A GLOBAL ROBOTICS COMMUNITY PREPARING YOUNG PEOPLE FOR THE FUTURE
We Are the World's Leading Youth-Serving Nonprofit Advancing STEM Education
Founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen, FIRST® is a global nonprofit organization that prepares young people for the future through a suite of life-changing youth robotics programs that build skills, confidence, and resilience.
FIRST® IN SHOWSM presented by Qualcomm
Bring STEM inspiration, holistic skill building, and fun to your classroom or after-school learning environment with collaborative problem solving during our arts-themed 2023-2024 robotics season.
Inspiring Generations of Global Citizens
668K+ students participated in the 2022-2023 season
There are FIRST teams in 100+ countries.
81% of FIRST alumni declare majors in STEM by their fourth year of college
83% of FIRST alumni have confidence to take leadership roles in school
Hear from the FIRST Community
Parents
Students
Educators
Volunteers
Educators
"I'm a firm believer in FIRST — it boosts confidence, builds collaborative skills, and is hands-on. It takes the best of pedagogy, and best practices in education, and brings it all together."
- Urvi Shah, Director of Educational Technology and Innovation
Volunteers
"It doesn't matter what you can or can't do. Come! We can certainly use you."
- Phil Salazarz, FIRST Event Volunteer
A Suite of Hands-On STEM Programs for Every Age
Project-based, hands-on FIRST programs introduce students to engineering and coding in engaging, inclusive, and creative learning environments, where students work collaboratively to solve themed robotics challenges.
Because our programs are More Than Robots®, participants are guided by FIRST Core Values to build a better future.
FIRST® LEGO® League introduces STEM to children ages 4-16* through fun, exciting hands-on learning. Participants gain real-world problem-solving experiences through a guided, global robotics program, helping today’s students and teachers build a better future together. FIRST LEGO League’s three divisions inspire youth to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding, and design skills through hands-on STEM learning and robotics.
*ages and grades vary by country
FIRST® Tech Challenge students learn to think like engineers. Teams design, build, and program robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams. Robots are built from a reusable platform, powered by android technology, and can be coded using a variety of levels of Java-based programming.
FIRST® Robotics Competition teams design, program, and build a robot starting with a standard kit of parts and common set of rules to play in a themed head-to-head challenge. Teams also build a brand, develop community partnerships for support, and work to promote STEM in their local community.
FIRST ® & Qualcomm: A Pioneering Partnership to Inspire Young Innovators
Qualcomm Incorporated
FIRST Strategic Partner
It’s a future understood by two like-minded organizations: Today’s students will be the drivers of tomorrow’s breakthroughs. Together, FIRST ® and Qualcomm IncorporatedTM are...
FIRST inspires students to be forces for change in their communities
FIRST ® RISESM powered by
Star Wars: Force for Change Season Teams
Star Wars actors Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran, and Oscar Isaac highlighted a few of the FIRST® teams tackling challenges raised by the COVID-19 pandemic in a video message to the ...
FIRST Updates
Stay up to date on the latest events and conversations in the FIRST community.