2025 FIRST Forums @ Purdue West Lafayette Sessions

3D printing gives FIRST teams the power to design, build, and improve faster than ever. In this session, Evan Hochstein will share how Westside Robotics teams use 3D printing in both FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition. We’ll cover best practices, recommended materials, and tips to get the most out of your prints. We’ll also take a quick look at how 3D printing connects to real careers in engineering and manufacturing. Whether you’re a student, mentor, or just curious, you’ll leave with ideas and inspiration for bringing 3D printing into your team. 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xIXiuY6LyxY0Gk_A2CoF6pN5364SqXr5/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=106088076332699635670&rtpof=true&sd=true

Discover how configurable parts in Onshape can accelerate your robot design process. This session will demonstrate how Team 4272 uses configurable parts to streamline CAD work and maintain build consistency—offering practical insights you can apply to your own designs. 

Andy will give details and stories explaining his favorite 20 robots in FRC. These robots were masterpieces in design and strategy, each making a huge impact in FIRST. A good mixture of old and new robots will be highlighted using videos and stories from Andy.

 Learn how to make your team stand out through effective branding, storytelling, and media. This session covers everything from creating a consistent team identity to running a student-led media group, managing social posts, and engaging sponsors. You’ll leave with practical tools and strategies to grow your team’s visibility, attract support, and tell your story beyond the robot. 

Last year, we explored frameworks for empowering student leaders. This year, our team is in the messy middle: Launching a brand-new student leadership group and figuring out what works. Instead of a lecture on leadership principles, this session is a candid workshop: I’ll share our experiments (like the Mountain Exercise, feedback loops, and rookie engagement strategies), and we’ll gather ideas from across the FIN community. Come ready to swap stories and leave with practical, FIRST-specific approaches to growing confident student leaders.
 
Here is the link to the presentation: 2025 Purdue FIRST Forums - Building Student Leaders in Real Time: Lessons from a Green Leadership Team

To make this session as practical as possible, we’d love your input in advance. Take 3 minutes to share your team’s leadership wins and challenges here: https://forms.gle/JA5KjgGCEDh64wdx6. We’ll use your insights to shape the discussion. 

Looking to grow your program or support others in doing the same? Join us to explore practical strategies for building and sustaining a successful K-12 robotics pipeline. We’ll share how our program grew from just 14 students on a single FLL and FTC team to serving more than 85 students annually across a dozen teams, spanning grades K-12. Learn proven approaches for recruitment, mentorship, retention, and program structure that can help your robotics community thrive. 

 Are you excited about photography and want to take pictures for your team or share your photos with others? This session will teach you the basics of photography, especially for FRC and FIRST events. You'll learn about how to use your camera, tips for better composition, and how to take great photos of both robots and people. We’ll also cover some quick editing techniques and how to share your images after the event with your team. By the end of the session, you’ll have useful skills to take amazing photos that highlight your teams and events. 

How command based programming works in WPILib

This is a presentation describing the start and development of AndyMark. It discusses the beginning years, why AndyMark was founded, and some lessons learned along the way. The company owner, Andy Baker will be giving this presentation.

The goal of this session is to inform and inspire others to get involved in FIN’s volunteer community. Panelists will discuss the many aspects

of volunteering—its impact, rewards, and ways others can get involved. Panel Moderator:  Brinna Porat

In this spirited discussion, we will discuss ways to level up your game announcing and ceremony mastering skills.

Talk to Steve Florence, Dean's List manager, and Betsy Baxter, Dean's List Judge, about how to write effective essays and give a great interview. 

For new, returning, and prospective lead coaches and mentors, learn about the FIRST Mentor Development Initiative, how it is reducing barriers to mentoring and enhancing the mentor experience, along with what our near- and long-term deliverables are.  Following this overview presentation, we’ll break out into groups to provide an opportunity for you to share feedback on topics such as training, connectivity, recognition, recruitment, retention, and succession. 

Learn about the past 10 years of FRC games and touch some of the game pieces!

Basic overview on getting started with Swerve including available COTS module selection, Sensor/motor options, and programming tools to get going. 

Discussion with students and mentors about how new robotics students are taught the skills they know. Intended for discussion between teams to find effective methods to teach and train new robotics students

Want to ensure every student feels welcome, supported, and empowered in your program? This session will explore practical ways to be an effective ally to LGBTQ+ students while also highlighting strategies to create a more inclusive environment for all. Learn how inclusive practices can help you reach new demographics, strengthen your team culture, and open doors for more students to thrive in robotics and beyond. 

A successful kickoff to your season is one of the most important things for a team. It sets the tempo for your build season, so Kyle and RJ will go over topics including prototyping, game strategy breakdowns, and how to carry your momentum from kickoff into the rest of your build season.

An introduction to the judging process in FTC and how to prepare for judging at your events. 

Explore how industrial engineers integrate robotics into manufacturing and human workspaces at the Industrial Engineering Build@Scale Lab! Enjoy interactive demonstrations with IE lab staff and faculty.

NOTE: You must sign up for this tour using the Sign Up Genius link given at the Opening Session. Limited to 20 participants

Explore how industrial engineers integrate robotics into manufacturing and human workspaces at the Industrial Engineering Build@Scale Lab! Enjoy interactive demonstrations with IE lab staff and faculty.

NOTE: You must sign up for this tour using the Sign Up Genius link given at the Opening Session. Limited to 20 participants

Explore advanced robotics applications in the Mechanisms And Robotic Systems (MARS) Lab! Enjoy interactive demonstrations with IE lab staff and faculty.

NOTE: You must sign up for this tour using the Sign Up Genius link given at the Opening Session. Limited to 20 participants

Leadership has two sides: building the habits that make you effective as an individual leader, and shaping the culture that helps your team succeed. This session gives a general overview of both—from personal strengths and leadership styles to team vision, mission statements, and conflict resolution. Student leaders will learn how to grow themselves and unify their teams, and mentors will walk away with practical tools to guide and support their students and team.

Come together to reflect on the sessions and gather with other mentors to collaborate and take note of the learnings and thoughts from throughout the day. Snacks are provided!

Good mentors build great teams in addition to robots. We will focus on the business side of robotics and running your team as a nonprofit to ensure long-term success. Learn about the benefits of establishing a 501c3, as well as how to organize and structure your business practices, earn community credibility and ensure sustainability.  This will be a didactic and interactive workshop for all levels of leaders.

Students from Purdue FIRST Programs will share their experience with transitioning to college and opportunities to stay involved with FIRST after high school.

http://www.purduefirst.org/

Sign up for a 10 minute time slot on the door at the event. Sit with a judging expert and either practice your existing presentation or get started on a good path to a new presentation! 

This presentation describes the FIRST culture and foundational ethics. Andy will outline how and why these things were established in FIRST and how we are to carry this culture of Gracious Professionalism forward as we compete and cooperate. 

Prototyping is one of the most valuable, and most misunderstood, parts of the FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge design process. While nearly every team builds early versions of mechanisms, fewer than 35% use prototyping effectively to inform final robot design. This session will explore what true prototyping looks like in FTC & FRC: fast, scrappy, and focused experiments that answer specific design questions. We will review common pitfalls teams face, such as overbuilding prototypes or skipping measurement, and contrast them with best practices used by top-performing teams. Students and mentors will walk away with a practical framework for planning, testing, and iterating prototypes that save time, reduce risk, and lead to more reliable robots on the field.

Email evan@westside-robotics.info for slides.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tAYRNF7epjTzimbJLqHZI9iTsQ9JDzcb/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=106088076332699635670&rtpof=true&sd=true

Go on a guided tour around Purdue's campus.

NOTE: You must sign up for this tour using the Sign Up Genius link given at the Opening Session. Limited to 25 participants

Go on a guided tour around Purdue's campus.

NOTE: You must sign up for this tour using the Sign Up Genius link given at the Opening Session. Limited to 25 participants

Think you can build a bridge out of nothing but paper and tape? Put your creativity and problem-solving skills to the test in this fast-paced engineering challenge! Working in teams, you’ll design and construct a bridge strong enough to carry a toy car using just four sheets of paper and masking tape. Along the way, you’ll discover how engineers think about strength, structure, and innovation under constraints.

Purdue student ambassadors will be on hand to share their own stories of tackling big challenges, collaborating with teammates, and finding unexpected solutions in engineering.

NOTE: You must sign up for this tour using the Sign Up Genius link given at the Opening Session. Limited to 30 participants

Take a break in the quiet room secluded from the rest of the event.

This presentation discusses dramatic issues teams have with students, mentors, teachers, voluteers and parents as they participate in a robotics competition season. Andy will give examples regarding what to expect and how to mitigate issues. 

This presentation aims to explain the role scouting can have in a FRC team and why it's important.

 We’ll be hosting a panel on the upcoming 2027 control system, SystemCore. During the session, we’ll showcase the new interface, share our experiences using it so far, and answer any questions from participants. 

Braden Mosier the 2025 programming lead of 1747 Harrison Boiler Robotics explains what he has learned about organizing and planning programming and scouting. He will go over the different methods of organizing programmers that he used to be able to keep track of 8 programmers, different tasks, and keeping up with the fast pace needs of drive team.

Learn the essentials of wiring your FRC robot for safety, reliability, and easy troubleshooting. Perfect for rookies and mentors who want to avoid common mistakes and keep their robots running strong on the field.

A live walk-through of the soon to be release YASS libraries coming Oct 2!
See how your team can easily add code for Arms, Elevators, Shooters, Turrets and Swerve all with built in simulation and visualization!
We'll explore the example code and try it out in simulation.