Get Involved With First Robotics

It’s part rock concert, part basketball championship, part NASCAR, and part Broadway.  It’s more than robots.

FIRST mentors change their students’ lives everyday. Professional engineers, teachers, mentors, volunteers, and parents team up with young adults and the resulting experience doesn’t just build robots – it builds confidence and self-respect. Students that participate in FIRST are 50 percent more likely to go to college and twice as likely to major in science and engineering. Get involved and help inspire our next generation of STEM leaders.

Open Positions

To find a team in your area click on the map below.

Interested in connecting with a team? Visit the Contact Us page!

Students

This is where it all starts. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) aspires to transform culture, making science, math, engineering, and technology as cool for kids as sports are today.

  • Learn and play with the ‘pros’ of the science and engineering world.
  • Apply math and science concepts to design, build, test and compete with robots.
  • Gain hands-on experience solving real-world problems.
  • Discover the excitement and rewards of science and technology careers.

Every student — regardless of their scientific, mathematic or technological expertise — can participate in FIRST.

You can help with:

  • Designing
  • Building
  • Programming
  • Research
  • Fundraising
  • Public Relations and Marketing

For more information on joining or starting a team in your area, please contact us.

Become a Volunteer

FIRST Indiana Robotics is truly a volunteer-driven organization. With over 300 teams state-wide, it takes a large and diverse group of volunteers to make FIRST Indiana Robotics successful: mentors and coaches guide the students on their teams, event volunteers make the seasonal events possible, and field volunteers continue to help FIRST Indiana Robotics grow season after season. Volunteers are community leaders, employees of small businesses and large corporations, teachers, parents, university students and faculty, FIRST alumni… and YOU!

Why volunteer?

  • Make a difference in the lives of young people.
  • Inspire and engage youth in hands-on
    STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) activities.
  • Network with like-minded professionals.

There are many regional and championship competitions, both official and off-season, that take place throughout the state. Every event requires 40 — 80 volunteers to make it a success. No expertise is required, just a passion to help our future leaders grow and succeed.

For more information on volunteer opportunities, please contact us.

How can you support FIRST Indiana Robotics?

Become an Event Sponsor

FIRST events are exciting and fun-filled opportunities to see youth in action, applying the knowledge and skills developed through team participation. Each event includes not only students, but also a large audience of parents, university and corporate mentors, and local leaders in business, government, education, and the media.

Local and regional events offer prominently visible opportunities to recognize the support and generosity of their sponsors.

Contact us for more information on available events and sponsorship packages.

Become a Team Sponsor

Companies can sponsor teams by providing a number of supports including funding, mentorship time and talent, volunteers, equipment, and more.

Companies that support FIRST Indiana Robotics reap many benefits, including:

  • Helping build a STEM-literate work force
  • Attracting and retaining good employees
  • Providing employee volunteer, team building, and training opportunities
  • Creating a pipeline for interns and future employees
  • Strengthening their reputation in the community

 

“Being a part of FIRST robotics as a high school student steered me towards an engineering career and helped prepare me for a professional workplace. The experiences I had as part of an FRC team in high school gave me success in similar environments at Purdue and were a strong foundation as I experienced a co-op at Toyota and ultimately began work at Rolls-Royce. As a mentor today on Team 234, I have the opportunity to develop leadership and project management skills that I can take back to the workplace. The short project timeline of FRC provides the ability to assess my leadership skills at a faster pace, and I can make changes that benefit our team and carry over to my work at Rolls-Royce.”

–Pat Hart Manufacturing Engineer Rolls-Royce

If you are interested in becoming a team sponsor, we recommend seeing what events are in your area. Attending these events with one or more of the decision makers from your company will give you the opportunity to talk to students and mentors and see the robots they build in action. We guarantee you will be impressed, amazed, and inspired to support FIRST Indiana Robotics and the youth we serve in our programs.

If you can’t find an event in your area, or have any questions about sponsoring a team, please contact us.

Individuals

Your generous donation to FIRST Indiana Robotics will help ensure thousands of students have access to the unique experiences we offer through our programs. By making your unrestricted gift to the Annual Fund, you will allow FIRST Indiana Robotics the flexibility to allocate funds where they are most needed, including to regional events, teams, and operational expenses. If you are interested in donating to FIRST Indiana Robotics, please contact us.

“I decided to try and reach my goal of becoming an Engineer through the unique opportunities presented by FIRST Robotics. I love to build and work with my hands and have learned how to use multiple tools and equipment with the added bonus of making new friends. This is a great experience for those interested in some type of Engineering.”

–Natalie Gilbert Indiana FRC Team Member

FIRST Indiana Robotics greatly appreciates the support of its sponsors, suppliers, and contributors. Please join our community of companies, colleges and universities, foundations, government agencies, professional associations, other nonprofits, and individuals working to inspire youth to pursue STEM excellence.

Stay in touch with FIRST Indiana Robotics!

FIRST Indiana Robotics would like to invite FIRST Alumni from Indiana FTC or FRC teams and FIRST alumni who have transferred into the state to join our Alumni Mailing list. There will be at least four annual emails that go out in January, May, September, and November, in addition to a confirmation email that you’re on the list.

Email Chris Osborne with your details to be included in the upcoming email blasts – cosborne@firstindianarobotics.org We are open to having an Alumni volunteer to coordinate local networking events for alumni to attend. FIRST Indiana Robotics would be happy to share details about the events via this email list, on social media, and in our team emails if the information is provided to Chris Osborne, FIRST Indiana Robotics Program Director.