Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from three out of every five Fortune 500 companies and more than $14 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC® ) and FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC® ) for high-school students, FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL® ) for 9 to 14-year-olds, (9 to 16-year-olds outside the U.S. and Canada) and Junior FIRST® LEGO® League (Jr.FLL™) for 6 to 9-year-olds. Gracious Professionalism™ is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org.

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA FIRST By Karl Reid & edited by Harold Holley 12-2011

OKLAHOMA FIRST ROBOTICS TEAM HISTORY – Look at the record (as of November 2011)

1999 – 1 active team

2005 – 5 active teams

2006 – 8 active teams

2007 – 12 active teams

2008 – 39 active teams

2009 – 47 active teams

2010 – 49 active teams

2011 – 48 active teams

OKLAHOMA REGIONAL-FIRST ROBOTICS COMPETITION HISTORY:

2008 – Cox Center, Oklahoma City, 39 teams

2009 – Cox Center, Oklahoma City, 50 teams

2010 – Cox Center, Oklahoma City, 55 teams

2011 – Cox Center, Oklahoma City, 52 teams

2012 – Cox Center, Oklahoma City, 54 teams

This has happened because of the hard work of many people, including Burns Hargis, President of OSU; Mickey Clagg, Oklahoma City Businessman; Tonya Scott, science teacher at Ponca City High School; Jack Sellers, FIRST Volunteer and retired District Director of SWB; John Herrington, Former Astronaut; Bill Anoatubby, Governor of the Chickasaw Tribe; and Ron Markum, Research Engineer in the Web Handling Research Center at OSU.

And, this happened because the State Legislature appropriated $100,000 each of the past four years to incentivize new teams from all over Oklahoma.

This is the seventh year for the OSU College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology to host a FIRST Robotics KICKOFF to launch the design-build season leading to competition at the Regional and National levels. Leadership of the national FIRST organization has told us that this is the largest satellite KICKOFF and the BEST ONE. We have established a “best practices” dimension in our Kickoff that is being adopted at the national level. The national KICKOFF will be broadcast live on the NASA Channel from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 12, 2012.

On March 29-31, 2012 we will have the fifth Oklahoma Regional Competition at the Cox Center in OKC. Those who score well in the Regional Competition will represent Oklahoma in the national competition in St Louis, MO on April 26-28, 2012.

Win or lose the high school participants will all be heroes. They will turn their ideas into reality during the six week design-build-deliver period, and they will have a great deal of fun doing so. But, they will not only have fun, they will have an experience that they will remember for many years. When they look back ten years from now, they will look at this experience as a highlight in their intellectual development and their team building skills.

FIRST Robotics is making a difference in the numbers of young people opting for study in science, mathematics and engineering at Oklahoma’s public and private institutions. We had a 13.5 % increase in new freshmen entering engineering at OSU from 2008 to 2009.

I love to watch exciting sports events, but I also love to watch intellectual sports like FIRST Robotics where creativity flourishes. In fact, Oklahoma FIRST Robotics can be considered as one of Oklahoma’s most exciting CREATIVITY PROJECTS.

Karl N. Reid

Regents Service Professor

Professor, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Director, Web Handling Research Center

College of Engineering, Architecture & Technology

Oklahoma State University