MORE THAN ROBOTS:
A movement in Motion
Walk through the history, the machines, and the community that made robotics a varsity sport for the mind.
About us
Why this museum exists.
FIRST has spent decades teaching students to build under a clock, with parts they don't have and a robot that has to work tomorrow. That work produced thousands of machines, and almost none of them were kept.
FIRST Place exists to hold onto what would otherwise be thrown out: the chassis on the floor, the engineering notebook in the closet, the story of the team that finally made it to Einstein. We preserve the objects, document the thinking behind them, and keep the whole record open to anyone who wants to learn from it.
More about the museum- 01
Because the machines don't last
Competition robots are built to survive a season, not a decade. When a build is scrapped, the lessons inside it go with it.
- 02
Because the knowledge is scattered
Designs, failures, and midnight fixes live in old forum posts and forgotten drives. We gather them into one readable record.
- 03
Because it was never only robots
The museum holds the people too: the mentors, the drive coaches, the students who found their way into engineering here.
The gallery floor
Objects you can walk up to, read the wear marks on, and photograph from every angle.
Chassis Study No. 4
A bare aluminum chassis plate kept unfinished on purpose, so visitors can read the drilling pattern, the countersinks, and every mistake in the metal.
Read the entryPlanetary Gearbox Bench
Three gearboxes at three stages of assembly, from a fresh kit to one that ran a full season of competition without service.
Read the entryThe Wiring Wall
A harness pulled from a retired competition robot, mounted flat so the zip ties, strain relief, and last-minute splices stay visible.
Read the entryLegacy portal
Donate your stuff.
Most of a robotics program's history ends up in a garage, a school storage closet, or a dumpster. We take the robots, the parts, and the paperwork, and we keep them usable for the next team.
- Retired robots and drive trains
- Field elements and game pieces
- Design notebooks and CAD files
- Team shirts, banners, and pins