More than 18,000 students from around the globe traveled to St. Louis, Mo., to put their engineering skills to the test at the annual FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championship.

The four-day event came down to a heart-pounding conclusion Saturday night in front of a roaring crowd of more than 40,000 when four teams from League City, Texas, and Davis, Clovis, and Palmdale, California of the Newton Subdivision won the coveted FIRST® Robotics Competition Championship Winning Alliance.

In all, over 18,000 students, ages 6 to 18, participated in the Championship events. Among the participants, many U.S. and international FIRST student robotics teams earned honors for design excellence, competitive play, research, business plans, website design, teamwork, and partnerships.

In St. Louis, more than 900 teams from 40 countries competed in the four FIRST programs: FIRST® LEGO® League; FIRST® Tech Challenge; and FIRST® Robotics Competition. In addition to the high-energy robotics matches, 60 teams of 6 to 9-year-olds participated in the Junior FIRST® LEGO® League World Festival Expo.


Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org. 

The content & opinions in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of RoboticsTomorrow

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