The Kit of Parts

Once a team forms, joins FIRST and pays the year's sign-up fee, the team waits for the kick-off meeting. At the kick-off meeting, FIRST announces the challenge for the year. At this time, FIRST also releases the manuals for the year and starts shipping the infamous kit of parts.

Each team gets the same kit. Inside each kit are all of the important parts that the team will need to build a robot. Each kit includes:

• Motors
• Sensors
• Shafts
• Bearings
• The robot's radio receiver
• The robot's computer brain
• The robot's battery power pack
• The team's multi-channel radio control system for the robot

Teams are also allowed to purchase certain approved extra items. With these parts, the team can begin the design process and construction.

The Pink Panther robot leans forward to grab a yellow ball.

Each team's design is completely original, but they all contain three basic elements:

• The robot needs a frame to hold all the motors, wheels, batteries and so on together. The frame and all the parts (including the battery, bumpers and decorations) are allowed a maximum weight of 130 pounds per robot.

• The robot needs one or more "arms" or "ball movers" of some sort. For example, one goal of the 2004 challenge required that the robot gather balls and move them toward the human players at the end of the field. A task like this could be accomplished in many ways; with arms that throw the balls, conveyor belts that shoot the balls, bats that hit the balls, and more. Another goal is to grasp a 10-foot-high (3-meter-high) chin-up bar and lift the robot off the ground. This feat might require a completely different "arm" mechanism, or utilize the same "arms" used to move the balls.

• The robot needs a set of wheels that are able to move the robot around the field.