So many of us here at GitHub have benefited from early exposure to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics that we’re always looking for ways to help young people develop a genuine interest in technical fields.

We can’t think of a better (or more fun) way to help inspire a life-long love of science than to encourage students to experiment with robotics. That’s why we’re proud to be a sponsor of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).

FIRST Robotics Competition

Every year, FIRST brings together coaches, industry mentors, and volunteers to help students from all over the world learn by building robots. Its oldest program, the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), is geared towards high school students. In 2014, over 50,000 students on more than 2,000 teams participated in FRC.

This year’s competition had teams build robots that could transport balls and score goals, with the assistance of a human player. We traveled to St. Louis, MO, for the world championship and made a video about the competition:

FIRST Robotics on GitHub

GitHub supports FIRST to help give students and teachers first-hand experience with software development tools used in the industry. Individual teams host their sites with GitHub Pages, students collaborate on control and vision code across teams, mentors teach code review, teams release applications for scouting, and at least one team (@iLiteRobotics) has released 3D models of all of their robot parts.

Here are just a few examples of how FIRST teams are using GitHub:

GitHub Pages Sites

Code on GitHub

3D Models

Get involved with FIRST

FIRST is a team effort. Coaches, industry mentors, and volunteers are all essential to the continued success of the organization. Here are some ways that you can get involved:

Individuals

Organizations

  • Encourage your employees to volunteer and mentor.
  • Sponsor a local team, especially the teams your employees volunteer with.
  • Offer a scholarship to participants.
  • Become a kit of parts supplier.