In 2022, Disney+ and FIRST^® premiered the Gillian Jacobs directed film “More Than Robots,” an original documentary produced by Supper Club, at the world-renowned SXSW Film Festival and launched it for international streaming on Disney+. 

The moment marked an important milestone for the FIRST community. The concept of FIRST being More Than Robots^® was nothing new, of course - anyone who has ever been involved in our sport knows that well. But the documentary, which was available to stream on Disney+ through 2023, hooked new audiences with an inspiring, suspenseful sports story and allowed us to introduce millions of people to the transformational experience of FIRST. The documentary showed viewers what makes FIRST More Than Robots – and what makes our community so special.  

 

The concept and visionary team behind “More Than Robots” 

Talks for a FIRST documentary began in late 2019, when producer Jason Sterman (Supper Club) connected with Lucasfilm (a Disney subsidiary) about future projects. 

“Lucasfilm made us aware that Star Wars: Force for Change would be the 2020 FIRST season sponsor and that in working with their partners at FIRST, there was an idea for a documentary. It was all very kismet,” said Jason. 

Supper Club immediately mobilized to put the film together ahead of the upcoming FIRST Robotics Competition season, set to kick off on January 4, 2020. “We traditionally take more time to develop and prep on our projects, but it was exciting to jump into something where we weren’t sure what would unfold,” said Jason. “Ultimately, knowing how amazing these kids are and what a great organization FIRST is, we felt confident heading into the film.” 

Another reason why Jason and the production crew team may have felt so confident taking on the project was because Disney could vouch for the credibility of FIRST as an organization and as a life-changing experience for kids. For more than 25 years, Disney has supported FIRST with financial, in-kind and mentorship resources.  

As Jason got rolling, the first thing he needed to do was find the director who would have the vision and expertise to helm the documentary. He and his team knew exactly who to turn to: Gillian Jacobs. “Gillian approaches every project with a desire to tell the best story, but she’s also the type of person who’s always looking to expand her knowledge, no matter the subject,” he said.  

For Gillian, it was meant to be. “I was already aware of FIRST and had interviewed a team for a print publication years earlier,” she said. “Given my ongoing interest in STEM and previous documentary work in that area, it seemed like a great fit. The more I learned about science, engineering and mathematics, the more curious I became. All of that led to ‘More Than Robots.’” 

Meet the Stars

“More Than Robots” follows four FIRST Robotics Competition teams as they make their way their competition events with the hopes of making it to the 2020 FIRST Championship. One member of each team is prominently featured, and each team has an adult mentor who the viewers get the opportunity to know as well. 

Diversity was important to the filmmakers when they began the process of choosing the teams to highlight. “We knew that we wanted to be as diverse as possible in choosing the teams to follow, in order to properly represent the global reach of FIRST and the importance of STEM around the world,” said Jason. “Additionally, the great thing about making this film for Disney+ is that it’s a global platform, so we didn’t want it to feel like the film was being put through the lens of Americans just for other Americans. So with that in mind, we purposely chose teams in other countries.” 

• Vitruvian Bots: The Vitruvian Bots team hails from a high school in Los Angeles. We meet Jacob, who has always been fascinated with numbers and airplanes. Jacob loves math and likes to play classical music on the piano. This is his first time on the team. Besides the opportunity to build robots, Jacob feels like he is improving his people skills by being on the team. 
• TeraWatts: Also from the greater LA area, the TeraWatts team is represented by Aaron. Aaron is a handy guy to have on the team as he can apply himself to all the aspects of robot building. Aaron has always kept to himself but being on the team has made him more extroverted. 
• Nautilus: The Nautilus team is from Mexico City. Mariana is a 17-year-old who loves music and has always had a desire to change the world. She is also part of the team’s sub-committee that works to promote FIRST awareness through community work. 
• Sakura Tempesta: From Chiba, Japan, Sakura Tempesta was founded by Kanon, a FIRST alum who attends college in the U.S. Unlike the other teams that are associated with a particular school, this team is community based. Kanon has always been interested in robots and was excited by the prospect of getting to build a large one for competition. She acts as a mentor for her team. 

A global pandemic halts production 

From the jump, everyone involved in the film envisioned that “More Than Robots” would bring about greater awareness for FIRST and the importance of STEM education experiences for young people. However, the filmmakers never expected that the production of the film would coincide with a global pandemic, and as that evolved, so did the vision for the film. 

“We never lost sight of that original vision,” said Jason. “But the importance of the message the film conveys became clearer. By the end, the film really felt like a prime example of how FIRST has helped these kids discover more about their abilities and how they play a part in the world that we all live in.” 

Despite the setbacks caused by the pandemic and the subsequent cancelation of the 2020 FIRST competition season, Gillian remained focused on celebrating the “dedication, passion, kindness, innovation and ingenuity” of the FIRST community. “Their principles of Gracious Professionalism^® and Coopertition^®, unique approach to competition, and dedication to others inspired me greatly and I wanted to share this remarkable program with the world,” she said. 

The production was filmed at two high schools in Los Angeles, one in Mexico City and a third in Japan, just outside of Tokyo. The students were filmed at their schools, in their homes and wherever the team was meeting. 

Initially the production was planned to take place over four months, starting with the FIRST season kickoff in January 2020, and ending with the FIRST Championship in April. However, once everything was shut down in March due to the spread of COVID-19, and the FIRST Championship was canceled, the filmmakers continued to record in various unique ways throughout the rest of 2020 in order to continue capturing the events and stories of the teams and the kids. 

“Gillian and I had many conversations in the early months of the pandemic about whether or not we should continue making the film,” said Jason. “There was no end in sight for COVID and the FIRST season had been canceled, so how could we keep making a movie without an ending? These kids showed us that you can’t just give up, and from watching how they mobilized and did what they could with the resources they had, it was incredibly inspiring. Watching them gave us the motivation to keep going with the film, and it gave our story more weight.” 

Summing up, Jason commented, “If there was any silver lining to the pandemic for us, it was that we were able to capture the true significance of FIRST, and we saw its impact in real time. FIRST teaches kids about much more than robots, and that’s what I hope audiences take away from the film, because it’s what we took away from making it.” 

Gillian added, “I hope that this film inspires viewers in their own lives, in the same way it has me. And, if they have any interest in joining or mentoring a FIRST team, all the better!” 

Significance of the film 

“More Than Robots” captures the essence of what it means to be part of FIRST: the teamwork, resilience, and hope that exists within our robotics community. It chronicles how an innovative, passionate, diverse community of students came together as a family and persisted during the toughest of times, bonded by their shared interest of building robots and using those transferable skills learned through FIRST to change the world. It allows audiences to truly get a sense for the excitement, heart, and hope of the unique and transformative experience of FIRST.  

The film was seen by millions of viewers around the world, bolstering broad awareness of FIRST programs and bringing greater awareness to the multifaceted benefits of STEM education experiences for children. 

Every year at FIRST Championship, FIRST founder Dean Kamen (who was featured in the film!) presents the Founder’s Award to one organization or individual for exceptional service in advancing the ideals and mission of FIRST. It made perfect sense that Gillian Jacobs was the recipient of this honor at the 2022 FIRST Championship. In her acceptance speech via video, Gillian said, “I named this documentary ‘More Than Robots’ because as you all well know better than anyone, FIRST is about so much more than robots. I learned that it’s about teamwork, compassion, friendship, learning new skills, and challenging yourself to do things you never dreamed you were capable of.” 

She continued, addressing the students directly: “You gave me hope, you gave me inspiration, and you are amazing and deserve to be celebrated.”