We are a robotics team that competes in the US FIRST robotics competition. We are from Timberlane Regional Highschool in Plaistow NH. Our team is made up of about 20 highschool students, and 4 highschool teachers that are the team's advisors.
Our rookie year in FIRST was the year 2000. Our coorperate sponsor that year was Johnson and Johnston Associates (JJA). That year we placed in the top ten at the UTC New England Regional Competition in Hartford, CT with our robot JJATBOT. In 2001 we unfortunately placed somwhere around 45th due to poor wheel mount construction on our robot Tantrum (a wheel fell off twice, causing us to sit out a few matches, and not score many points). In 2002 JJA was unable to sponsor us, we were forced to pull out of FIRST. However, we didn't just sit around and wait for the 2003 season. In January we found that the 2001 game and the 2002 game had similar components. We ended up modifying Tantrum so that it could compete in the 2002 game. We then competed at River Rage, an unofficial competition put on by the Manchester NH teams after the official season ended. For the 2003 season we again did not have the money to compete. Too keep the team interested they were given a challenge. The challenge was to build a robot that could open a door that had a "J" style handle, while conforming to standard FIRST regulations (with a few modified rules).
FIRST stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology". It is a robotics competition for highschoolers and engineers. Each year, FIRST teams fundraise and such during the beginning of the school year so they may pay the registration fee. They also do team training, team get-to-know-eachother events and the like. In January of each year, FIRST holds a kickoff and presents that years game, or challenge. The teams then have about 6 weeks to build a remote controlled robot that is designed to play the game. Throughout March and April about 22 regional competitions are held nationwide, and 1 more in Canada. In late April there is the National event typically held in Epcot Center in Disney World (Florida). For the 2003 season however, the Nationals are being held in Houston. After the Nationals, some teams put on their own competitions commonly referred to as "minicompetitions'. Then, when September hits, the process repeats itself.
FIRST started out in 1992 as a small competition held in a NH highschool gym. There were only about 28 teams, all from NH. Now, there are more than 800 teams. Most teams are from the US, while others come from Canada, Brazil, Germay and the UK. There are also now 23 regional events each year and 1 national event. Go to US FIRST to find out more.