FIRST - Reason for existance

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by Jessica Boucher

As time marched on, with the popularity of the Internet gaining speed as well as the gradual re-consolidation of companies, globalization became a huge aspect of US business, more than it ever had been before. This may have been part of FIRST's desire to go global - to mirror the economy.

Or maybe the opportunity came up to take on an int'l team and the thing snowballed, I don't know. I find it interesting, Steve, that you brought this discussion up, being from 188. Were you FIRST's first int'l team? I'd love some insight into this.

There was actually a team from Jamaica before 188, but Woburn is the first international team that stuck around. I was in my last year of High School at Woburn when 188 formed in 1998, so I can shed some light.

When Woburn first signed up for FIRST, we did it because looking for a new challenge. We had been in previous smaller robotics competitions, which no longer satisfied us. We knew very little about the mission of FIRST, rather we just saw it as a cool robotics competition. No special support or attention was given to us by FIRST for being an international team. (Nor did we seek it)

So, at the beginning Team 188 was a not project in getting FIRST to become an international competition. FIRST really began supporting the Canadian in movement in 2002, with the debut of the Canadian Regional.

I hope that answers some questions...