Robotics Programs

FIRST® LEGO® League introduces young people aged 4 to 16 (grades PreK-8) to the fun and excitement of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Teams composed of up to ten children with at least two screened Lead Coaches can be associated with a pre-existing club or organization, homeschooled, or just be a group of friends who wish to do something awesome.

FIRST LEGO League Discover - PreK - Grade 1:

For children ages 4-6, this playful introductory STEM program ignites their natural curiosity and builds their habits of learning with hands-on activities in the classroom and at home using LEGO® Duplo bricks.

FIRST LEGO League Explore - Grades 2-4:

In Explore, teams of students ages 6-10 focus on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design and code and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by LEGO Education WeDo 2.0.

FIRST LEGO League Challenge - Grades 4-8:

Friendly competition is at the heart of Challenge, as teams of students ages 9-16 engage in research, problem-solving, coding and engineering – building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. As part of Challenge, teams also participate in a research project to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem.

FIRST's FTC and FRC programs allow older students to utilize and advance their knowledge of STEM through team-based activities and competitions.

Since both competitions require a wide variety of skill sets, all students are welcome to join! FIRST reports that the programs' benefits inclue opening scholarship opportunities, increase the desire to attend college, and boost teamwork skills.

FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC):

FIRST Tech Challenge students learn to think like engineers. Teams design, build, and code robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams. Robots are built from a reusable platform, powered by Android technology, and can be coded using a variety of levels of Java-based programming.

FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC):

Under strict rules and limited time and resources, teams of high school students are challenged to build industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game in alliance with other teams, while also fundraising to meet their goals, designing a team “brand,” and advancing respect and appreciation for STEM within the local community.