Why choose FRC instead of FTC?

[Bob Steele]

I believe that the biggest difference in FRC and FTC is the mentor participation.
I am only speaking in generalities here but FRC teams need more support from mentors than FTC teams. It is relatively easy to put together an FTC robot and little fabrication is generally done. It can and is done by student teams without much support from mentors.

There are FRC teams that have only students putting together robots but the real magic of FIRST is in putting together a team of Mentors AND Students working together...

This increases excitement and in the end produces the result that FIRST was founded on. That is to Inspire students....

FIRST has never been about teaching students to build robots. It is really about Students learning that they are capable of extraordinary things when working on a team. It inspires them by putting them in contact with active professional engineers that help them.

There are many great FTC teams that do similar things but it is nearly impossible to operate an FRC team without mentor support. This is by design.