Welcome to the official Illinois (and Northwest Indiana) FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) web site!
Here you will find all the information you need about FRC in Illinois (and Northwest Indiana), including team information, how to participate, and details about the Midwest Regional held in Chicago.
Hot News!
2012 MIDWEST REGIONAL • MARCH 22-24
UIC Pavilion • Chicago, Illinois
To read about the 2012 Game Challenge REBOUND Rumble, click here - Game Description.
To see how the game is played, click here - Game Animation.
The FIRST Robotics Competition Midwest Regional is an international intense three-day event showcasing robots developed and operated by teams of high school students. In 1997, Motorola sponsored the very first FRC regional event held outside of New England at Harper Community College in Palatine. With the growth of FIRST FRC Robotics in Illinois, the scope of the event increased, and in 2000, the regional moved to Northwestern University in Evanston. In 2005, due to continued growth and popularity, the Midwest Regional moved to its current location at the University of Illinois Chicago - UIC Pavilion. The MWR has become one of the most competitive regionals in the country, with many of its winners going on to win the World Championship Title. This year 53 FRC teams from seven different states and as far away as Mexico City will be competing in REBOUND Rumble.
The main goal of the Midwest Regional is to show that science and engineering can be exciting and fun by providing a spectator-friendly competition environment that has the feel of both a major sporting event and a rock concert, complete with special lighting, music, a large video wall, and energetic announcers. The Midwest Regional, like all FIRST Robotics Competition events, is free and open to the public! If you do plan to attend, please remember to bring along a pair of safety glasses if you wish to walk around in the pit area. Our team members, volunteers, and staff are very friendly and will be happy to answer your questions or explain the game.
More information about the Midwest Regional can be found on the Midwest Regional info page here.
FRC - FIRST Robotics Competition
The FIRST Robotics Competition is a multi-national competition that teams up science and engineering professionals with high-school students (grades 9-12) to solve an engineering design problem in an intense and competitive way. The program is a life-changing, career-molding experience and a lot of fun. FRC reaches more than 60,000 students participating on over 2,300 teams in 52 regional competitions and 19 qualifying events. Not only can FIRST FRC teams be found in almost every U.S. State, they can also be found world-wide, originating from such countries as Canada, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Great Britain, Germany, Israel, Turkey, and China. The competitions are high-tech spectator sporting events, played on fields that are the size of a half-court of basketball and are the result of lots of focused brainstorming, real-world teamwork, dedicated mentoring, project timelines and deadlines.
Each year the new FRC season officially begins with a Kickoff Event (first Saturday of January) announcing the game challenge for the year. Using a standard "Kit of Parts", a common set of rules and working alongside professional engineers and other adult mentors, the teams now have 6 weeks to design, build and program a robot (up to 5 feet tall and 120 pounds) to complete the game tasks both independent of direct driver control, and with the use of a wireless control. After the universal “Stop Build Day”, the robot is "bagged and tagged", not to be opened until the competition for which the team has registered begins.
At the competitions, FIRST redefines winning for these students. Teams receive awards not only for their robot performance in the game, but also for their performance in such areas as excellence in design, demonstrated team spirit, gracious professionalism, business plan creation, safety, web site development, ability to overcome obstacles, etc. Scoring the most points is a secondary goal. Winning means building partnerships that last. Teams who are Regional Winners earn the right to compete in the World Championship Event, which takes place in April at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
“When I was at the Championship last year, I knew you understood it wasn’t just about winning the competition. It’s about building for the future. Creating a community that makes our world a better place through advances in technology and innovation. And we can only do that if we build the jobs and industries of the future with a workforce that’s capable in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. You are the workforce to that future economy.”
- Aneesh Chopra, Chief Technology Officer of the United States - 2012 FIRST FRC Kickoff
Watch the 2012 Season Kickoff Video
FIRST - For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology
The FIRST FRC program was founded by inventor Dean Kamen to inspire America’s young people to pursue future careers in science and technology by creating the same levels of fun, recognition, and celebration that students experience from participating on major high school athletic teams.
FIRST is truly a unique "high-energy varsity sport for the mind." Recognizing the need in our society for this type of program, more emphasis on STEM and STEM related educational program activities, the FIRST FRC program has attracted the involvement of national community organization such as 4-H, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts and various after-school program groups. NASA has a long history of sponsorship commitment to FRC teams. Baxter, Motorola Solutions, Catepillar, Google, Boeing, PTC, Abbott Labs, Rockwell-Collins, Xerox, Lockheed-Martin and jcpenney are among the corporate sponsors. President Obama is a strong advocate, visiting with many of the teams, inviting some to the White House and introducing the "i.am.FIRST" TV special that aired on ABC in August 2011. Celebrity supporters such as will.i.am and Morgan Freeman have helped to communicate the message of FIRST nationwide. Various universities, technical institutes, foundations, etc show their support of FIRST by offering students in the program close to $18 million in college scholarship opportunities.
This year FRC is entering into its 21st season, having grown from 28 teams in 1989, to almost 2,400 teams worldwide today. In Illinois, FIRST FRC teams span the State from as far North as Gurnee and Rockford, to Alton and Quincy in the West, Mt. Vernon in the South and Champain-Urbana in the East, as well as being located in metropolitan areas such as Springfield, Bloomington, Peoria, Chicago with its surronding suburbs and several university/college towns. For the 2012 season Illinois has seen over a 23% increase in the number of FRC teams, bringing the total number of teams in the State to fifty-six.
FIRST is a volunteer run organization that gets its support from contributions to individual teams and events by way of financial or personal time donations. If you are interested in more information about supporting a FIRST team or an event, click here or send us an email at contact@ilfirst.org.
 
Highlights from the 2011 Midwest Regional
The 2011 FIRST Robotics Midwest Regional was held on March 24 - 26, 2011 at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. Last year's game was called LOGO MOTION in honor of our founder Dean Kamen's father and in celebration of FIRST's 20-year anniversary. Teams from the East, the South, and even as far as Istanbul, Turkey came to Chicago to join us Midwesterners for the Regional. The competition was fierce, fast and great fun! Enjoy the video!
Click here to see a written description of last year's game, LOGO MOTION.
Click here to see Animation describing last year's game, LOGO MOTION.
Congratulations to the 2011 Winning Alliance!
#111- WildStang from Schaumburg, IL
#118 - The Robonauts from League City, TX
#3494 - The Quadrangles from Bloomington, IN
And Congratulations to the 2011 Chairman's Award Winner!
#1675 - The Ultimate Protection Squad from Milwaukee, WI
For a listing of all the 2011 Midwest Regional award winners click here.
Special Congratulations Go Out to Our Very Own 2011 World Champion!
#111 - WildStang
    
Teams in the News!
Here you can see some of the newspaper articles and blogs written about FIRST, the 2011 Midwest Regional and some of our local teams.
Team #3595 Octagon Robotics & Massive Attack - (Chicago Sun-Times) http://www.suntimes.com/photos/galleries/4490930-452/octagon-robotics-duo-get-students-excited-about-engineering.html
Coopetition - (Post-Tribune) http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/neighbors/dittmann/4453999-452/coopetition-in-practice.html
Team #111 - WildStang (Daily Herald) http://dailyherald.com/article/20110329/news/703299767/
Team #1739 - Chicago Knights - (Sports Techy) http://sports.tmcnet.com/news/2011/03/11/5372004.htm
Team #71 - Hammond (NWI Times) http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/hammond/article_b053d6bf-8ca1-5595-9ecb-a6d2ede8eed0.html
FIRST Robotics Competition (Tanagram Partners blog) http://spill.tanagram.com/2011/03/29/what-you-should-know-about-the-first-robotics-competition/
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