FIRST Robotics is an organization that promotes STEM education through robotics competitions. While you might immediately picture science fairs of the past, FIRST events are more in the vein of a pep rally.

Here at Tormach, we love getting involved in education and giving students a chance to get hands-on experience with real tools. That’s why we spent last weekend at the FIRST Robotics Regional Competition, in Milwaukee, WI, cheering on kids who built robots to compete for a place at the national event. Also during the event, the State of Wisconsin signed a new law that commits $250k in general purpose revenue to grants to help high-school teams participate in robotics events, like FIRST.