Team 2202

What is FIRST?

FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and

Technology.” FIRST, founded by Dean Kamen, is committed to spreading

interest in science and technology, especially among students.

FIRST also promotes the values of gracious professionalism, teamwork, critical

thinking, and hard work. For more information on the message of FIRST, visit

http://www.firstinspires.org/.

Is this “Battle Bots?”

No. FIRST Robotics is about cooperation, friendly competition, and gracious

professionalism. We are here to promote technological interest while having

fun. If your intent is to witness some “Transformers” kind of thing,

your skills will be best committed elsewhere.

What will this year’s challenge be?

Every year, the challenge for the season will be announced on the first Saturday of

January during the FIRST Robotics kickoff. Prior to that date, no team will

know the challenge. We will meet at WCTC in January for the kick off party and watch

the live feed on this year’s challenge. As of now, we know that this year’s challenge

will be space-themed!

How often do you meet?

Before the kickoff, we meet once a week to train, prepare, organize, and perform other

important pre-season tasks. Once build season begins, we use an A/B schedule, with

half of the team meeting on Monday nights and Saturday mornings and the other half

meeting on Wednesday nights and Saturday afternoons.

How long is the build season?

The build season lasts for six weeks, beginning in early January and ending in late

February. The exact dates vary from year to year. In these six weeks, we build the

entirety of our robot, and at the end of it all, we have to bag it up. We then cannot touch

it until we arrive at a competition.

When/Where is the competition?

Over past years, BEAST Robotics has competed in the Wisconsin Regional at the UWM

Panther’s Arena in Milwaukee. We have also participated in the Lake Superior Regional

in Duluth, MN, and the Championships in Detroit, MI.

How does the robot get there?

After the robot is bagged and tagged at the end of the build season, we load

it up with the rest of our competition materials when we leave for an event!

The robot is inspected once we arrive at competition to make sure no one has

tampered with it since Stop Build.

How do you get to Nationals?

In the qualifying rounds, the robots are teamed up randomly for each game. Each

team will have three robots competing in the arena for that game. After the

qualifying rounds, the 8 best teams will choose from the other robots to form

their 3-team alliance. In the elimination rounds, the robots will play off, and

the winning alliance advances to the championships.

Another way to get to nationals is to win prestigious awards – for example,

the Chairman’s Award is given to the team that best represents the goals of FIRST.

What will I do? What jobs are available?

There is always something that needs to be done on one of our many sub-teams.

The mechanical sub-team is responsible for creating a design plan, developing prototypes,

testing ideas, and constructing the robot. The electrical sub-team wires the motors, switches,

computers, and other devices on the robot. The programming team creates code

(Java) for the robot. But it’s not only building the robot itself! Other jobs include writing a

business plan, running our social media accounts, preparing for awards, updating

the website, keeping records, and more. See our “About Us” tab for more information! 

Regardless of your interests, BEAST Robotics is likely to have a job for you!

I have more questions! Who can I ask?

For information on who to contact, visit the “Contact Us” page. You can

also send a message to info@beastrobotics.com to learn more about FIRST and

2202 BEAST Robotics.