Guided by adult coaches and mentors, students develop STEM skills and practice engineering principles, while realizing the value of hard work, innovation, and working as a team.
After completing firstinspires.org registration, teams pay a FIRST South Carolina team registration fee of $300 to cover their participation in South Carolina FTC events. For more information on participation policies, review the SC FTC Participation and Registration Policy
FIRST Tech Challenge teams (up to 15 team members, grades 7-12) are challenged to design, build, program, and operate robots to compete in a head-to-head challenge in an alliance format.
Start a Team
FIRST Tech Challenge teams design and build a robot using a reusable kit of parts and compete within a common set of game rules to play an exciting field game and complete the specific season challenge. The robot game changes every season and is always a blast!
Student and adult team members are encouraged to bring any skills they already have, like programming, electronics, metalworking, graphic design, web creation, public speaking, videography, and many more. FIRST Tech Challenge welcomes every student, with or without special skills.
Interested in starting a team?
Email our FIRST Tech Challenge Program Delivery Partner
Christine LaRue at christine.larue@firstsouthcarolina.org
2026-2027 BIOBUZZ
In BIOBUZZ™ presented by RTX, a new challenge releasing September 12, 2026, FIRST Tech Challenge teams will use engineering skills and amplify the excitement and energy found within the natural world. BIOBUZZ is part of the FIRST® CANOPY™ season.