About

Welcome to the website of FIRST Robotics team 237, Black Magic.

What is FIRST?

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a non-profit organisation that runs several world-wide technology competitions for middle school and high school students. Chief among these is the FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition), where high school students have six weeks to design and build a robot the play a new game each year. The purpose of FIRST and the FRC is to both give students experience working with technology and to encourage society to support science and technology education for young people. As explained in the FIRST mission statement, FIRST was created to "inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology".

This year's game is Rebound Rumble. In the competition, two alliances of three robots each compete to get basketballs into hoops, scoring 1, 2, or 3 points depending on the height of the hoop. At the end of each match, robots can balance on a bridge for extra points.

Black Magic will be participating in the following regional competitions:

• Chesapeake regional: March 8 to March 10
• Connecticut Regional: March 29 to March 31
• St. Louis Championship: April 26 to April 28

About Team 237

Black Magic was founded in September of 1998 by Carll Pallokat. We've competed for nearly fourteen seasons, and we've won at least three regional championships. Throughout this time, more than 300 students have participated in Team 237. In addition, our 2006 robot was selected to be published in FIRST Robotics: Aim High: Behind the Design.