paper: FIRST Robotics: Inspiring Today’s Youth and Giving a Passion for Science And Technology

[Ian Curtis]

A couple of things (although, I assume you've already passed it in, so it really doesn't matter). U.S. FIRST was founded in 1989, but they sponsored their first competition in 1991. Also, FIRST likes it when we refer to ourselves as FRC.

Additionally, why'd you say we ship the robots to FIRST HQ? Although, I find the thought of filling 200 Bedford Street with 1300 robots quite amusing.

Finally, those numbers you list as just FRC over the existance of the program (130,000 students, 10,709 robots, 37,000 mentors, and 27,000 volunteers), are for all of FIRST in 2007. A very large part of that number is FLL. At least, that's what I get from the page, seeing as all the other numbers are from 2007, and if you add up the numbers of teams listed for each individual competition you get 10,709.

Overall though, I like it. I've tried to write a few papers on FIRST, but they never turn out like I want them to. Yours does an excellent job explaining what Dean and by extension, us, are trying to do.