and quickly became the worldwide market leader. Kamen also led the development of technology to improve slide preparation for the CYTYC (now Hologic Inc.) ThinPrep® Pap Test. Kamen-led DEKA teams have also developed critical components of the UVARTM XTSTM System, an extracorporeal photophereisis device marketed by Therakos, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, for treatment of T-Cell lymphoma. An advanced prosthetic arm in development for DARPA should advance the quality of life for returning injured soldiers. Other notable developments include the HydroflexTM surgical irrigation pump for C.R. Bard, the CrownTM stent, an improvement to the original Palmaz-Schatz stent, for Johnson & Johnson, the iBOTTM mobility device, and the Segway® Human Transporter.
Kamen has received many awards for his efforts. Notably, Kamen was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000. Presented by President Clinton, this award was in recognition for inventions that have advanced medical care worldwide, and for innovative and imaginative leadership in awakening America to the excitement of science and technology. Kamen was also awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005.
In addition to DEKA, one of Kamen's proudest accomplishments is founding FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization dedicated to motivating the next generation to understand, use, and enjoy science and technology.
Source: http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/bio/dean-l-kamen
As an inventor, he holds more than 440 U.S. and foreign patents, many of them for innovative medical devices that have expanded the frontiers of health care worldwide. While still a college undergraduate, he invented the first wearable infusion pump, which rapidly gained acceptance from such diverse medical specialties as chemotherapy, neonatology, and endocrinology. In 1976, he founded his first medical device company, AutoSyringe, Inc., to manufacture and market the pumps. At age 30, he sold that company to Baxter International Corporation. By then, he had added a number of other infusion devices, including the first wearable insulin pump for diabetics.
Following the sale of AutoSyringe, Inc., he founded DEKA Research & Development Corporation to develop internally generated inventions as well as to provide research and development for major corporate clients. Kamen led DEKA''s development of the HomeChoiceTM peritoneal dialysis system for Baxter International, Inc. The HomeChoiceTMsystem allows patients to be dialyzed in the privacy and comfort of their home and quickly became the worldwide market leader. Kamen also led the development of technology to improve slide preparation for the CYTYC (now Hologic Inc.) ThinPrep® Pap Test. Kamen-led DEKA teams have also developed critical components of the UVARTM XTSTM System, an extracorporeal photophereisis device marketed by Therakos, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, for treatment of T-Cell lymphoma. An advanced prosthetic arm in development for DARPA should advance the quality of life for returning injured soldiers. Other notable developments include the HydroflexTM surgical irrigation pump for C.R. Bard, the CrownTM stent, an improvement to the original Palmaz-Schatz stent, for Johnson & Johnson, the iBOTTM mobility device, and the Segway® Human Transporter.
Kamen has received many awards for his efforts. Notably, Kamen was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000. Presented by President Clinton, this award was in recognition for inventions that have advanced medical care worldwide, and for innovative and imaginative leadership in awakening America to the excitement of science and technology. Kamen was also awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005.
In addition to DEKA, one of Kamen's proudest accomplishments is founding FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization dedicated to motivating the next generation to understand, use, and enjoy science and technology.
Source: http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/bio/dean-l-kamen
Who Is Woodie Flowers?
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Dr. Woodie Flowers is the Pappalardo Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Distinguished Partner at Olin College. Dr. Flowers participates in the design of the FIRST Robotics Competition game each year. He has served as a National Advisor to FIRST since the inception of the FIRST Robotics Competition.
Dr. Flowers helped create MIT's renowned course "Introduction to Design." He also received national recognition in his role as host for the PBS television series Scientific American Frontiers from 1990 to 1993 and received a New England EMMY Award for a special PBS program on design. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He recently received The Joel and Ruth Spria Outstanding Design Educator Award from ASME, a Public Service Medal from NASA, and a Doctor Honoris Causa from Andreas Bello University in Chile. He is a MacVicar Faculty Fellow at MIT for extraordinary contributions to undergraduate education. He was also the Inaugural Recipient of the Woodie Flowers Award by FIRST. Currently, Dr. Flowers is a director of three companies. He and his wife Margaret live in Weston, Massachusetts. Source: FIRST http://www.firstinspires.org/about/leadership/dr-woodie-flowers |
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