Combat robotics is the main area that comes to mind. Unfortunatly for you, they are primarily centered in the San Fransisco area. Check out robogames, which features both combat robots, and a variety of other competitions, such as bipedial robots, sumo, soccer, etc.
However, you can also remain in FIRST long beyond high school, mentoring.
I don’t know what it’s called, but there is a competition for college students. It’s smaller size than FRC, but it’s robotics.
Battlebots and IFI new VEX college level come to mind.
Speaking of which, where would I find more info on that?
My guess is maybe http://www.robotevents.com/index.php? Seems more and more like robotevents is giving more press to IFI. Ah whatever. 
Not surprising, since it was created by IFI.
Some College Level Competitions -
International Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) - large robots (FIRST-sized), GPS navigation, obstacle avoidance, and vision
IEEE Region V Competition - small robots, all autonomous, line following, color detection, decision making, etc.
MATE - underwater robots
There are lots of others, just google.
The IEEE is the one my school competes in. There is interest in the College VEX, but that isn’t together yet, so…
I just saw the IGVC collegiate competition this summer. Way different than FIRST. BAsically imagine that Autonomous or hybrid mode was way tougher and way way longer.
It is pretty boring for spectators, but the students working on it really seem to enjoy it.
What is your background Waitwhat? Are you ME, EE… There are a lot of other interesting design challenges out there too.
There’s also BEST robotics and BotBall.
I want to do Robo-One someday. Its kinda like Soul Caliber, but with humanoid robots.
I saw the competition at Robogames and it was quite cool. Check it out on youtube.
Sumo is another very popular competition. Its a fun blend of mechanical, electrical, and programing. And since the robots are tiny its not too expensive. Much cooler IMO then antweight combat…
I know combat robotics has been mentioned, however there is a big scene in the Northeast open to everyone that I wanted to direct you towards.
The standard event website that has been having some issues lately is: http://www.buildersdb.com/
There are small and big events in the Northeast. The most notable is Motorama in February which drew 117 participants. A lot of them are sponsored by the overall establishment: NERC (North East Robot Combat)
The forums for NERC where you can get a lot of good info is at: http://forums.delphiforums.com/CJRC/start
Hope this helps, and hope you find something you enjoy.
-Greg
Some quick links.
Vex
Best
BotBall
BattleBots IQ
Robogames
Robot Fighting League
National Underwater Robotics Competition
Trinity College Fire Fighting Contest
(Battlebots IQ site is currently down)
Battlebots (says) they have received an offer from ESPN to run a show.
They want to run a pro heavyweight event and a full event for college teams. They also want to drastically change the rules to encourage new and more innovative weapons.
When will this happen? Nobody knows… Probably never… Yay! :mad:
jez, first comedy central and now ESPN… When will they get it right and put it on Discovery :mad:
www.midwestvex.org has just unveiled the 2008 Milwaukee Mentor Vex Challenge - Ping Pong Par. If you’re willing to come to Milwaukee (decidedly NOT in the Northeast) on September 13th, you’re in for a ton of fun. Its open to everyone that is NOT in high school.
Due to the owner (or whatever you want to call him) of Battlebots, Trey Roski, suing the NFL, Anheuser-Busch and NBC over this commercial, then more then likely no network will touch him after that.
Originally in around 2004-5 there was a deal in the works for it to be on the Discovery channel, but after the lawsuit Discovery pulled their (possible) offer.
IFI encourages any and every robotics event on the planet (or off…) to advertise using the RobotEvents site. Whether that site will catch on as a world-wide clearing house for this sort of info is another matter. I like the idea of having one place to look to find 99% of what is going on locally and elsewhere; and I hope that it does catch on.
One would presume that IFI is motivated to take the time to ensure events using IFI equipment are always listed there. For other organizations’ events, well, “You can lead a horse to water…”
Blake
It is not just IFI games that are being advertised or shown on that site. If you want “Joe Schmoe Robotics Competition” to have a part on there, I’m fairly sure they will let you put your events up there. IFI just puts out the money to run and host it.