FIRST Robotics Competition

• Chief Delphi
  Many FIRSTers spend way too much time on here. There's a lot of valuable knowledge - don't be afraid to ask a question. At the same time, take everything you read with a grain of salt because many of the people posting are team members and mentors like you.

• The Blue Alliance
  The Blue Alliance is the place for all information related to FRC teams and events. It has team info, event info, match schedules, match results, live videos of events, awards, and more. I am also a contributor to The Blue Alliance and you can be, too!

• FRCLinks
  The FIRST website (firstinspires.org) is a pain to navigate. FRCLinks creates short URLs so you can get to where you need to go faster. All links start frc.link followed by a code. My favorites include frc.link/e/g/event/year for an event's agenda, frc.link/e/event/year for an event's list of teams, frc.link/blog for the FRC Blog, and frc.link/d/year for the game manual. View all the options on the website.

• The Compass Alliance
  Great teams share their knowledge on TCA

• FIRST Robotics Network on Facebook
  A community of people sharing information and asking questions about FIRST Robotics. I am an admin of this particular group, but there are others out there, as well.

These questions are not a comprehensive list. Please look for other resources to supplement this. Your judges could ask all or none of these questions. They are just meant to get the ball rolling.

Tip: Interviews go by very quickly and the judges will probably not ask this many questions. Be sure to get out everything you feel you must get out within your first few answers.

• What does Gracious Professionalism mean to you?

• How do you show leadership on your team?

• When did you start FIRST? What caused you to join?

• Do you have any interaction with other FIRST programs (FLL, FLL Jr., FTC)?

• What is your favorite part of FIRST?

• If you could change one thing about FIRST, what would it be?

• Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

• What’s your niche in FIRST, or, what is unique about your role?

2022 Update: Many of the best features of the Lead Queuer tool have been built into FRC Queue, a new application that enables SMS and Slack based notifications to help teams queue for their matches, and also provides Queuers with a live dashboard, similar to the tool. I recommend you check it out! I likely won't be doing any major further upgrades to this tool.

• Google Sheets (makes a copy)

Please note: this guide hasn't been updated since 2018. You may wish to consult FIRST's newly published resources.

• View online

• View online

• Google Sheets (makes a copy)

• Take the test (Google Forms)

• All the CRESCENDO resources

• Google Sheets (makes a copy)

• Take test (Google Forms)

• Make a copy of the latest version (Google Sheets)

• Instructions and discussion (Chief Delphi)

For years, the FIRST (and through it, TBA) API has provided extremely helpful match breakdowns. Yet, every year, I see teams scouting that same data.

The API generally tells us what each robot does in end game and auto, leaving game pieces as the only thing left for your scouts to count. In 2023, the API reports the following per team:

• Auto mobility 

• Auto charging station

• Endgame charging station

By leveraging the API, you’ll:

Reduce the number of scouts needed

• Improve your data accuracy (API data will always be 100% accurate to what happened in the match – people might be, or might not)

• Allow your scouts to focus on a more substantive, holistic analysis of the match

• All the Charged Up resources

• Google Sheets (makes a copy)

• Take test (Google Forms)

• Make a copy of the latest version (Google Sheets)

• Instructions and discussion (Chief Delphi)

For years, the FIRST (and through it, TBA) API has provided extremely helpful match breakdowns. Yet, every year, I see teams scouting that same data.

We don’t have the API match breakdown for this year yet, but it will likely tell us what each robot did in auto AND what each robot did in the endgame. That means the only quantitative thing left for scouts is game pieces scored.

By leveraging the API, you’ll:

Reduce the number of scouts needed

• Improve your data accuracy (API data will always be 100% accurate to what happened in the match – people might be, or might not)

• Allow your scouts to focus on a more substantive, holistic analysis of the match

• All the Rapid React resources

• Google Sheets (makes a copy)

• Use Excel online

• Download Excel

Individual test

• Take test (Google Forms)

Group test

• Administer test game (Kahoot!)

• All the Infinite Recharge resources

• Google Sheets (makes a copy)

• Use Excel online

• Download Excel

Individual test

• Take test (Google Forms)

Group test

• Administer test game (Kahoot!)

• All the Deep Space resources

• Google Sheets (makes a copy)

• Use Excel online

• Download Excel

Individual test

• Take test (Google Forms)

Group test

• Administer test game (Kahoot!)

• All the Power Up resources

• Google Sheets (makes a copy)

• Use Excel online

• Download Excel

This resource is no longer available online. Please contact for details.

• Use Excel online

Note: Our game test provider used in 2016 is no longer in service. We saved the questions and answers as screenshots if you want to see the content/recreate the test. Clicking the link below will show both questions and answers on the same page.

• Download screenshots (PDF)