PRESS ROOM & NEWS

Lights, Camera, STEAM! FIRST Announces 2023-2024 Youth Robotics Season, FIRST IN SHOW presented by Qualcomm Incorporated

Qualcomm Announced as Presenting Sponsor of the Arts and Entertainment-Themed Season, Inspiring Young People to Discover the Roles STEM Skills Play in the Arts

Season to Conclude with Return to Houston for International 2024 FIRST Championship

 

MANCHESTER, NH, May 18, 2023 – FIRST®, a robotics community that prepares young people for the future, announced the upcoming youth robotics season, FIRST® IN SHOWSM presented by Qualcomm. The 2023-2024 season’s arts and entertainment theme challenges FIRST teams to discover the roles STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills play in the arts and empowers them to bring their ideas to life.

Watch an inspiring tour of what’s ahead for FIRST IN SHOW.

The new season will kick off August 1 with the FIRST® LEGO® League challenge release, followed by FIRST® Tech Challenge in September and FIRST® Robotics Competition in January, and conclude in April with the 2024 FIRST Championship.

Season team registration through the FIRST Dashboard is now open.

“We’re proud to introduce a new, exciting season of FIRST that will inspire hundreds of thousands of students to discover how the STEM skills they’re learning through FIRST are applicable to a wide variety of career pathways, including those in the arts and entertainment industries,” said Chris Moore, chief executive officer, FIRST. “Brought to life by our outstanding community of mentors, coaches, educators, volunteers, sponsors, donors, and other supporters, this season will celebrate how theater, film, music, and design unite people in shared joy and wonder. Students will gain skills and inspiration to empower them to create the future they dream of.”

Qualcomm Incorporated, a FIRST Strategic Partner and longtime supporter of FIRST, returns as Season Presenting Sponsor of the FIRST IN SHOW season to inspire FIRST participants to use their curiosity, creativity, and artistry to design and build a world of endless possibilities.

“We’re thrilled to partner with FIRST on the upcoming robotics season focused on the ways in which artists and innovators use groundbreaking technologies to create connected experiences for all,” said Angela Baker, vice president of corporate responsibility, Qualcomm Incorporated. “At Qualcomm, we’re passionate about giving people the tools they need to bring their visionary ideas to life. We can’t wait to see the inspiring ways in which FIRST students connect, create, and collaborate this season.”

With support from a dedicated global community of mentors, coaches, educators, volunteers, sponsors, donors, alumni, and other supporters, the FIRST IN SHOW season theme will be pulled through the FIRST program games and challenges, in which students build robots to complete tasks and create innovative, real-world solutions and then celebrate what they learned and built at local and regional events:

  • FIRST LEGO League teams will imagine and innovate new ways to create and communicate art across the globe in MASTERPIECESM, debuting August 1.

  • FIRST Tech Challenge teams will raise the curtain on the power of design, creativity, and precision to create all new experiences in CENTERSTAGESM presented by Raytheon Technologies, debuting September 9.

  • FIRST Robotics Competition teams will use their engineering skills and creative power to entertain and move the world in CRESCENDOSM presented by Haas, debuting January 6, 2024.

The season-culminating 2024 FIRST Championship will be held April 17-20, 2024, in Houston.

Learn more about the 2023-2024 season at firstinspires.org/firstinshow and receive regular updates and latest news by signing up for the FIRST Newsletter.

 

About FIRST

FIRST® is a robotics community that prepares young people for the future through a suite of inclusive, team-based robotics programs for ages 4-18 (PreK-12) that can be facilitated in school or in structured afterschool programs. Boosted by a global support system of volunteers, educators, and sponsors that include over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies, teams operate under a signature set of FIRST Core Values to conduct research, fundraise, design, build, and showcase their achievements during annual challenges. An international not-for-profit organization founded by accomplished inventor Dean Kamen in 1989, FIRST has a proven impact on STEM learning, interest, and skill-building well beyond high school. Participants and alumni of FIRST programs gain access to education and career discovery opportunities, connections to exclusive scholarships and employers, and a place in the FIRST community for life. Learn more at firstinspires.org.