The FIRST Tech Challenge is more than a high school robotics program. It is a community focused on building a better world for tomorrow by engaging high school students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). FTC is about teaching students the value of hard work, innovation, and creativity. It goes beyond the competition by teaching teenagers about the importance of working together, sharing ideas, and treating each other with respect and dignity.
When a student joins an FTC team, they join a global community of students who are interested in using technology to build a better world tomorrow. There are over 20,000 students from around the globe who design and build robots to compete against one another in competition. They compete locally to earn their way to the annual FTC World Championship!
FTC Teams are comprised of about 10 students (no more than 15) ages 12-18 (Grades 7-12) along with 2 or 3 mentors who use a modular robotics platform to conceive, build, and compete in a FIRST-designed game. They design, build, and program robots, get hands-on programming and rapid-prototyping experience, apply real-world math and science concepts, document the engineering process, and develop problem-solving, organizational, and team-building skills. Teams come from schools, home schools, after-school groups, churches, civic organizations, and neighborhood groups.
FLL graduates founded this central Illinois team in 2011. As rookies, they won the Illinois Championship Inspire award. During the 2012 season, team 5202 were Inspire award finalists at two state championships. They also helped host Decatur’s first FLL tournament, and designed and built mecanum wheels for their robot. Connection, innovation, and coopertition are team hallmarks. Major sponsors include Caterpillar, Inc., 4-H, and a 2012 Allstate grant.
In 4 years the Beastie Bots have earn three trips to Nationals and won numerous awards. Illinois State Champion 2013 and 2011-Alliance Leader. 2012 Indiana Champions-Lead Alliance, 2012 Wisconsin Winning Alliance, 3rd place finish at Worlds 2012 and 2011. We are based at Highland Park High School
Octopi, FTC team 6007, was a rookie team for the 2012 season. Their first season included many successes, such as being on the finalist alliance at Indiana State and the winning alliance at Illinois State. Octopi is currently the only FTC team in their county, and they are working to inspire other local students to form their own teams. Octopi has really enjoyed their FTC experience and they are excited for their next great year. Sponsors of Octopi include Motorola Solutions, Inc. and AptarGroup, Inc.
FIRST Illinois Robotics
First Lego League Jr
FIRST LEGO League
First Tech Challenge
First Robotics Competition
