FIRST Acronyms

[SSMike]

So the other day my friend was reading someone’s post, and he had to ask me what some of the acronyms meant, like KOP and GDC. So I proceeded to tell him and after I did, I realized how hard it must be for someone new to FIRST or even just a guest on Chief Delphi to understand some of the acronyms that veterans commonly use. Personally I was able to ask veterans on my team but I think that newcomers should be able to just see what a lot of the common “FIRST acronyms” actually mean. So as not to discourage people to want to join or stay connected with FIRST and Chief Delphi, I have compiled a list of common acronyms that will be seen in a fair amount of posts. Hopefully this will get more people involved with FIRST, maybe not but at least it should help the newcomers better understand some of the veteran’s “lingo.”

Let’s start with the most frequent ones:
FIRST – For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology
CD – Chief Delphi
FRC - FIRST Robotics Competition
FTC - FIRST Tech Challenge
FLL - FIRST Lego League
GP- Gracious Professionalism

The Others:
TBA -The Blue Alliance
KOP – Kit of Parts
GDC – Game Design Committee
CAD – Computer Aided Design
WAI – Who Am I
WFA – Woodie Flowers Award
UFH – Unsung FIRST Hero

Certain regionals have abbreviated acronyms such as Greater Toronto Regional, Finger Lakes Regional, and the Great Lakes Regional (GTR, FLR, and GLR respectively)

This isn’t a regional, but it is a big FIRST event: IRI - Indiana Robotics Invitational

All right that’s enough of me talking (sorry about the long post); anyone else who comes up with a suitable acronym that I forgot, please post.

[Elgin Clock]

Don't forget to correctly italicize FIRST.

And you forgot a major one while designing your robot...

K.I.S.S.

And since Nats. is no longer accepted (by most) for shortening The Championship Event, and since The Championship Event takes so long to write ... I just use ATL too abbreviate Atlanta when talking about The Championship Event.
(as do some others as well)

Year specific ones can include IR Sensor (Infrared Sensor) & CMU Cam (Carnegie-Mellon University [developed] Camera)

Some other random ones:

DK: Dean Kamen
WF: Woodie Flowers
DL: Dave Lavery
Manch-Vegas: Home of FIRST HQ; Manchester New Hampshire.
HQ: Headquarters


Robot specific (or product specific terms can be) ones can be:

RC: Robot Controller (goes on the robot)
OI: Operator Interface (goes in your driver's station)
PSI: pounds per square inch (Pneumatics)
80/20: A company name that makes extruded aluminum and the products that are used with it. (brand name)
AM: (AndyMark)
RPM: Revolutions Per Minute (of the shaft coming out of your gearboxes or motors)


There are a ton more.. but those are the more common ones I can think of.

[EricH]

IFI: Innovation FIRST Inc., who supplies the control system
GTS: Gear Tooth Sensor
Q&A: the official question and answer forums

One that doesn't come up here very often, but can be seen at any event:
FTA: FIRST Technical Advisor; or, the person responsible for the field running smoothly from arrival to departure. Wears a blue vest with FTA on the back.

[AndyB]

COTS - Commercial Off the Shelf
TIMS - Team Information Management System
VIMS - Volunteer Information & Matching System
TBA - The Blue Alliance (thebluealliance.net)

We had a nice discussion last night over what COTS meant. Figured it would fit here.

[Lil' Lavery]

MSC - MSC Industrial Supply Company
FVC - FIRST Vex Challenge (former name for FIRST Tech Challenge)
FRV - FIRST Robotics Vex? (nobody really knows what it stands for, former name for FIRST Tech Challenge)
UTC - United Technologies, usually referring to the UTC Regional in Hartford, CT.
LVR - Las Vegas Regional
LSR - Lone Star Regional
GSR - Granite State Regional, held in New Hampshire
BAE- BAE Systems, usually referring to BAE Granite State Regional, in New Hampshire
BC#-Battlecry #, referring to the Battlecry off-season event. # corresponds to which year (Battlecry 8 took place in 2007)

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

Don't forget to correctly italicize FIRST.



And since Nats. is no longer accepted (by most) for shortening The Championship Event, and since The Championship Event takes so long to write ... I just use ATL too abbreviate Atlanta when talking about The Championship Event.
(as do some others as well)

AKA CHP
NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization )
JFLL Junior FIRST LEGO League (don't forget the caps on LEGO)

[AndyB]

IRI - Indiana Robotics Invitational

Can't forget that one.

[jacob07]

FTC-First Tech Challenge
FLL- First Lego League

[Koko Ed]

FLR- Finger Lakes Regional
GLR- Great Lakes Regional
GTR- Greater Toronto Regional

[KathieK]

UTC - former name. Now known as CTR - Connecticut Regional
NEM- pronounced "neem" - a member of NEMO, a non-engineering mentor
EM - pronounced "eem" - could also be a member of NEMO - an engineering mentor
BATB - Bash at the Beach off-season event in Connecticut
n.e.r.d. - New England Robotics Division - a group of FIRSTers in New England
GDC - game design committee

[jtdowney]

BMR - Boilermaker Regional

[LightWaves1636]

80/20 - Company that makes extruded aluminum, deriving their name from their motto, "80% of the results from 20% of the effort"

[artdutra04]

Nothing in the engineering world is ever complete without copious amounts of TLA's - three letter acronyms.

Bonus points if they are recursive.

[jtdowney]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

Bonus points if they are recursive.

Extra bonus if they are recursive and a backronym. Such as the PHP Hypertext Preprocessor.

[sishu7]

PNW - Pacific Northwest Regional (Now the Oregon Regional)
HOF - Hall of Fame

And... and anagram (which will forever be remembered):
Vets hurdling FIRST tetra...
Drive straight, turn left!!!!!!