New Student Guide
Contributors:
Oscar Jorgenson, Philip Coburn
Embedded Files
Introduction
Introduction
This article orients new students to FIRST, FIRST at Nichols, and team structure, and history, as well as serving as a landing page for students to learn new skills they are interested in. Read the brief descriptions and click the links to access the corresponding articles.
Section | Important Links
Section | Important Links
Every student must know what FIRST is and what it represents. This article gives an overview of the organizations and its programs.
Another important piece is how FIRST integrates with Nichols School. We have 6 teams, made up of roughly 120 students total.
Our #1 priority at Electric Mayhem is SAFETY. All students must familiarize themselves with the lab and its dangers in person, but start here for an overview, along with some team norms.
Section 2 | Get to Know the Nichols Teams
Section 2 | Get to Know the Nichols Teams
The FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international event where high school teams design and build robots to compete in dynamic games, fostering STEM skills, teamwork, and innovation. Founded by Dean Kamen in 1989, FRC emphasizes technical excellence, gracious professionalism, and community involvement. A key honor, the Impact Award, recognizes teams for their outreach, organization, and positive influence on STEM education.
First Tech Challenge (FTC) is a robotics competition for high school students. Teams design, build, and program robots to compete in tasks and score points, while emphasizing teamwork, creativity, and real-world engineering skills over a longer time span to work.
First LEGO League (FLL) is a global competition where student teams build and program LEGO robots to complete missions and create innovative solutions to real-world problems, all while focusing on teamwork and STEM skills.
Section 3 | Mechanical / CAD Skills
Section 3 | Mechanical / CAD Skills
Hand tools are the cornerstone of robot fabrication. Click to learn about the ones we use on a regular basis.
CAD, or computer aided design, lets us turn ideas into 3D models, allowing us to print and route parts out of plastic and polycarb.
Power tools are another essential toolset we have access to. They can both be used to make a task easier or even possible at all.
CAM, or computer aided machining, is how we tell the router how to make a 2D piece of plastic from a piece we cadded.
Shop tools are the highest level of material manipulation. With them we can cut and shape any material to be beneficial on the bot.
This page teaches you how to 3D print on all of the many printers we have in the lab. These plastic parts are very useful on bots.
Section 4 | Programming Skills
Section 4 | Programming Skills
Git is how you move code to important places, and knowing how to use it is paramount for coders.
Page updated
Report abuse