Retired Engineer & Educator

FIRST Robotics has no connections to BEST Robotics. The two competitions are very different, from scale of the project to team size. FIRST allows for varied size teams (15-100) and pairs students with technology professionals, especially engineers, and others to provide inspiration for technology careers. A team can be operated as a school course, or an off-site club. Some teams offer observational experiences, while others require students to do the hands-on design, fabrication and construction work.

Both have competitions. I recall a student on FIRST Team 250 who had come to New York from Georgia where his school did BEST Robotics. He described it as BEST being on a much smaller scale, 2-3 kids per team, and smaller less intense competitions. Someone else out there can probably give a better overview of BEST Robotics than I have.

FIRST competitions are every bit as exciting as the most charged sporting event. Students in FIRST learn an incredible amount, and not just in the technical realm. Because of the tangential areas that FIRST also ventures into, students develop the soft skills needed in the business world through their FIRST involvement.

Over the next 8 weeks there will be 42 regional FIRST events occuring around the US and in Canada, Brazil, Great Britain, Ecuador, and Israel. They're open to the public so check out the FIRST website to find out if one is in your area http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/default.aspx?id=966.

Obviously I favor FIRST, but anything that gets kids thinking about technology and engineering, and prompts them to use math and science is to be applauded.