A global robotics community dedicated to advancing STEM education and preparing youth for the future,  FIRST^® offers robotics programs designed to help participants build confidence, resilience, and skills. They offer several hands-on STEM programs for every age. FTC is an acronym for the FIRST^® Technical Challenge. This program targets students in grades 7 to 12 in the age range of 12 years old to 18 years old. This is the mid-level program. The FIRST^® LEGO^® League serves students from PreK to 8th grade and the FIRST^® Robotics Competition is a more advanced program for students in grades 9 to 12.

See FTC in Action!

If you are curious about FTC and want to learn more, now is a great time to check it out! The 2024 FIRST^® Championship presented by BAE Systems is happening Wednesday, April 17th through Saturday, April 20th. You can stream the robot matches on FIRSTtv across Twitch channels throughout the competition—a perfect opportunity to see top competitors in action for the event. Keep in mind each year there is a new season theme and the details of games the competition changes every year.  The reveal of the 2024-2025 FIRST^® season is coming soon on April 20 at 1:00 p.m. ET. Follow FIRST^® on social media to learn more.

About the FIRST^® Technical Challenge

The FIRST^® Technical Challenge is about much more than building robots. This program gives students in grades 7 to 12 the opportunity to learn how engineers think and build critical soft skills. Students are part of a team. Every team must design, build, and program their robots to compete in competitions. Yet, you don’t need to be technical to participate. Teams embrace both technical and non-technical skills at all levels. Skills like programming, metalworking, electronics, public speaking, graphic design, videography, and web creation are all useful for this program. As are skills in project management, creative problem-solving, team building, and leadership. This is a place to learn skills, be supported, and grow your confidence.

More Than Robots^®

At the competitions, teams pair up into alliances to compete against other teams. Your alliance partner in one round could be your competition in the next. This is very important because this program is about More Than Robots^®, guiding participants by FIRST philosophies of Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition to build a better future. The Core Values of FIRST include discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork, and fun.

Program Details

The robots are constructed from a reusable platform. Coding can be done using a variety of levels of Java-based programming. In North America, the FIRST Technical Challenge program is a full year. Registration begins in May and the World Championship finale takes place in April. The competition kick-off takes place in September. After kick-off, the build and practice season begins. Qualifying competitions start as early as October.

Getting Started

• Want to start a FTC team?
  This helpful guide tells you everything you need to know about getting your FIRST^® Technical Challenge team started.
• Want to join a team? Search for teams in your area.

Training for FTC

There are a variety of solutions available designed to prepare teams for the FTC season. The FTC Starter Kit and the FTC Drive Base Kit are available from Studica Robotics. Studica Robotics offers a comprehensive robotics building platform for STEM education and robotics competitions. Components are designed for effortless integration, durability, and safety, with a wide range of robot parts, electronics, and kits, providing everything you need to build, learn, and compete.