Welcome to the official Illinois FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) web site!
Here you will find all the information you need about FRC in Illinois (& northwest Indiana), including team information, how to participate, and details about the Midwest Regional held in Chicago.
Hot News
Click here to see a written description of this year's game, Breakaway.
Click here to see Animation describiing this year's game, Breakaway.
Clothing is available for the Midwest Regional. Click here for details.
FIRST - For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology
The FIRST Robotics Competition challenges teams of young people and their mentors to solve a common problem in a six-week timeframe using a standard "kit of parts" and a common set of rules. Teams build robots from the parts and other materials and enter them in a series of competitions designed by Dean Kamen, Woodie Flowers, and a committee of engineers and other professionals.
In 1992, the first robotics competition was held in a New Hampshire high school gym, with 28 teams participating in the game, "Maize Craze." Now, the competition involves more than 1,800 teams competing in 44 Regional Events, and The Championship held at the Georgia Dome and World Congress Center in Atlanta where almost 20,000 people participate.
FIRST redefines winning for these students. Teams are rewarded for excellence in design, demonstrated team spirit, gracious professionalism and maturity, and ability to overcome obstacles. Scoring the most points is a secondary goal. Winning means building partnerships that last.
  
More Info about the FRC Midwest Regional and FIRST:
The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Midwest Regional is an intense three-day competition showcasing robots developed and operated by dozens of high school teams from all over the world. The Midwest Regional was first held in 1997 at Harper Community College in Palatine, Illinois with 38 teams attending. Since that time it has grown to be one of the most competitive regionals in the country, with many of its winners going on to win the Championship Event. It is now held in Chicago at the UIC Pavilion. The Midwest Regional's goal 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.
The FIRST Robotics Competition is a multi-national competition that teams up science and engineering professionals with young people 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. It reaches more than 30,000 students on over 1,800 teams in 44 regional competitions. The teams come from multiple countries including Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Great Britain, Israel, Turkey and almost every U.S. state. The competitions are high-tech spectator sporting events, the result of lots of focused brainstorming, real-world teamwork, dedicated mentoring, project timelines, and deadlines.
Colleges, universities, corporations, businesses, and individuals provide scholarships to our participants. Involved engineers experience again many of the reasons they chose engineering as a profession, and the companies they work for contribute to the community while they prepare and create their future workforce. The competition shows students that the technological fields hold many opportunities and that the basic concepts of science, math, engineering, and invention are exciting and interesting.
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
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