FIRST Tech Challenge

The FIRST Tech Challenge (or FTC) is a robotics competition aimed at middle school and high school ages. Due to the fact that participating in the FIRST Robotics Competition costs thousands of dollars per year, FTC is a low-cost, portable alternative for schools.

The competition was renamed to FIRST Tech Challenge (aka FTC) in 2007, it was previously known as the FIRST Vex Challenge or FVC.

Origins of FTC

In 2003, Innovation First, Inc. released their Robovation kits, the forerunner of the modern Vex kits. They utilized a smaller version of the FIRST Robot Controller, to facilitate in programming and building of full size FIRST Robots.

In time, people realized that the Robovation kits would make for a cheaper version of the FIRST Robotic Competitions. Thus began the collaboration between RadioShack and Innovation First to upgrade the Robovation to a commercially viable robotic kit.

On April 17th, 2006, Innovation First announced their acquisition of the Vex Robotics Design System brand name and trademark registrations from RadioShack Corporation.

Pilot Competition

In early 2005, the Vex Robotics website was unveiled. There was widespread speculation about the new Vex robots, as the early teaser website had references to FIRST. By March 2005, FIRST had announced a new pilot Vex competition, open to 50 teams, to compete in a pilot Vex competition at the Georgia Dome, during the 2005 FIRST Championship Event. There were 53 Vex teams which competed in the pilot competition.

FIRST Tech Challenge

The FIRST Tech Challenge debuted in 2005 with the initial pilot season.