For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology

FIRST describes itself as an organization that "aspires to transform culture, making science, math, engineering, and technology as cool for kids as sports are today." While this would still overvalue sports, it would be a leap in the right direction.

FIRST endeavors to do this by running a variety of programs. One program is the FIRST Lego League (FLL), which uses the Lego Mindstorms system and is aimed toward younger students. FIRST has also recently teamed up with Radio Shack to release the Vex robotics platform and start the FIRST Vex Challenge (FVC). FVC offers a more affordable and classroom friendly way to experience FIRST, with smaller hands-on robots. The largest and oldest of FIRST's programs is the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). It is an annual competition for high school students in which the teams are given six weeks to build a robot that will compete in that year's game. The games generally center on moving objects around a field.