FIRST® is a not-for-profit public charity working to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology.
The charity designs accessible, innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math, while building self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills.
It inspires them to become leaders and innovators, and enhance their 21st-century work-life skills.
The exciting mentor-based programs foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.
The FIRST® Robotics Competition
One of the programs run by FIRST® is the FIRST® Robotics Competition. Combining the excitement of sport with the rigours of science and technology, the FIRST® Robotics Competition is the ultimate Sport for the Mind. High-school student participants call it “the hardest fun you’ll ever have”.
Under strict rules, limited time and resources, teams of students are challenged to raise funds, design a team “brand,” hone teamwork skills, and build and program industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game against like-minded competitors.
It’s as close to real-world engineering as a student can get. Volunteer professional mentors lend their time and talents to guide each team. Each season ends with an exciting FIRST® Championship.
Earlier this month, the 2022 competition was announced and we are pleased to be sponsoring this year’s competition again.
FIRST® Robotics 2022 Season
The First Robotics Season 2022 has been launched. This year, the competition is sponsored by The Boeing Company.
This year, in RAPID REACT teams must use innovative engineering, creative thinking, and teamwork to reimagine the future of safe, high-speed travel, and lightning-fast deliveries to propel the next evolution of transportation forward.
Working with adult mentors, students have a limited time to design, build, program, and test their robots to meet the season’s engineering challenge. Once these young inventors build a robot, their teams will participate in one or more of the 159 Regional and District events around the world that measure the effectiveness of each robot, the power of collaboration, and the determination of students.
How are we supporting FIRST®?
To create their robots, teams can request a variety of resources from the network of FIRST® sponsors.
SOLIDWORKS® are a sponsor of the program, providing access to a dozen SOLIDWORKS® products, tutorials and a Kit of Parts, which they can use to create quick assemblies and models of their robots.
With their SOLIDWORKS® licenses, FIRST® Robotics Competition teams also had access to DriveWorksXpress, included free inside every seat of SOLIDWORKS.
By using DriveWorksXpress, students are able to automate parts of their robot design to save time and reduce errors.
Improving Skills & Gaining Knowledge
Not only are they improving their robot and the team’s performance, they’re also adding to their CAD skills.
Investing in the future and supporting STEM is very important to us. We launched our DriveWorksXpress Training & Certification Program to help students learn the design automation skills they need and gain a certification to prove their knowledge and skills.
Taking Automation Further
We want to help even more students learn extra skills that will help them in future STEM careers, so we are also a FIRST® Robotics Competition Sponsor.
As part of the FIRST® Robotics Supplier Sponsorship, FIRST® Robotics Competition Teams can request a free 12-month license of DriveWorks Solo.
Using DriveWorks Solo will help teams automate their repetitive SOLIDWORKS tasks and free up students and mentors to focus on quality robot design.
In addition to the software, students have access to resources to support their learning, including DriveWorks Solo Technical Webinars, Online Training, How-to Videos, Extensive Online Help Files and much more.
We are excited to be part of the FIRST® Robotics Competition, supporting teams with useful resources, learning opportunities and new skills.
How can FIRST® teams get support from us?
FIRST® Robotics Competition Teams can request a license of DriveWorks Solo Design Automation Software for a period of one year.
How else are we supporting STEM?
We continue to actively promote and support STEM. The DriveWorksXpress Training & Certification is available completely free to anyone who has access to SOLIDWORKS. Students and professionals can learn DriveWorksXpress and get certified in 3 easy steps.
Our team also attend events – both in person and online – to teach students about DriveWorksXpress and to inspire them to follow STEM careers.
Investing in our own team and their future is also hugely important to us. We take on placement students and graduates across multiple disciplines. Many of our students continue their careers with us and most of our team started their careers here as a student.