FIRST Tech Challenge

FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), formerly known as FIRST TECH Challenge, is a robotics competition for students in grades 7–12 to compete head to head, by designing, building, and programming a robot to compete in an alliance format against other teams. FIRST Tech Challenge is one of the 3 major robotics programs organized by FIRST, which its other 2 programs include FIRST Lego League, and FIRST Robotics Competition. The competition consists of local qualifiers, regional championships and the world championship, the FIRST Championship, and in every season, a kickoff is held to showcase the season's theme and game. After kickoff, robots are designed, built, and programmed by teams, and teams are encouraged to conduct outreach with their communities. Local qualifiers are held for teams to compete and qualify for regional championships, and from that point, regional championships are held for teams to qualify for the world championship. The robot kit is Android-based, and it is programmed using Java, Kotlin, the Blocks programming interface created with Blockly, or other Android programming systems. Teams, with the guidance of coaches, mentors and volunteers, are required to develop strategy and build robots based on innovative, sound engineering principles. Awards are given for robot performance as well as for community outreach, design, and other real-world accomplishments.