The Engineering Pipeline Begins with FIRST Robotics

FIRST Robotics has become an important force in the development of future engineers. Many of the young professionals working on the latest automotive technologies, from EVs to automation, got their start on a FIRST team, and many interconnect professionals volunteer as mentors with the organization. In an exclusive interview, FIRST founder Dean Kamen and Mouser Electronics discuss why even more people should get involved.

Many of the transformative innovations of our time, from EVs to automation to AI, have their origins in lessons learned by student engineers on FIRST robotics teams. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), is an international nonprofit founded by inventor Dean Kamen to advance science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education through hands-on robotics programs. In 2024, 182 cities hosted FIRST competitions, and more than a million students participated. Many interconnect companies and suppliers, including DigiKey, Mouser Electronics, Molex, TE Connectivity, Aptiv, and 3M, are active supporters of the organization’s efforts.

“I think it is painfully clear to everybody that we need this whole country — the whole culture of this country — to invest more into inspiring all kids to be able to participate in a future which will be heavily driven by technology,” said Kamen in an exclusive interview with Mouser Electronics. “And the best way to make sure that every kid in this country has a great future is to gives them access to the kinds of skill sets that they are developing here at FIRST, which will put them potentially on a pathway into the world of science, technology, and engineering, and it will create for them exciting possibilities for their life, which they probably would not even think about had they not been involved in FIRST.”

Dean Kamen with the Mouser Electronics robot

“Robotics are a great general excuse to play with almost every aspect of engineering,” said Kamen. “One thing we know about technology is it’s going faster and faster every year. Things are now obsolete before you even get a chance to learn how to use them. We no longer live in a world where you can learn how to do something and make that your career. You have to learn the basics of physics and math because that isn’t changing. And you’d better understand voltage and current and resistance and force and momentum and loss. I tell these kids to learn the basics of engineering and then learn to keep on learning.”

Kamen says that FIRST is a very powerful connector of people, and notes that mentors, parents, and sponsors of the organization are often former FIRST robotics participants themselves. The organization began in 1992, which means its influence has been a force in the electronics industry for multiple generations. As robotics and automation merges with automotive, medical, and industrial technologies, the influence of robotics in research and development has led to numerous breakthroughs. In the automotive world, the influence of robotics takes a variety of forms

LIDAR

Lidar is a powerful technology in the automotive world, with significant use in safety and navigation technologies, as well as the ongoing development of autonomous driving technologies. As self-driving vehicles mature, lidar technologies that can sense the world and communicate various data to autonomous systems may be part of the future vehicle’s ability to operate without human action.

Lidar works similarly to radar systems. Instead of a radar wave, however, it shoots focused laser beams into its environment and measures the time the reflection takes to return. With this data, it then obtains a point cloud of the surrounding area, letting the autonomous vehicle “see” its surroundings, not as an image but as a 3D model—as if creating a video-game-world based on the car’s surroundings, with the car itself inside. Other technologies attempt to imbue vehicles with the same perception but do so with different technologies such as vision sensors (cameras), ultrasound sensors, and radar. Each of these has advantages and disadvantages. Read more about lidar.

ADAS

Today’s cars are loaded with advanced driver-assistance systems (ADASs) such as lane-departure warnings, adaptive braking, rollover prevention, Global Positioning System (GPS)-based and inertial navigation systems. ADAS functions represent an amazing amount of electronic circuitry (and software) packed into a limited space, under demanding environmental conditions. Cars are harsh environments where, in extremes of hot and cold, a battery-based direct current (DC) rail can spike to 40V and higher (i.e., load dump) while cold-cranking can drop that same rail down to 4V. Likewise, there are space constraints, vibration issues, and more. ADAS power integrated circuits (ICs) must not only survive these harsh environments, but they must also function during most of these extremes.

Adding to the challenges is the requirement for low quiescent current, with a target of under 100µA per each ADAS module. It seems strange to insist on such a low quiescent current when a DC rail is a battery that is rated at around 100A-hrs. However, the requirement has little to do with the car when it is running. Instead, it has to do with the fact that all these ADAS functions are still connected, albeit in quiescent state, even when the car is apparently “off”—yet that’s a soft on/off, and most of the ADAS circuits are still drawing some power. Read more about ADAS.

Automation

General Motors first brought robotics into its manufacturing process in the 1960s. Today, industrial robotics form an important part of assembly and supply chain operations across the automotive industry. And now automation is designed into the very vehicles under production. The hardware for autonomous vehicles is well-advanced. Technologies such as lidar that uses lasers to build a 3D picture of the environment, Radar, GNSS, cloud-connectivity, proximity sensors, and cameras work together to present an accurate picture of what’s happening around the vehicle to its “brain”. The challenge really starts when the car’s computer has to analyze all this information, work out what’s going to happen in the next few seconds and then, crucially, decide what to do next. The answer to this complex automotive engineering problem, according to the big players in the sector, is to teach the car to think like a human by showing it examples of situations that might come up and then telling it what to do. The integration of autonomous technologies and artificial intelligence will bring significant refinements to self-driving cars. Read more about automation.

Understanding the principles behind various autonomous and robotic technologies will lead to the development of safer, more efficient, and more connected vehicles that minimize human effort and give rise to new transportation paradigms. The spark of this future begins with robotics education, says Kamen. “Robotics should be a sport that is just as available to every kid in this country as any other sport they can participate in at any school.”

Like this article? Check out our other articles on Automation and Robotics, our Automotive Market Page, and our 2024 Article Archives. 

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