Over 37,500 High-school Students to Compete in 41 Regional Events MANCHESTER, N.H.–(Business Wire)–FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) launched its seventeenth FIRST Robotics Competition season today with a Kickoff at outhern New Hampshire University in Manchester, NH, hometown and headquarters of FIRST. The FIRST Robotics Competition is an annual competition that helps students discover the rewards and excitement of science, engineering, and technology. Over 37,500 high-school students on more than 1,500 teams from Brazil, Canada, Chile, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, the U.K., and every state in the U.S. are participating in this year’s competition.

At the Kickoff, all teams were shown this year’s game field for the first time and received a common kit of parts made up of motors, batteries, a control system, and a mix of automation components – but no instructions. Working with mentors, students now have just six weeks to design, build, and test their robots to meet the season’s engineering challenge. Once these young inventors create the robot, their teams participate in regional competitions that measure the effectiveness of each robot, the power of collaboration, and the determination of students.