FRC Curriculum Overview

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Veer BajajMaintainer

Welcome to the complete FRC Curriculum Guide Archive! Below is the full directory of all 11 departments, 101 modules, and 394 lessons organized in step-by-step learning order.

Curriculum Departments

Department	Modules	Lessons	Description
Getting Started with FRC	7	28	New to FIRST Robotics? Start your journey here.
Mechanical, Build & Pneumatics	12	47	Drivetrains, mechanisms, fabrication, and pneumatics.
Electrical & Wiring	8	35	Power, the control system, and legal wiring.
CAD & Design	8	31	Design robots in Onshape, SolidWorks & Fusion.
Programming, Controls & Sensors	13	51	Code the robot with WPILib — plus sensors, vision & control.
Drive Team	8	34	Driver, operator, and coach on the field.
Scouting & Strategy	8	32	Turn match data into winning strategy.
Safety	7	28	Build a safety-first robotics culture.
Business, Operations & Fundraising	14	49	Run your team — and fund it — like a real organization.
Media, Branding & Outreach	8	29	Branding, media, and community impact.
The Impact Award	8	30	Pursue FRC’s most prestigious award.

Getting Started with FRC

New to FIRST Robotics? Start your journey here. 7 Modules • 28 Lessons

01. What FIRST and FRC Are

Start here. Understand the organization behind the competition, the larger family of FIRST programs you may have done (or can mentor), and what specifically makes the FIRST Robotics Competition the ‘varsity sport for the mind.’

1.1 What Is FIRST? (25 min)
1.2 The FIRST Progression: FLL, FTC, and FRC (25 min)
1.3 What Makes the FIRST Robotics Competition Unique (25 min)

02. The Season and the Game

Learn the annual rhythm of an FRC season and exactly how a match is won. This module turns the jargon — Kickoff, build season, ranking points, alliance selection, endgame — into a clear mental model.

2.1 The Annual Season: Kickoff to Championship (30 min)
2.2 How a Match Works: Auto, Teleop, and Endgame (35 min)
2.3 Alliances, Rankings, and Playoffs (30 min)
2.4 Recent Games: CRESCENDO, REEFSCAPE, and REBUILT (30 min)

03. Culture, Teams, and Roles

FRC is a team sport with a strong ethos. This module covers the FIRST core values that are judged and rewarded, the real sub-teams and roles that make a team run, and the control-system hardware and software those teams use.

3.1 FIRST Core Values: Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition (25 min)
3.2 Sub-Teams and Roles on an FRC Team (30 min)
3.3 The FRC Control System: Hardware and Software (30 min)

04. Getting Started: Your First Steps

Turn knowledge into action. This module gives a brand-new student a path to join a team, and a brand-new team a concrete roadmap to register, get the Kit of Parts, and build their first robot using free tools and the official Zero-to-Robot guide.

4.1 For a New Student: How to Join a Team (25 min)
4.2 For a New Team: Registration and the Kit of Parts (30 min)
4.3 From Zero to Robot: Tools and the First Build (35 min)

05. Worked Examples & Mini-Projects

Stop reading and start building. This module walks you through five concrete, end-to-end mini-projects that a rookie can finish in a weekend: spinning your first motor with the REV Hardware Client, deploying a real arcade-drive program to a roboRIO, refactoring into a clean command-based subsystem, building a Fuel launcher for the 2026 REBUILT game, and adding a one-button autonomous routine. Every step uses real parts (AM14U6 chassis, SPARK MAX, NEO) and real, copy-pasteable WPILib 2026 Java code. By the end you will have a robot that drives, shoots, and runs an auto routine.

5.1 Project 1 — Make a NEO Spin with the REV Hardware Client (35 min)
5.2 Project 2 — Deploy a Real Arcade-Drive Program (50 min)
5.3 Project 3 — Refactor into a Command-Based Drive Subsystem (55 min)
5.4 Project 4 — Build a Fuel Launcher for REBUILT (60 min)
5.5 Project 5 — A One-Button Autonomous Routine (45 min)

06. Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting

Every veteran team has a mental checklist of the failures that bite rookies every single year: the robot that won’t connect, the ‘No Robot Code’ message, the dreaded brownout, dead CAN devices, wheels spinning the wrong way, and bumpers that fail inspection. This module turns those hard-won lessons into a systematic debugging workflow. Each lesson gives you the symptom, the real root causes, the exact diagnostic steps (RioLog, Driver Station tabs, Glass, REV/Phoenix tools), and the fix — grounded in the official WPILib troubleshooting docs and the 2026 game manual rules.

6.1 The Connection Chain: When the Driver Station Won’t Connect (35 min)
6.2 Brownouts: Why the Robot Goes Limp Mid-Match (30 min)
6.3 CAN Bus Gremlins: Missing and Conflicting Devices (35 min)
6.4 Software Gotchas: Inverted Drives, Scheduler Stalls, and Reading the RioLog (35 min)
6.5 Inspection-Day Failures: Bumpers, Size, and Weight (30 min)

07. Advanced Techniques & Case Studies

Once your robot drives and scores, the next leap is precision and intelligence: closed-loop control that hits a target every time, swerve drive that moves in any direction, AprilTag vision that tells the robot where it is on the field, and data-driven strategy that wins alliance selection. This module is a deep dive into the techniques that separate competitive teams from the pack, each anchored in a concrete REBUILT case study with real parts (Kraken X60, CANcoder, Pigeon 2.0), real tools (SysId, PhotonVision, Statbotics), and real code. It is ambitious but reachable — this is your roadmap from ‘it works’ to ‘it wins’.

7.1 Closed-Loop Control: PID + Feedforward for a Consistent Shot (50 min)
7.2 Swerve Drive: Omnidirectional Movement with YAGSL (55 min)
7.3 AprilTag Vision: Knowing Where You Are with PhotonVision (55 min)
7.4 Data-Driven Strategy: Scouting, EPA/OPR, and Alliance Selection (45 min)
7.5 Choosing Your Hardware Ecosystem: REV vs CTRE (40 min)

Mechanical, Build & Pneumatics

Drivetrains, mechanisms, fabrication, and pneumatics. 12 Modules • 47 Lessons

Prerequisites: Engineering Foundations: Forces, Torque, and Machines

A start-here primer on the physics and mechanical fundamentals every FRC builder needs before designing mechanisms. You will learn how engineers measure and specify parts, how forces and Newton’s laws govern motion, how torque and levers multiply force, and how simple machines and gear ratios trade speed for strength. Each lesson connects the core physics to concrete FRC build decisions so the department’s later, hands-on lessons make sense.

01. Drivetrains: Moving the Robot

The drivetrain is the foundation of every robot. This module compares the major architectures used in FRC, the wheels and motors that power them, and how to choose the right one for a game.

1.1 Tank and West Coast Drive (35 min)
1.2 Swerve Drive (40 min)
1.3 Mecanum and Other Omnidirectional Drives (30 min)
1.4 Wheels, Tread, and Motors (35 min)

02. Power Transmission and Gear Ratios

Motors spin too fast and too weak to use directly. This module covers how to convert that speed into useful torque with gears, chain, belts, and sprockets, and how to calculate ratios.

2.1 Why You Need Reduction: Speed vs. Torque (35 min)
2.2 Chain and Sprockets (35 min)
2.3 Belts, Pulleys, and Gear-on-Gear (35 min)
2.4 Shafts, Bearings, and Bushings (35 min)

03. Structure, Materials, and Fasteners

A robot is only as good as the frame and joints holding it together. This module covers what robots are made of and how the pieces attach.

3.1 Aluminum Extrusion and Tubing (35 min)
3.2 Polycarbonate and Other Materials (30 min)
3.3 Fasteners and Threadlocking (35 min)

04. Mechanisms, Fabrication, and Assembly

With drivetrain and structure understood, this module covers the scoring mechanisms, the tools to make them, and the workflow to build a reliable robot.

4.1 Common Scoring Mechanisms (40 min)
4.2 Fabrication Tools and Safety (35 min)
4.3 COTS vs. Custom, and Prototyping (40 min)

05. Pneumatics Fundamentals: How Air Becomes Motion

Understand what pneumatics is, why teams use it, and the architecture of the FRC air circuit. This module builds the mental model of the two-pressure system and the job of each component before you touch hardware.

5.1 What Pneumatics Is and Why FRC Teams Use It (20 min)
5.2 The Two-Pressure Circuit: High Side vs Working Side (22 min)
5.3 Pneumatics vs Motors: Choosing the Right Actuator (20 min)

06. The Components: Controllers, Compressor, Valves, and Cylinders

A part-by-part tour of every device in an FRC pneumatic system, with real part numbers and specs. By the end you can identify and spec each component and know which controller to buy.

6.1 Pneumatics Controllers: REV PH and CTRE PCM (22 min)
6.2 Compressor, Pressure Switch, and Analog Pressure Sensor (24 min)
6.3 Regulator, Storage Tanks, and Tubing (24 min)
6.4 Solenoid Valves and Cylinders (24 min)

07. Building, Wiring, and Programming a Pneumatic System

Hands-on: plumb the air circuit, wire the controller, and write WPILib code to run the compressor and switch solenoids. Then design with real force and air-usage math.

7.1 Plumbing the Circuit (25 min)
7.2 Wiring the Pneumatic Hub or PCM (24 min)
7.3 Programming Solenoids and the Compressor in WPILib (26 min)
7.4 Designing with Pneumatics: Force, Stroke, and Air Usage (26 min)

08. Safety, Rules, and Testing

The non-negotiable part: the FIRST legality rules, the mandatory required components, and the operational tests that keep your system safe and pass inspection.

8.1 The Pneumatics Rules: 120 psi, 60 psi, and What’s Legal (24 min)
8.2 Required Components and Passing Inspection (22 min)
8.3 Operational Testing: Relief Valve, Pressure Switch, and Leaks (24 min)

09. Worked Examples & Mini-Projects

Stop reading theory and start building. This module walks through five complete, buildable mechanisms end-to-end: a single-jointed arm, a cascade elevator, a flywheel shooter, a pivoting intake, and a swerve module integration. Each lesson does the full loop, from physics math (torque, reduction, current limit) to real COTS part selection (with actual part numbers) to working WPILib closed-loop code you can paste into a robot project. Every number is sized so the mechanism actually works in a 120 lb FRC robot under the 120 A main-breaker power budget. Treat each lesson as a mini-project you can reproduce on a practice bot during week 2 of build season.

9.1 Mini-Project 1: A Single-Jointed Arm From Math to Motion (35 min)
9.2 Mini-Project 2: A Two-Stage Cascade Elevator (35 min)
9.3 Mini-Project 3: A Velocity-Controlled Flywheel Shooter (30 min)
9.4 Mini-Project 4: A Pivoting Roller Intake (28 min)
9.5 Mini-Project 5: Integrating a COTS Swerve Module (38 min)

10. Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting

Every team rediscovers the same painful bugs. This module is a field-tested triage manual for the mechanical, build, and pneumatics failures that eat practice time and lose matches: drivetrains that veer, gearboxes that grenade, pneumatics that won’t fire, fasteners that vibrate loose, and closed-loop mechanisms that oscillate. Each lesson gives you the symptom, the most likely root causes ranked, a concrete diagnostic workflow, and the fix, grounded in real CTRE/REV/WPILib behavior and community-documented failure modes. Learn to debug like a veteran: change one variable at a time, read the actual data, and confirm the fix before moving on.

10.1 Pneumatics Won’t Fire: A Full Diagnostic Tree (25 min)
10.2 The Robot Won’t Drive Straight (and Other Drivetrain Sins) (26 min)
10.3 Gearboxes That Grenade and Fasteners That Vibrate Loose (27 min)
10.4 Closed-Loop Mechanisms That Oscillate, Sag, or Stall (26 min)
10.5 Field-Ready Reliability: Inspection, Spares, and the Pit Checklist (24 min)

11. Advanced Techniques & Case Studies

Once you can build a working mechanism, this module shows you how the top teams make them fast, light, and bulletproof. We go deep on system characterization with SysId, simulation-driven design with WPILib physics models, motion profiling for crisp superstructure moves, weight-and-stress-driven structural design, and real Open Alliance case studies (FRC 6328, 1678, 2910). The emphasis is on the engineering judgment behind elite robots: choosing reductions from a torque-speed analysis, validating a design in CAD and sim before cutting metal, and packaging serviceable, manufacturable mechanisms. Everything cites real tools, real teams, and real parts.

11.1 Characterizing Any Mechanism with SysId (30 min)
11.2 Simulation-Driven Design with WPILib Physics Models (32 min)
11.3 Motion Profiling and Superstructure Coordination (30 min)
11.4 Designing for Weight, Stiffness, and Manufacturability (30 min)
11.5 Case Studies: Learning From Open Alliance Robots (28 min)

Electrical & Wiring

Power, the control system, and legal wiring. 8 Modules • 35 Lessons

Prerequisites: Electrical Foundations: Volts, Amps, and Circuits

Before you crimp a single connector on an FRC robot, you need a mental model of how electricity actually behaves. This prerequisite primer builds that model from the ground up: what voltage, current, and resistance really are; how Ohm’s Law and electrical power tie them together; how series and parallel wiring change the math; and the wire-gauge, fuse, and safety rules that keep a 12V robot battery from becoming a hazard. Every concept is connected back to the real FRC control system so the theory sticks.

01. The FRC Control System: Meet the Components

Before you strip a single wire, you need to know the players. This module introduces every major component in the FRC electronics stack, what each one does, and how they connect.

1.1 What Is the FRC Control System? (20 min)
1.2 The roboRIO: The Robot’s Brain (22 min)
1.3 Power Distribution: PDH vs PDP (22 min)
1.4 The Radio, VRM, and Radio Power Module (22 min)

02. Power: Battery, Breakers, and the Main Circuit

This module follows electricity from the battery through the main breaker to the branch circuits, and teaches how circuit protection keeps the robot safe and legal.

2.1 The 12V SLA Battery and Anderson Connectors (22 min)
2.2 The Main 120A Breaker (20 min)
2.3 Branch Circuit Breakers and Fuses (22 min)
2.4 Wire Gauge Selection by Current (AWG) (22 min)
2.5 Battery & Electrical Safety (12 min)

03. Motor Controllers and the CAN Bus

Motor controllers turn the roboRIO’s commands into raw motor power. This module covers the major controllers, the difference between PWM and CAN, and how to build a reliable CAN bus.

3.1 Motor Controller Lineup (22 min)
3.2 PWM vs CAN Control (20 min)
3.3 Building a Reliable CAN Bus (24 min)

04. Connections, Rules, and Troubleshooting

Reliable robots come from reliable connections and clean compliance with the rules. This module covers crimping, the legal wiring rules, full robot assembly, and field troubleshooting.

4.1 Crimping and Connectors Done Right (24 min)
4.2 The Legal Wiring Rules (Game Manual) (24 min)
4.3 Full Robot Wiring Walkthrough (26 min)
4.4 Troubleshooting Electrical Faults (26 min)

05. Worked Examples & Mini-Projects

Stop reading and start building. This module walks you through concrete, buildable wiring jobs and codeable controls examples end to end: a fully-wired single-motor test stand, a current-limited drivetrain, a power-monitoring dashboard, a switchable-channel project on the REV PDH, and a CAN-device bring-up. Every step uses real part numbers, real gauges, and real WPILib/vendor code that compiles. Do these on the bench before you do them under competition pressure.

5.1 Mini-Project 1: A Single-Motor Test Stand from Battery to Spin (35 min)
5.2 Mini-Project 2: Current-Limited Drivetrain (CTRE and REV) (40 min)
5.3 Mini-Project 3: A Live Power-Monitoring Dashboard (30 min)
5.4 Mini-Project 4: A Switchable Channel for Lights and Vision (25 min)
5.5 Mini-Project 5: CAN Device Bring-Up with Tuner X and the Hardware Client (35 min)

06. Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting

Most robots that die on the field die for boring, preventable electrical reasons: a loose CAN wire, a battery that sagged, a tinned wire backing out of a WAGO, a brownout from uncapped current. This module is a field guide to the real failures FRC electrical teams hit, with a repeatable debugging workflow, the LED-and-Driver-Station signals that point you at the cause, and the specific fixes. Learn to read your robot’s symptoms instead of guessing.

6.1 Reading the Lights: A Diagnostic Decision Tree (25 min)
6.2 Brownouts: Why the Robot Goes Limp (35 min)
6.3 CAN Bus Failures: Intermittent Devices and Dropped Comms (35 min)
6.4 Connection Mistakes: WAGOs, Crimps, and Strip Lengths (30 min)
6.5 The Pre-Match and Post-Crash Checklists (25 min)

07. Advanced Techniques & Case Studies

Once the basics work, the margin is in the details: a power budget that survives a full event, a CAN architecture that does not saturate, batteries managed like a fleet, and current limits tuned per mechanism. This module digs into advanced electrical and power-management techniques and walks through real, worked case studies: a four-Kraken swerve power budget, a CANivore CAN FD migration, and a battery-management program, so a competitive team can build a robot that performs in match 1 and in eliminations on a tired battery.

7.1 Building a Real Power Budget (35 min)
7.2 Case Study: Powering a Four-Kraken Swerve Drive (40 min)
7.3 Case Study: Migrating the Drivetrain to a CANivore CAN FD Bus (40 min)
7.4 Battery Management Like a Pro Team (30 min)
7.5 Noise, Grounding, and Signal Integrity (30 min)

CAD & Design

Design robots in Onshape, SolidWorks & Fusion. 8 Modules • 31 Lessons

Prerequisites: CAD Foundations: Spatial Thinking and Drawings

Before you open any CAD software, you need to think in three dimensions and read the language engineers use to describe parts. This primer builds the spatial-reasoning and engineering-drawing fundamentals every FRC designer needs: coordinate systems and views, orthographic projection, and how dimensions, tolerances, and units turn a sketch into a part the machine shop can actually make.

01. Getting Started: CAD Software and the Design Process

Before opening any software, you need to understand why FRC teams CAD their robots, which tool to use, and how design fits into the larger engineering design process. This module sets the foundation.

1.1 Why FRC Teams CAD Their Robots (35 min)
1.2 Choosing CAD Software: Onshape, SolidWorks, Fusion, Inventor (35 min)
1.3 The Engineering Design Process in FRC (35 min)

02. Onshape Fundamentals: Sketches, Parts, and Assemblies

This module teaches the core Onshape skills every FRC designer needs: navigating Part Studios, sketching, creating features, building assemblies, and mating parts together. These skills transfer to any CAD package.

2.1 Setting Up Onshape and Navigating Documents (35 min)
2.2 Sketching: The Foundation of Every Part (40 min)
2.3 Building Parts with Features (40 min)
2.4 Assemblies and Mates (40 min)

03. Vendor Libraries (FRCDesignLib) and FeatureScripts

FRC designers rarely model COTS parts from scratch. This module covers the parts libraries and custom features that let you drop in real components and automate repetitive FRC modeling tasks.

3.1 Using Vendor CAD and Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Parts (35 min)
3.2 FRCDesignLib: The Onshape FRC Parts Library (30 min)
3.3 FeatureScripts: Automating FRC CAD (35 min)

04. Manufacturability, Drawings, BOMs, and Design Reviews

A model is only useful if your team can actually build it. This module covers designing for the tools you own, producing drawings and a bill of materials, and running design reviews that catch problems early.

4.1 Design for Manufacturability (DFM) in FRC (40 min)
4.2 Drawings and Manufacturing Documentation (35 min)
4.3 Bills of Materials (BOMs) and Purchasing (35 min)
4.4 Design Reviews: Catching Problems Early (35 min)

05. Worked Examples & Mini-Projects

Four buildable, step-by-step CAD projects you can complete in Onshape today. Each mini-project mirrors a real FRC subsystem (a swerve drivebase, a single-stage gearbox, a pivoting arm, and a lightened structural plate) and walks through layout sketches, real COTS part numbers, and the exact FeatureScripts and mate-connector moves that make the model manufacturable. Finish all four and you will have a portfolio of parametric models that look and behave like a competitive robot.

5.1 Mini-Project 1: A Layout-Sketch-Driven Swerve Drivebase (50 min)
5.2 Mini-Project 2: A Single-Stage NEO/Kraken Gearbox (55 min)
5.3 Mini-Project 3: A Pivoting Arm on 2x1 Tube (60 min)
5.4 Mini-Project 4: A Lightened Structural Plate (55 min)

06. Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting

The pitfalls that quietly wreck FRC CAD models and the concrete fixes for each. Covers mate-connector and assembly failures, in-context and derived-reference breakage, sluggish regeneration in big drivebase assemblies, manufacturability mistakes that turn into scrap at the machine, and version/branching disasters in team-shared documents. Each lesson is a debugging workflow: how to recognize the symptom, find root cause, and apply a durable fix.

6.1 Mate & Assembly Failures: Why Parts Float, Spin, or Won’t Move (35 min)
6.2 Broken In-Context & Derived References (35 min)
6.3 Slow Regeneration in Big Drivebase Assemblies (30 min)
6.4 Manufacturability Mistakes That Become Scrap (35 min)
6.5 Version Control & Team Collaboration Disasters (30 min)

07. Advanced Techniques & Case Studies

Deep-dive techniques used by top FRC teams: configuration-driven and FeatureScript-automated parametric design, browser-based FEA for weight-optimized structures, system-level swerve geometry and motion math, and a case study of FRC 6328’s modular gusset-and-tube methodology. This module assumes you already know Onshape fundamentals and pushes toward how elite teams actually design fast and well.

7.1 Configurations vs. Parametric Variables: Designing One Model, Many Robots (40 min)
7.2 FeatureScript Automation for FRC (45 min)
7.3 Browser-Based FEA: Weight-Optimizing Real Structures (45 min)
7.4 Swerve System Geometry & Motion Math (45 min)
7.5 Case Study: FRC 6328’s Modular Gusset-and-Tube Methodology (40 min)

Programming, Controls & Sensors

Code the robot with WPILib — plus sensors, vision & control. 13 Modules • 51 Lessons

Prerequisites: Programming Foundations: A Java Primer

A beginner-friendly primer that builds the core programming and Java fundamentals every newcomer needs before writing a single line of FRC robot code. Start from absolute zero with variables, control flow, and objects, then learn why FRC robots are programmed in Java and how to read the WPILib library you’ll lean on all season. Complete this before diving into the department’s main robot-code lessons.

01. Foundations: Tools, Languages, and Your First Robot Program

Set up the full FRC software toolchain and understand the big picture. You will install WPILib and the Game Tools, learn which languages FRC supports, and write and deploy your first robot program to a roboRIO.

1.1 The FRC Software Stack: What Runs Where (30 min)
1.2 Choosing a Language: Java, C++, or Python (25 min)
1.3 Installing the Toolchain: WPILib, Game Tools, and Driver Station (45 min)
1.4 VS Code, the WPILib Extension, and Deploying Code (40 min)

02. The Robot Program: Lifecycle and Command-Based Architecture

Learn how a robot program is structured and runs. Start with TimedRobot’s lifecycle, then adopt the command-based framework — the modern, recommended way to organize FRC code with Subsystems, Commands, and Triggers.

2.1 TimedRobot and the Robot Lifecycle (35 min)
2.2 Why Command-Based? Subsystems and the Scheduler (40 min)
2.3 Writing Commands and Compositions (45 min)
2.4 Reading Joysticks and Binding Triggers (40 min)

03. Motors, Sensors, and Closed-Loop Control

Drive real hardware with vendor motor-controller APIs (CTRE Phoenix 6 and REVLib 2025), then make mechanisms precise with PID feedback, feedforward, and motion profiles.

3.1 CTRE Phoenix 6: Talon FX, Kraken X60/X44, and Falcon 500 (45 min)
3.2 REVLib: SPARK MAX / SPARK Flex with NEO and NEO Vortex (45 min)
3.3 PID Feedback Control (40 min)
3.4 Feedforward and Motion Profiling (45 min)

04. Autonomous: Odometry, Trajectories, and Simulation

Make the robot navigate the field on its own. Track position with odometry, generate and follow paths with PathPlanner and Choreo, build full autonomous routines, and test everything in simulation before touching hardware.

4.1 Kinematics and Odometry: Knowing Where You Are (45 min)
4.2 Trajectories with PathPlanner and Choreo (50 min)
4.3 Building Autonomous Routines (40 min)
4.4 Simulation: Test Without a Robot (40 min)

05. Sensing Fundamentals: Digital, Analog, and CAN Inputs

Before control, comes sensing. This module covers the three ways sensors talk to a roboRIO and the simple but essential sensors built on them: limit switches, beam breaks, distance sensors, and current sensing.

5.1 How Sensors Talk to the roboRIO: DIO, Analog, and CAN (25 min)
5.2 Limit Switches and Beam Breaks (30 min)
5.3 Distance Sensors and Current Sensing (30 min)

06. Encoders: Measuring Position and Velocity

Encoders are the most important sensors for feedback control. This module covers how quadrature, absolute, and integrated encoders work and the specific products you will use.

6.1 Quadrature Encoders and How They Work (30 min)
6.2 Absolute Encoders: Duty-Cycle, Analog, and the REV Through Bore (30 min)
6.3 Integrated and CAN Encoders: NEO, Falcon/Kraken, and CANcoder (30 min)

07. Gyros, IMUs, and Orientation

To know which way it is pointing and to keep its driving straight, a robot needs a gyroscope. This module covers IMUs, drift, calibration and mounting, the field coordinate system, and odometry.

7.1 Gyros and IMUs: Pigeon 2.0, NavX2, and ADIS (30 min)
7.2 Mounting, Calibrating, and Trusting Your IMU (25 min)
7.3 The Field Coordinate System and Odometry (30 min)

08. Closed-Loop Control: PID, Feedforward, and SysId

Sensors are only useful if the robot acts on them. This module teaches the math and methodology of feedback control: PID tuning, feedforward, and characterizing your mechanism with SysId.

8.1 Open Loop vs Closed Loop, and the PID Controller (35 min)
8.2 A Methodical PID Tuning Process (35 min)
8.3 Feedforward: kS, kV, kA, and kG (35 min)
8.4 Characterizing a Mechanism with SysId (40 min)

09. Computer Vision and Pose Estimation

The most advanced sensing in FRC: cameras that find AprilTags to compute where the robot is, and fusing that with odometry for accurate, drift-free localization.

9.1 AprilTags and Vision Coprocessors (35 min)
9.2 Pose Estimation with Limelight (MegaTag2) and PhotonVision (40 min)
9.3 Fusing Vision with Odometry (40 min)

10. Worked Examples and Mini-Projects

Nine separate modules taught you the pieces. This one bolts them together into complete, buildable projects. Each lesson is an end-to-end mini-project you can type out, deploy, and run – a closed-loop elevator with Motion Magic, a REVLib velocity-controlled shooter, a teleop swerve drive subsystem, a PathPlanner autonomous routine, and a vision-aligned scoring sequence. Every snippet uses real vendor APIs (CTRE Phoenix 6, REVLib 2025, WPILib command-based, PathPlanner, Limelight) and real part numbers so the code compiles against the libraries your team actually installs.

10.1 Mini-Project: A Closed-Loop Elevator with Motion Magic (45 min)
10.2 Mini-Project: A Velocity-Controlled Shooter on REVLib (40 min)
10.3 Mini-Project: A Teleop Swerve Drive Subsystem (50 min)
10.4 Mini-Project: An Autonomous Routine with PathPlanner (45 min)
10.5 Mini-Project: Vision-Aligned Scoring with Limelight (55 min)

11. Common Mistakes and Troubleshooting

Most lost matches trace to a handful of recurring software faults: a default command that throws because it forgot its requirement, a loop overrun from chatty logging or CAN queries, a brown-out that silently kills your outputs, a CAN ID conflict, or a control loop with integral windup. This module is a field guide to those failure modes – how to recognize each one fast, the exact tools to diagnose it (Driver Station log viewer, AdvantageScope, Glass, the scheduler watchdog), and the concrete fix. Treat it as the debugging playbook you reach for when the robot misbehaves at 11pm before a competition.

11.1 A Systematic Debugging Workflow for FRC (35 min)
11.2 Command-Based Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them (35 min)
11.3 Loop Overruns and Watchdog Warnings (35 min)
11.4 Power, Brown-Outs, and CAN Bus Faults (35 min)
11.5 Control Loop Tuning Problems (35 min)

12. Advanced Techniques and Case Studies

Once the fundamentals are solid, top teams reach for techniques that squeeze out reliability and precision: model-based state-space control with Kalman filtering, log-replay architectures like AdvantageKit that let you debug a match offline, advanced multi-tag pose fusion, robot-to-robot coordination, and rigorous pre-event software hardening. This module goes deep on those advanced controls and software-engineering practices, with real WPILib/vendor APIs and concrete case studies, so an experienced programmer can level up from ‘it works’ to ‘it works every match, and we can prove why.’

12.1 State-Space Control and Kalman Filtering (50 min)
12.2 Log Replay Architecture with AdvantageKit (40 min)
12.3 Advanced Pose Estimation: Multi-Tag Fusion and Standard Deviations (45 min)
12.4 Robot Coordination, Alerts, and Operator Feedback (40 min)
12.5 Case Study: Hardening Software Before an Event (40 min)

Drive Team

Driver, operator, and coach on the field. 8 Modules • 34 Lessons

Prerequisites: Foundations: Know the Game

Before you ever pick up a controller, you need to understand the game you’re playing. This primer covers the essential, year-independent knowledge every new driver and operator should have first: how an FRC match flows from autonomous to endgame, how alliances and scoring create the ranking that decides who advances, and what separates a good drive team from a great one. Master these foundations and the department’s hands-on driving lessons will make far more sense.

01. The Drive Team and Its Roles

Understand the official FRC drive team roles, the Game Manual rules that govern who can fill them and where they stand, and how to select the right people. This module sets the foundation every other skill builds on.

1.1 What the Drive Team Is (and the Rules That Define It) (30 min)
1.2 The Driver and Operator (30 min)
1.3 The Human Player (25 min)
1.4 The Drive Coach and the Technician (30 min)
1.5 Selecting and Building Your Drive Team (25 min)

02. Driver Station and Controls

Master the technical setup that connects humans to the robot: the FRC Driver Station software, the operator console, USB device ordering, controller mapping in WPILib, and how everything behaves on the competition field.

2.1 The FRC Driver Station Software (35 min)
2.2 USB Devices, Ordering, and the Operator Console (30 min)
2.3 Mapping Controllers to Robot Actions (35 min)
2.4 Connecting to the Field and FMS (30 min)

03. Driver Practice and Match Performance

Turn the people and the hardware into a winning unit. This module covers building muscle memory through drills, communicating in-match, reading the field, and executing the endgame reliably.

3.1 Building Muscle Memory Through Drills (35 min)
3.2 Communication During Matches (30 min)
3.3 Reading the Field and In-Match Strategy (30 min)
3.4 Endgame Execution (25 min)

04. The Pit and Match Turnaround

Between matches the pit crew has minutes to make the robot match-ready again. This module covers pit crew roles, battery management, and the pre- and post-match checklists that keep a robot reliable all event.

4.1 Pit Crew Roles and the Turnaround Clock (30 min)
4.2 Battery Management (30 min)
4.3 Pre-Match and Post-Match Checklists (30 min)

05. Worked Examples & Mini-Projects

Five buildable, end-to-end mini-projects that turn drive-team concepts into things you can actually code, print, and run this week. You’ll wire a real driver control scheme in WPILib command-based Java, build a slew-rate-limited and current-limited drivetrain that survives a full match, design a paper-and-spreadsheet scouting system, pull live OPR/EPA data from The Blue Alliance and Statbotics, and assemble a one-page pre-match strategy brief. Every example uses real classes, real part numbers, and real APIs grounded in the 2026 REBUILT season so you can copy them straight into your project. Scoring numbers and rules are tuned by Team Updates during the season, so always reconcile any value here against the current Game Manual and Team Updates before an event. Treat each section as a guided lab: read it, build it, then iterate with your own robot and your own event data.

5.1 Project 1: A Production-Ready Driver Control Scheme (35 min)
5.2 Project 2: A Drivetrain That Survives a Whole Match (30 min)
5.3 Project 3: Build a Paper + Spreadsheet Scouting System (40 min)
5.4 Project 4: Pull Live OPR & EPA Data with Python (35 min)
5.5 Project 5: The One-Page Pre-Match Strategy Brief (25 min)

06. Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting

The drive team is where every other subteam’s work either pays off or falls apart on the field. This module catalogs the real, recurring failures that cost matches - brownouts, communication drops, controller mishaps, scouting data you can’t trust, and panic-driven turnarounds - and gives you a disciplined way to debug each one. Every section follows the same shape: the symptom you actually see, the most likely root causes, a step-by-step diagnostic workflow, and the concrete fix. The throughline is method over guessing: form a hypothesis, find the evidence (logs, charts, the Driver Station, the rule book), then change one thing. Drive teams that debug this way recover from disasters inside a tight pit turnaround; teams that guess lose the next match too.

6.1 The Robot Browns Out or Goes Sluggish Mid-Match (25 min)
6.2 Robot Code Drops Communication or Won’t Enable (25 min)
6.3 Driving Feels Wrong: Inversions, Drift, and Field-Relative Confusion (20 min)
6.4 Your Scouting Data Lies to You (20 min)
6.5 The Match-Turnaround Panic Workflow (20 min)

07. Advanced Strategy & Case Studies

This is the deep-dive for drive teams that already drive clean matches and want to win events. It moves past mechanics into the game theory of FRC: how qualification ranking points actually shape your match goals, how to build pick lists that survive contact with reality, how alliance selection’s reverse-snake structure changes who you should target, how to construct and disrupt an opponent’s ideal alliance strategy, and how to fight (and recover from) defense in elimination matches. Each lesson uses the 2026 REBUILT scoring structure as a concrete worked case and reasons from real, documented FRC strategy frameworks. Because FIRST tunes scoring and rules via Team Updates through the season, always reconcile specific point and threshold numbers against the current Game Manual. The goal is to make the drive coach and strategy lead think like a top-eight alliance captain: every decision tied to points, ranking, and the specific robots on the field.

7.1 Ranking Points Drive Your Match Goals (30 min)
7.2 Building Pick Lists That Survive Reality (30 min)
7.3 Mastering the Reverse-Snake Alliance Selection (25 min)
7.4 Ideal Alliance Strategy and How to Disrupt It (30 min)
7.5 Playing and Surviving Defense in Eliminations (25 min)

Scouting & Strategy

Turn match data into winning strategy. 8 Modules • 32 Lessons

Prerequisites: Data Foundations: Spreadsheets and Statistics

A start-here primer that teaches the spreadsheet and basic-statistics skills every scout needs before collecting or analyzing FRC match data. You will learn how a spreadsheet actually works, how to summarize numbers with averages and spread, and how to turn those summaries into smart alliance and pick-list decisions. No prior experience required.

01. Scouting Fundamentals

What scouting is, why it wins matches, and the two pillars: pit scouting and match scouting. You will learn what data is worth collecting and how scouting connects to every strategic decision your team makes at an event.

1.1 Why Scouting Wins Matches (35 min)
1.2 Pit Scouting vs Match Scouting (40 min)
1.3 Choosing the Right Metrics (40 min)

02. Building a Scouting System

How to turn metrics into a working data pipeline: paper systems, scouting apps, and QR-based tools like QRScout. You will learn the three parts of any system, how to move data reliably, and how to keep it accurate.

2.1 Paper Scouting and the Three-Part Pipeline (40 min)
2.2 Scouting Apps and QR-Based Systems (QRScout) (45 min)
2.3 Keeping Data Accurate and Trustworthy (35 min)

03. Data Analysis: TBA and Statbotics

How to read the public analytics that complement your own scouting: OPR, DPR, and CCWM on The Blue Alliance, EPA on Statbotics, and FRC rankings. You will learn what each metric means, its limits, and how to combine it with scouting.

3.1 The Blue Alliance: The FRC Data Hub (35 min)
3.2 Understanding OPR, DPR, and CCWM (40 min)
3.3 Statbotics and the EPA Model (45 min)
3.4 Reading FRC Rankings and Ranking Points (35 min)

04. Strategy: Picklists, Alliance Selection, and Match Play

How to convert all your data into decisions: building a defensible picklist, navigating the live alliance-selection draft, writing pre-match plans, and communicating during a match.

4.1 Building a Picklist (45 min)
4.2 Alliance Selection at the Event (45 min)
4.3 Pre-Match Strategy and the Drive Team (40 min)
4.4 In-Match Strategy and Communication (40 min)

05. Worked Examples & Mini-Projects

Five buildable, end-to-end projects that turn scouting theory into working artifacts. You will configure a real QRScout form for a season game, compute OPR by hand on a tiny example and then in a spreadsheet, pull live data from The Blue Alliance and Statbotics with real code, build an aggregation sheet that ranks robots by EPA components, and assemble a one-page pre-match prep sheet. Every example uses real REEFSCAPE (2025) numbers from the official game manual, real part/tool names, and runnable snippets so a sub-team can reproduce each result before its next event.

5.1 Project 1: Configure a QRScout Form for REEFSCAPE (45 min)
5.2 Project 2: Compute OPR by Hand, Then in a Spreadsheet (55 min)
5.3 Project 3: Pull Live Data with the TBA and Statbotics APIs (50 min)
5.4 Project 4: Build an EPA-Component Robot Ranking Sheet (50 min)
5.5 Project 5: Assemble a One-Page Pre-Match Prep Sheet (40 min)

06. Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting

The failure modes that quietly sink scouting operations, and the debugging workflows that fix them. You will learn to diagnose and prevent mislabeled and missing data, measure and improve scout accuracy, recognize when OPR/EPA mislead you (defense, small samples, blowouts), keep the data pipeline alive when wifi and batteries fail at a venue, and avoid the human and analytical traps that turn good data into bad picks. Grounded in real REEFSCAPE scenarios and tools teams actually use.

6.1 Bad Data at the Source: Mislabeled, Missing, and Miscounted (45 min)
6.2 Measuring and Improving Scout Accuracy (45 min)
6.3 When OPR and EPA Mislead You (45 min)
6.4 Pipeline Failures at the Venue: Wifi, Batteries, and Sync (40 min)
6.5 Human and Analytical Traps in Strategy Decisions (40 min)

07. Advanced Techniques & Case Studies

Deep dives into the techniques top scouting programs actually use, anchored in real systems and seasons. You will study Team 1678 Citrus Circuits’ multi-app pipeline, learn predictive match modeling and how Statbotics estimates win probability, design custom game-specific metrics that out-resolve generic OPR/EPA, build a data-driven defense-evaluation framework (the thing OPR cannot see), and engineer a full automated analysis pipeline that joins your scouting with public APIs. Every lesson ties an advanced concept to a concrete, reproducible practice.

7.1 Case Study: Team 1678 Citrus Circuits’ Scouting Pipeline (45 min)
7.2 Predictive Match Modeling and Win Probability (50 min)
7.3 Designing Custom Game-Specific Metrics (50 min)
7.4 A Data-Driven Defense Evaluation Framework (45 min)
7.5 Engineering an Automated Analysis Pipeline (55 min)

Safety

Build a safety-first robotics culture. 7 Modules • 28 Lessons

01. Foundations: A Culture of Safety and the People Who Lead It

Safety in FIRST is a value, not a checklist. This module explains the culture of safety every team must embrace, who is responsible for it, and the official roles and recognition programs — the Student Safety Captain, UL Solutions Safety Managers, the Safety All Star, and the Safety Animation Award.

1.1 What a Culture of Safety Means in FIRST (18 min)
1.2 The Student Safety Captain (18 min)
1.3 Safety Managers, the Safety All Star, and the Safety Animation Award (16 min)

02. PPE and Shop Safety

The day-to-day fundamentals: the personal protective equipment FIRST requires, how to use hand tools and shop machines safely, machine guarding, and controlling the stored energy that makes a robot dangerous to service.

2.1 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Eyes, Hands, Feet, Ears (18 min)
2.2 Hand Tools, Tool Storage, and Mechanical Guards (17 min)
2.3 Stored Energy, Soldering, and Chemical Safety (18 min)

03. Battery, Pneumatics, and Electrical Safety

The three energy systems that make an FRC robot powerful — and dangerous if mishandled. Learn to handle, charge, and dispose of batteries; operate a pneumatic system safely; and respect the robot’s electrical system.

3.1 Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) Battery Safety (20 min)
3.2 Lithium-Ion Battery Safety (15 min)
3.3 Pneumatics System Safety (18 min)
3.4 Robot Electrical Safety (18 min)

04. Events, Robot Handling, and Your Team Safety Program

Bring it all to competition: the enforced pit and event safety rules, safe robot lifting and transport, and how to build and run a real team safety program with the FIRST Safety Checklist and Corrective Action Plan.

4.1 Event and Pit Safety Rules (18 min)
4.2 Safe Robot Lifting, Handling, and Transport (17 min)
4.3 Building a Team Safety Manual and Running Inspections (18 min)

05. Safety Worked Examples & Mini-Projects

A hands-on, buildable module where your safety program stops being a binder and becomes a set of repeatable procedures, tools, and code. You will build a real battery-management workflow with the Battery Beak and a logging spreadsheet, wire and document a Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) procedure for the robot, write motor-controller current-limit code that prevents brownouts, assemble a competition-grade pit safety kit with exact part numbers, and run a 30-minute mock pit safety inspection. Every example is concrete, uses real FRC parts and real APIs, and produces an artifact you can show a UL Safety Advisor. Note: since the 2022 season FIRST no longer judges a standalone Industrial Safety Award; instead, safe practices are a requirement for eligibility for ALL judged awards, and UL Safety Advisors still walk the pits to observe, assess, and coach teams. Building these artifacts is how you satisfy that requirement.

5.1 Mini-Project: A Battery Management & Logging System (35 min)
5.2 Mini-Project: Write a Robot Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) Procedure (30 min)
5.3 Worked Example: Current Limits That Prevent Brownouts (30 min)
5.4 Mini-Project: Assemble a Competition Pit Safety Kit (30 min)
5.5 Mini-Project: Run a Mock Pit Safety Inspection (30 min)

06. Common Safety Mistakes & Troubleshooting

Real pitfalls, the symptoms that reveal them, and the debugging workflow to fix them - at the bench, in the pit, and in code. This module catalogs the mistakes that actually injure FRC teams and tank inspections: brownouts from undersized wiring and missing current limits, battery handling errors, electrical-isolation failures inspectors fail you for, stored-energy surprises during pit work, and the pit-conduct findings (daisy-chained strips, missing glasses) a UL Safety Advisor flags. Each lesson pairs the mistake with a concrete diagnostic procedure and a verified fix using real part numbers and real rule numbers.

6.1 Troubleshooting Brownouts and Power Sag (25 min)
6.2 Battery Handling Mistakes That Cause Injuries and Fires (20 min)
6.3 Electrical Isolation and Wiring Mistakes Inspectors Fail You For (25 min)
6.4 Stored-Energy Surprises: Pneumatics and Springs (20 min)
6.5 Pit and Shop Conduct Mistakes That Hurt Your Judging (20 min)

07. Advanced Safety Engineering & Case Studies

A deep-dive into the systems thinking that separates a checklist from a real safety program. You will apply the OSHA/NIOSH Hierarchy of Controls to design out FRC hazards, run a Job Safety Analysis (JSA) on shop machines, build a design FMEA with Risk Priority Numbers to prioritize the riskiest mechanisms, run rigorous incident investigations with 5 Whys, and study worked case studies - a brownout-caused match loss, a battery fire avoided, and a pneumatic injury near-miss - to see these tools in action. This is how teams build safety on substance, not posters - which matters now that safe practices are a requirement for eligibility for every judged award.

7.1 The Hierarchy of Controls Applied to FRC (25 min)
7.2 Job Safety Analysis (JSA) for Shop Machines (30 min)
7.3 Design FMEA: Prioritizing Risk with RPN (30 min)
7.4 Incident Investigation and Root-Cause Analysis (25 min)
7.5 Case Studies: Three Failures and the Lessons (25 min)

Business, Operations & Fundraising

Run your team — and fund it — like a real organization. 14 Modules • 49 Lessons

Prerequisites: Foundations: Nonprofits, Budgets, and Teams

A start-here primer on the organizational and financial basics every FRC team needs off the field. Before you fundraise, file paperwork, or run a build season, learn what a nonprofit actually is, how to build a budget that survives a six-week sprint, and how to manage a project with a real deadline. Each lesson teaches the concept from scratch, then ties it directly to how FRC teams operate.

01. Team Structure & Leadership

Learn how FRC teams organize themselves into sub-teams led by students and supported by mentors. This module covers leadership roles, the place of the business sub-team in the org chart, and the official adult roles FIRST requires.

1.1 What an FRC Team Actually Is (25 min)
1.2 Sub-Teams and the Org Chart (25 min)
1.3 Student Leadership and Mentors (25 min)

02. Project Management Through Build Season

The build season is FRC’s high-pressure crunch. This module teaches how to plan the season, use Gantt charts and Kanban boards, coordinate sub-teams, and manage the modern (no-bag-day) schedule.

2.1 The Season Timeline at a Glance (25 min)
2.2 Gantt Charts and Build Schedules (25 min)
2.3 Kanban, Task Tracking, and Tools (20 min)

03. Budgeting, Finance & Fundraising

Robots cost real money. This module covers what an FRC team actually spends, how to build a budget, and how to fund it through sponsorships and grants like NASA and Gene Haas.

3.1 What an FRC Team Costs (25 min)
3.2 Building and Managing a Budget (25 min)
3.3 Sponsorships and Grants (30 min)

04. Sustainability, Documentation & the Business Plan

Great teams outlast their founders. This module covers member recruitment and retention, knowledge documentation, the team business plan, and how the business sub-team supports the whole team at competition.

4.1 Recruitment and Retention (25 min)
4.2 Documentation and Knowledge Transfer (25 min)
4.3 Writing the Team Business Plan (25 min)
4.4 Business at Competition: Scouting, Strategy, and Logistics (25 min)

05. The FIRST Impact Award

The FIRST Impact Award is the program’s most prestigious honor and the only path to the Hall of Fame. This module explains the award’s criteria, the official definitions, the submission components, and how to win it.

5.1 Understanding the Impact Award (25 min)
5.2 The Official Definitions (30 min)
5.3 Building a Winning Submission (30 min)

06. Understanding the Cost of an FRC Team

Before you can raise money, you need to know exactly what you are raising it for. This module breaks down every line item in a realistic FRC budget and explains the Regional vs District cost structures.

6.1 What FRC Actually Costs: The Big Picture (25 min)
6.2 Registration & Event Fees in Detail (20 min)
6.3 Regional vs District: How Your Region Changes the Math (18 min)

07. FIRST Grants & Sponsorship Programs

FIRST and its corporate partners offer grants that can cover a large chunk of your registration. This module maps the major programs, their eligibility rules, and their deadlines.

7.1 The FIRST Team Grant Opportunities Portal (22 min)
7.2 The NASA FRC Sponsorship Grant (22 min)
7.3 Gene Haas, Intuitive & Foundation Grants (22 min)

08. Winning Corporate Sponsors

Grants help, but most teams are funded by local and corporate sponsors. This module covers building a sponsorship packet, defining tiers, and running outreach that actually lands partners.

8.1 Building Your Sponsorship Packet (24 min)
8.2 Designing Sponsorship Tiers (22 min)
8.3 Corporate Outreach That Converts (24 min)

09. Grant Writing, Fundraising Events & Crowdfunding

Beyond sponsors, teams raise money through written grant proposals, community fundraising events, crowdfunding, and matching-gift programs. This module covers the mechanics and the nonprofit structure behind them.

9.1 Grant Writing & Nonprofit Structure (26 min)
9.2 Fundraising Events & In-Kind Drives (20 min)
9.3 Crowdfunding & Matching Gifts (22 min)

Landing a sponsor is only the start. Keeping them - which is far cheaper than finding new ones - is what makes a team financially sustainable. This module covers thank-yous, recognition, reporting, and renewal.

10.1 Thanking & Recognizing Sponsors (20 min)
10.2 Reporting Impact & Keeping Sponsors Engaged (22 min)
10.3 Renewals, Records & Building a Sustainable Program (22 min)

11. Worked Examples & Mini-Projects: Build Your Team’s Business Toolkit

Stop reading about budgets and sponsorships and actually build the artifacts your team runs on. This module is a series of hands-on mini-projects: a real season budget model with working spreadsheet formulas, a sponsor CRM, a grant-pipeline tracker, an automated sponsor impact report that pulls live results from The Blue Alliance API, and a competition travel planner. Every example uses real 2025-2026 FRC numbers from the official FIRST median budget data so the artifacts you build are usable on day one, not toy examples.

11.1 Mini-Project 1: A Working Season Budget Model (35 min)
11.2 Mini-Project 2: A Sponsor CRM in a Spreadsheet (30 min)
11.3 Mini-Project 3: A Grant Pipeline & Deadline Tracker (25 min)
11.4 Mini-Project 4: Auto-Generate a Sponsor Impact Report from The Blue Alliance API (45 min)
11.5 Mini-Project 5: A Competition Travel & Logistics Planner (30 min)

12. Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting in FRC Operations

Most teams do not fail because of bad engineering — they fail because of bad operations: cash-flow surprises, tax mistakes that can revoke nonprofit status, sponsors who quietly walk away, grant applications that get rejected for avoidable reasons, and knowledge that evaporates when seniors graduate. This module is a field guide to the real pitfalls FRC teams hit on the business side, each paired with a concrete debugging workflow and a fix. Learn from other teams’ expensive mistakes instead of repeating them.

12.1 Budgeting & Cash-Flow Pitfalls (25 min)
12.2 The Tax Traps: Individual Accounts, Private Benefit & UBIT (30 min)
12.3 Why Sponsors Leave (and How to Keep Them) (25 min)
12.4 Grant Application Mistakes That Get You Rejected (22 min)
12.5 Knowledge Loss & Operational Continuity Failures (23 min)

13. Advanced Techniques & Case Studies: Building a Hall-of-Fame-Caliber Program

This is the deep end of the business side: forming and running your own 501(c)(3), building multi-year financial models with reserves and even endowments, scaling impact from local outreach to systemic advocacy, and learning directly from FIRST Hall of Fame teams whose programs have lasted decades. Every case study cites real, verifiable facts from the FIRST Hall of Fame and recent FIRST Championship Impact Award winners. Use this module to think like a program builder, not just a season operator.

13.1 Should Your Team Become a 501(c)(3)? Structure Deep-Dive (30 min)
13.2 Multi-Year Financial Modeling: Reserves, Runway & Endowments (32 min)
13.3 Scaling Impact: From Local Outreach to Systemic Advocacy (28 min)
13.4 Case Study: Hall of Fame Programs Decoded (30 min)
13.5 Governance, Risk & Compliance for a Mature Program (27 min)

Media, Branding & Outreach

Branding, media, and community impact. 8 Modules • 29 Lessons

Prerequisites: Foundations: Visual Storytelling Basics

A start-here primer on the photography, video, and graphic-design fundamentals every media-outreach newcomer needs before producing team content. Learn how to compose a shot, lay out a clean graphic, and speak the language of cameras and editing, with concrete examples tied to capturing your FRC robot, your team, and your competition season.

01. Building Your Team Brand & Identity

A strong brand makes your team instantly recognizable at events, online, and to sponsors. This module covers logos, colors, fonts, brand guidelines, and how to stay consistent while respecting FIRST’s trademark rules.

1.1 Why Branding Matters in FRC (25 min)
1.2 Designing a Logo, Color Palette & Fonts (35 min)
1.3 Writing a Brand Guidelines Document (30 min)

02. Content Creation: Photo, Video & Graphic Design

This module turns you into a content machine: shooting great photos and video at events, editing them, and producing professional graphics for buttons, sponsor packets, and social media.

2.1 Photography at FRC Events (35 min)
2.2 Videography & Editing (40 min)
2.3 Graphic Design for Print & Digital (35 min)

Your online footprint is how the world finds you between competitions. This module covers a sustainable social media strategy, building and maintaining a team website, and keeping your Blue Alliance profile current.

3.1 Social Media Strategy (35 min)
3.2 Building & Maintaining a Team Website (35 min)
3.3 The Blue Alliance & Your Online Footprint (20 min)

04. Outreach, Awards & Sponsorship

This module connects media and branding to real-world impact: running community outreach and demos, winning the FIRST Impact Award, and turning your story into sponsorship dollars.

4.1 Community Outreach & Spreading the FIRST Mission (35 min)
4.2 Running Demos, Workshops & Pit/Swag Culture (30 min)
4.3 Winning the FIRST Impact Award (35 min)
4.4 Turning Media into Sponsorship (30 min)

05. Worked Examples & Mini-Projects

Stop reading about media work and start shipping it. This module is a series of buildable, end-to-end mini-projects you can complete in a single meeting or weekend: a real match-day photo workflow, a 60-second highlight reel cut in free software, a CAD-to-render robot reveal, a one-page press release for a local paper, and a script that pulls your match results from The Blue Alliance API. Every project lists the exact tools, real settings, sample copy, and working code so a new student can follow along and produce something publishable the same day.

5.1 Mini-Project 1: A Repeatable Match-Day Photo Workflow (35 min)
5.2 Mini-Project 2: A 60-Second Highlight Reel in DaVinci Resolve (Free) (45 min)
5.3 Mini-Project 3: A CAD-to-Render Robot Reveal (50 min)
5.4 Mini-Project 4: A One-Page Press Release for Your Local Paper (30 min)
5.5 Mini-Project 5: Auto-Pull Match Results from The Blue Alliance API (40 min)

06. Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting

The fastest way to get good at media and outreach is to stop making the same avoidable mistakes everyone else makes. This module catalogs the real pitfalls FRC media teams hit — blurry photos, copyright-struck videos, posting a minor’s name against FIRST policy, missing the Impact Award character limits, and dead sponsor logos — and gives you a concrete debugging workflow and fix for each. Treat it as a pre-flight checklist before you shoot, post, or submit.

6.1 Photo & Video Capture Failures and How to Diagnose Them (30 min)
6.2 The Youth Protection & Consent Mistakes That Get Teams in Trouble (30 min)
6.3 Impact Award Submission Errors That Cost You (35 min)
6.4 Branding & Design Pitfalls: Logos, Color, and Sponsor Recognition (30 min)

07. Advanced Techniques & Case Studies

Once your media team can reliably shoot, edit, and post, the next level is strategy: measuring whether your content actually works, building a sustainable content system instead of last-minute scrambles, telling a multi-year impact story that wins the FIRST Impact Award, and learning from the teams who have done it best. This module covers analytics-driven content strategy, building a media pipeline that survives graduation, deep-diving the Impact Award as a storytelling discipline, and concrete case studies from top FRC teams.

7.1 Analytics-Driven Content Strategy: Measuring What Works (35 min)
7.2 Building a Content Pipeline That Survives Graduation (35 min)
7.3 The Impact Award as a Multi-Year Storytelling Discipline (40 min)
7.4 Case Studies: Learning From the Best FRC Media Teams (35 min)

The Impact Award

Pursue FRC’s most prestigious award. 8 Modules • 30 Lessons

Prerequisites: Foundations: Storytelling and Clear Writing

Before you write a single line of an Impact Award submission, you need the writing fundamentals that make judges care. This primer teaches you how to structure a story, write with clarity, and prove your claims with evidence, then connects each skill to the real constraints of the FIRST Impact Award (a 10,000-character essay, 500-character executive-summary answers, and an optional video). Start here, then move on to the department’s main lessons.

01. Understanding the Impact Award

Learn what the FIRST Impact Award is, what it recognizes, how it is judged, and what makes a team eligible. This module builds the conceptual foundation before you write a single word.

1.1 What the Impact Award Is and Why It Matters (25 min)
1.2 Eligibility and the Two-Tier Competition System (25 min)
1.3 How Judges Evaluate Submissions (30 min)
1.4 The Official Definitions: Speak the Judges’ Language (30 min)

02. Building the Written Submission

The heart of the award: the 12 executive summaries, the optional judge-feedback question, the 10,000-character essay, and the documentation that backs them up. This module turns your team’s work into a compelling, evidence-based written case.

2.1 Getting Organized: Inventory Your Impact (30 min)
2.2 Writing the 12 Executive Summaries (35 min)
2.3 Writing the 10,000-Character Essay (40 min)
2.4 The Documentation Form and Proving Your Claims (30 min)

03. The Presentation, Interview, and Video

The live, human side of the award. This module covers the 12-minute in-person interview (up to a 7-minute presentation plus up to a 5-minute Q&A), the feedback loop, and the optional 3-minute video.

3.1 Structuring the 7-Minute Presentation (35 min)
3.2 Acing the Judge Q&A and Using Feedback (35 min)
3.3 Producing the Optional 3-Minute Video (35 min)

04. Building a Program Worth Recognizing

The Impact Award is won in the field, not the document. This module covers how to build sustainable outreach, measure it, and navigate advancement to the FIRST Championship Hall of Fame.

4.1 Designing Sustainable Outreach Programs (30 min)
4.2 Measuring and Documenting Impact (30 min)
4.3 Advancement, the Championship, and the Hall of Fame (30 min)

05. Worked Examples & Mini-Projects

Stop reading about the Impact Award and start building it. This module is a hands-on workshop of five concrete, buildable deliverables every serious Impact team needs: a live impact-tracking spreadsheet, an automated outreach data pipeline that pulls real awards data from The Blue Alliance, a fully worked executive-summary rewrite inside the real 500-character limit, a reusable outreach-event playbook, and a documentation-form assembly line. Each lesson gives you copy-pasteable structures, real formulas and code, and finished examples drawn from the 2025 Championship winner, Team 5985 Project Bucephalus. By the end you will have produced artifacts you can use in this season’s submission.

5.1 Build a Living Impact Tracker (Spreadsheet Mini-Project) (35 min)
5.2 Automate Outreach Data with The Blue Alliance API (40 min)
5.3 Worked Example: Rewriting a 500-Character Executive Summary (30 min)
5.4 Mini-Project: An Outreach Event Playbook You Can Reuse (35 min)
5.5 Mini-Project: Assemble a Bulletproof Documentation Form (30 min)

06. Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting

Most Impact Award losses are self-inflicted. This module is a field guide to the specific, recurring failures that sink submissions — vague unmeasured claims, ignoring the 3-year window, robot-centric storytelling, missing or login-locked evidence, blown character limits, an interview that can’t ‘describe’ what the rubric asks — and gives you a concrete debugging workflow for each. Every pitfall comes with a symptom, a diagnosis, and a fix you can apply this week, plus a pre-submission checklist and a dry-run protocol to catch problems before judges do.

6.1 The ‘List of Activities’ Trap and How to Escape It (30 min)
6.2 Ignoring the 3-Year Window and the Robot Trap (28 min)
6.3 Evidence and Documentation Failures (27 min)
6.4 Character-Limit, Definitions, and Submission-Logistics Bugs (26 min)

07. Advanced Techniques & Case Studies

For teams ready to compete at the District, Regional, Championship, and Hall of Fame level. This module dissects real winning submissions — Team 5985 Project Bucephalus (2025 Championship winner), Team 2486 CocoNuts (2024), and Team 321 RoboLancers (2023) — to extract transferable techniques: narrative architecture, quantified impact systems, multi-year strategy, partnership ecosystems, and the path through advancement to the Hall of Fame. These are advanced patterns, grounded entirely in public, verifiable winning submissions and official FIRST sources.

7.1 Case Study: Deconstructing Team 5985’s 2025 Winning Essay (35 min)
7.2 Advanced Technique: Building a Quantified Impact System (33 min)
7.3 Advanced Technique: Partnership Ecosystems and Sustainability Engineering (32 min)
7.4 Case Studies in Advancement: From District to the Hall of Fame (34 min)