DriveWorks Sponsors FIRST® Robotics for 4th Year Running
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 rigors 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.
The 2023 competition was announced earlier this year, and we are pleased to be sponsoring this year’s competition again.
FIRST® Robotics 2023 Season
The FIRST® Robotics 2023 Season has been launched. This year, the competition is sponsored by HAAS.
In the Charged Up challenge, FIRST® Robotics Competition teams will unlock the power of engineering to transform renewable energy and power a better future.
Check out this preview of the FRC 2023 Season – Charged Up.
Watch the season kick off on January 7, 2023, for the game reveal.
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 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 have access to DriveWorksXpress, included free inside every seat of SOLIDWORKS.
By using DriveWorksXpress, students can 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, but they’re also adding to their CAD skills.
Investing in the future and supporting STEM is very important to us. We launched our free 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 for another year, supporting teams with useful resources, learning opportunities and helping them gain new skills.
How Can FIRST® Teams Get Access to DriveWorks Software?
All FIRST® Robotics Competition Teams using SOLIDWORKS 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 program 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.