Should FIRST expand beyond robotics?

[EricH]

Yes... And no.

No because they're very successful with robotics as it is. Sticking with what works is the easiest path, and one that should work well.

Yes because robotics is easily seen as "Oh, you're a nerd/math whiz/waaayy too smart for me", so you probably want something else.

As for what to expand into, I can think of some high-school level science/technology competitions already in rocketry. What about a design-your-own R/C airplane event? Given a stock plane type, modify it any way you like to accomplish an objective (speed, lift, maneuverability). It'd probably be less expensive overall (my Aero Design team, which builds fully custom planes, has a budget lower than just about any FRC team's), has a built-in mentor field, and can be as easy or as hard as the teams make it.