FIRST Championship Event

The FIRST World Championship is the pinnacle of the FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST Tech Challenge, and FIRST Lego League. In FRC, teams from around the world compete in one large arena in four different divisions. The location for the Championship has changed over the years; it is currently held in St. Louis, Missouri.

History

2011-2013 St. Louis, MO

On October 7th, 2009 FIRST announced that the America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis would be the site of the 2011-2013 FIRST Championships.

2004-2010 Atlanta, GA

The main event is held in the Georgia Dome, and the pits are located in the adjacent Georgia World Congress Center. The team party has been held in Centennial Olympic Park and inside the GWCC with fireworks, a hypnotist, and inflatable games as entertainment, and of course, free food for all attending team members.

2003 Houston, TX

FIRST outgrew Epcot Center, so the championship had to move to Houston. While in one sense the Epcot Center was outgrown, the primary reason for the move to Houston was bad timing – Disney had something planned for the date FIRST wanted, and the conflict could not be resolved in a timely fashion. The fields were in Reliant Stadium and the pits were in the adjacent Astrodome. The team party was held at Six Flags AstroWorld across the street.

1995-2002 Orlando, FL

After 1994, the Championship was moved to Epcot in Disney World. In 1995 and 1996, it was held in the American Pavilion (now the American Adventure Theater). In 1997 and after, it was held in the parking lot of Epcot in tents. There was one large tent for the pits and from 1997-1999, there were separate tents for each field. From 2000 to 2002, the pit tent was extended, and all the smaller fields were moved into that tent, while Einstein (the large field) remained outdoors. However, Epcot told FIRST that it could not accommodate any more teams (their pit tent already was large enough to hold 3 747’s tail to nose), and so beginning in the 2002 season, a team had to qualify to go to nationals. But despite all of that, Dean and Disney are still good friends, with Disney sponsoring a few FIRST teams, and even showing off, and renting, Segways in the parks.

1992-1994 Manchester, NH

Prior to 1995, the Championship was held in various high schools in southern NH. In 1992, it was held in Memorial High School in Manchester, NH and in 1993 and 1994 it was held in Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, NH.

Qualification

Since 2001, teams have had to qualify to go to the national championship each year. Qualification requirements may be different every year. Check the FIRST website for up-to-date qualification information.

When the qualification system was first implemented, on alternating years even or odd numbered teams would automatically qualify, and additional qualification would be based on a points system, with varying points being assigned for different awards. Since the beginning, the (national) Chairman’s Award winners were reserved a spot at the national championship. Since then, the system has changed to a tier based structure, basing qualification more on how long a team has not been to the nationals. There has been considerable controversy over the varying methods, which go to the heart of FIRST’s philosophy – the issue being creating a championship that is challenging and exciting to watch, while not focusing on the competition aspect of the event as much as the rest of it.