2011

Team Pro-Digi maintained pace with its standings from its rookie year in 2010, placing 13th, again, out of the 60 teams that competed at the state level. Once again, the top 12 teams advanced to the championship round. Team Pro-Digi was the first standby team that would be called in the event any of the robots in the championship rounds malfunctioned and could not continue.

The team tied for 9th place in total points during the competition with a 6-3-0 (W-L-T) record for the nine matches throughout the competition.

Sixteen Lincoln High School students participated in the 2011 FRC and seven Digi-Key technical/engineering resource staff members served as mentors to the team. A total of 2,075 teams consisting of 51,875 high school students competed in the 2011 FRC. Of the 2,075 teams, 131 teams were located in Minnesota.

2010

Team Pro-Digi had a remarkable rookie year, placing second out of all the rookie teams in the competition. Overall, Team Pro-Digi placed 13th out of the 63 teams that competed at the state level. The top 12 teams in the competition advanced to the championship round.

Nationally, 1,809 teams consisting of 45,000 students participated in the FIRST Robotics competitions in 2010. Sixteen Lincoln High School students participated in the 2010 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) and five Digi-Key technical/engineering resource staff members served as mentors.

The team spent six weeks designing and building its robot in preparation for the competition. Team Pro-Digi's robot had to fall within weight and size restrictions for the competition and follow elaborate event rules in order to place in the standings.

The April 2010 FRC took place at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis, Minnesota and was a great experience for all involved.

FIRST Robotics Competition

The FIRST Robotics Competition involves teams of mentors (corporate employees, teachers, or college students) and high school students who collaborate to design and build a robot in six weeks. This robot is designed to play a game, which is designed by FIRST and changes from year to year. This game is announced at a nationally simulcast kickoff event in January. Regional competitions take place around the United States as well as in Canada and Israel, but FIRST has a multinational following that further includes the United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, and Germany.

Teams are expected to solicit local businesses for support in the form of donations of time, money, or skills. The average team has approximately 25 students, but participation has ranged from 4 to 100.

Vision

"To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders."

Mission

FIRST's mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

Kits of Parts

At the start of the FIRST season all of the teams receive the Kit Of Parts and the game description. The kit includes the control system and a collection of parts to build a basic robot, as well as many parts donated by participating sponsors. Besides the control system, the kit includes items such as motors, structural components, speed controllers, pneumatic actuators, wheels, and gearboxes, as well as programming and design software. As soon as the teams receive their kit of parts, the 6-week build season begins. Teams are allowed to purchase additional off-the-shelf items with individual item value not exceeding US$400 with a total maximum budget of $3,500.