| FIRST Championship Event | |
| Dates run | (for 2011) April 27 – April 30 |
| Nations | ~60 nations Large presence by the United States, Canada, Mexico, Israel and Brazil |
| Venue | Edward Jones Dome |
| Location | St. Louis, Missouri, United States |
FIRST Championship is a two-and-a-half-day robotics championship held annually in April. For several years, the event was held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, but beginning in 2011, and at least through 2013, it will be held at the Edward Jones Dome, in St Louis, Missouri. The event comprises three competitions, FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Championship, FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) World Championship, and FIRST LEGO League (FLL) World Festival.[1] FIRST Championship is normally held in conjunction with FIRST Robotics Conference which covers a wide variety of topics in science, technology, engineering, and robotics fields.[2]
FRC is a six-week competition program for high-school students to build 100 to 120 pound robots that can complete a task that changes every year using standard set of parts. FTC is a mid-level competition program for high-school aged students with a more accessible and affordable robotics kit. FLL is a competition program for elementary and middle school students. Teams for each program complete in tournaments at state and regional level. The winning teams from those tournaments join the global competition at FIRST Championship.
The 2011 championship was also host to the Collegiate Aerial Robotics Demonstration, a pilot collegiate FIRST program.
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FRC Championship is the final and largest event of FRC. In 2009, there were 348 teams globally that joined the competition.[6] The theme for 2009 was Lunacy to test robots' ability to pick up 9" game balls and score them in trailers hitched to their opponents` robots on a low-friction floor.
There are many awards in the Championship including Championship Finalists, Engineering Inspiration Award, Division Champions, Autodesk Visualization Award, Autodesk Inventor Award, Chrysler Team Spirit Award, Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology" Award, General Motors Industrial Design Award, Johnson & Johnson Gracious Professionalism Award, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award, Motorola Quality Award, Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award, Underwriters Laboratories Industrial Safety Award, Xerox Creativity Award, Imagery Award, Rookie All-star Award, Rookie Inspiration Award, Website Award and Judges` Awards. The most notable awards are Championship Award, and Chairman's Award – the highest honor that recognizes the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate.[7]
| Year / Theme | Award name | Team name | Team number | City, State/Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 / Logomotion | Championship Winner #1 | The Cheesy Poofs (Bellarmine College Preparatory) | 254 | San Jose, CA, USA |
| 2011 / Logomotion | Championship Winner #2 | WildStang (Rolling Meadows High School & Wheeling High School) | 111 | Schaumburg, IL, USA |
| 2011 / Logomotion | Championship Winner #3 | Greybots (Atascadero High School) | 973 | Atascadero, CA, USA |
| 2011 / Logomotion | Chairman's Award | The Hawaiian Kids (Waialua High School) | 359 | Waialua, HI, USA |
| 2010 / Breakaway | Championship Winner #1 | Beach Cities Robotics (Mira Costa High School & Redondo Union High School) | 294 | Redondo Beach, CA, USA |
| 2010 / Breakaway | Championship Winner #2 | The HOT Team (Huron Valley Schools) | 67 | Milford, MI, USA |
| 2010 / Breakaway | Championship Winner #3 | Bobcat Robotics | 177 | South Windsor, CT, USA |
| 2010 / Breakaway | Chairman's Award | Miss Daisy (Wissahickon High School) | 341 | Ambler, PA, USA |
| 2009 / Lunacy[7][8] | Championship Winner #1 | WildStang (Rolling Meadows High School & Wheeling High School) | 111 | Schaumburg, IL, USA |
| 2009 / Lunacy | Championship Winner #2 | The HOT Team (Huron Valley Schools) | 67 | Milford, MI, USA |
| 2009 / Lunacy | Championship Winner #3 | Spartan Robotics (Mountain View High School) | 971 | Mountain View, CA, USA |
| 2009 / Lunacy | Chairman's Award | Techno Ticks (Lyme-Old Lyme High School) | 236 | Old Lyme, CT, USA |
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.
In 2009, the theme for the championship was Face Off!. It combined many real-world challenges, such as navigating uneven surfaces, manipulating odd-shaped objects, using sensors to determine the environment, and withstanding physical stress. The awards include World Championship Finalists, FTC Design Award, FTC Connect Award, FTC Innovate Award, FTC Motivate Award, FTC Think Award and Judges' Awards. The most notable awards are FTC Winning Alliance and FTC World Championship Inspire Award.[7]
| Year / Theme | Award name | Team name | Team number | City, State/Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 / Get Over It![9] | Winning Alliance Team | SD30 Robotics | 178 | Ronan, MT, USA |
| 2011 / Get Over It! | Winning Alliance Team | Wreckers | 577 | Westport, CT, USA |
| 2011 / Get Over It! | Winning Alliance Team | MITibot | 2875 | Lexington, MA, USA |
| 2011 / Get Over It! | FTC World Championship Inspire Award | Robots and Brain Bots Inc. | 4466 | Waltham, MA, USA |
| 2010 / Hot Shot![10] | Winning Alliance Team | Smoke and Mirrors | 2868 | Lakeland, FL, USA |
| 2010 / Hot Shot! | Winning Alliance Team | Under the Son | 2843 | Hollywood, MD, USA |
| 2010 / Hot Shot! | Winning Alliance Team | GForce | 3864 | Aiken, SC, USA |
| 2010 / Hot Shot! | FTC World Championship Inspire Award | Rock ‘n Roll Robots | 25 | Arcadia, CA, USA |
| 2009 / Face Off![11] | Winning Alliance Team | Jr. Bomb Squad | 92 | Mountain Home, AR, USA |
| 2009 / Face Off! | Winning Alliance Team | RoboRaiders | 679 | Sandy Springs, GA, USA |
| 2009 / Face Off! | Winning Alliance Team | Alberta Longhorns | 2820 | Calgary, Alberta |
| 2009 / Face Off![7] | FTC World Championship Inspire Award | Einstein's Daughters | 32 | San Diego, CA, USA |
| 2008 / Quad Quandary[8] | Winning Alliance Team | Mr. T | 30 | Montville, NJ, USA |
| 2008 / Quad Quandary | Winning Alliance Team | Team Overdrive | 74 | Bridgewater, NJ, USA |
| 2008 / Quad Quandary | Winning Alliance Team | Beach Cities Robotics | 23 | Redondo Beach, CA, USA |
| 2008 / Quad Quandary | FTC World Championship Inspire Award | Panteras | 801 | Mexico City, Mexico |
The top competitions in FLL program are FLL Open Championships 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 for 2008 season in Tokyo, Japan. However, it was not active for 2009.[12]
FLL World Festival is hosted and managed by FIRST. The teams are often the Champion’s Award team at the regional 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.[7]
| Year / Theme | Award name | Team name | Team number | City, State/Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 / Body Forward[9] | Championship Winner - 1st Place | The Sentinels | 3663 | Oakville, ON, Canada |
| 2011 / Body Forward | Championship Winner - 2nd Place | SAP g33k$ | 13300 | Mpumalanga, South Africa |
| 2011 / Body Forward | Championship Winner - 3rd Place | Hammerheads | 4129 | Umatilla, FL, USA |
| 2011 / Body Forward | Robot Performance Award | Hammerheads | 4129 | Umatilla, FL, USA |
| 2010 / Smart Move | Championship Winner - 3rd Place | Cougars | ??? | Columbus, OH, USA |
| 2009 / Climate Connections[13] | Championship Winner - 1st Place | Da Peeps | 55 | Swartz Creek, MI, USA |
| 2009 / Climate Connections | Championship Winner - 2nd Place | STEELE | 1232 | Illinois, USA |
| 2009 / Climate Connections | Championship Winner - 3rd Place | NXT Generation | 9201 | Nordborg, Denmark |
| 2009 / Climate Connections | Robot Performance Award - 1st Place | Emerotecos | 8004 | Brazil |
| 2009 / Climate Connections | Robot Performance Award - 2nd Place | Team Singapore | 8254 | Singapore |
| 2009 / Climate Connections | Robot Performance Award - 3rd Place | Giant Panda | 8060 | China |
| 2008 / Power Puzzle[14] | Championship Winner - 1st Place | External Fusion | 8095 | Singapore |
| 2008 / Power Puzzle | Championship Winner - 2nd Place | Pixelation | 2560 | North Branch, MN, USA |
| 2008 / Power Puzzle | Championship Winner - 3rd Place | Power Peeps | 334 | Swartz Creek, MI, USA |
| 2008 / Power Puzzle | Robot Performance Award - 1st Place | BLACK OCEAN CURRENT | 8110 | Kaohsiung, Taiwan |
| 2008 / Power Puzzle | Robot Performance Award - 1st Place | Green Man Group | 1 | Windham, NH, USA |
| 2008 / Power Puzzle | Robot Performance Award - 3rd Place | Landroids | 2254 | Livingston, NJ, USA |
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