Awards

The FIRST always wanted to recognize more than just the “Best robot” of the competition. Being a foundation that seeks to inspire young teenagers to seek technological and scientific carriers, it created prizes that could at the same time be an inspiration and recognizing in these areas. There are prizes for the better project in Autodesk Inventor, 3d animations, better beginning team, team who better pictured the image of the FIRST, technological innovation, and of course, to the winners of the game. The Under Control team succeeded in all participations and managed to bring to Brazil many awards. In 2003 it received the Rookie All-Star, in 2004 it was the Judges Award, and in 2005 it was the second greater honor given to a team, the Engineering Inspiration Award, given to the team that better could inspire and transmit the FIRST message, approaching its members and community to the world of technology .
 

This award is given to the newbie team that, despite its lack of experience, shows strenght and motivation. A team that could complete the mission of the FIRST: Inspire students to know and become involved with science and technology. Knowledge is not a previous exigency, but the greatest objective of the competition. This prize is only given to the teams that are participating for the first time, alas, their first season on FIRST. However, it is not a minor prize, enabling the awarded team to participate in the national competition. There is one winner by regional, and among them is selected the year’s Rookie All-Star. This prize was very important due to the recognizing of all the team’s effort to achieve the dream of participating of the competition.
 

The Judges Award is given to the team that, according to the judges, was able to show special qualities that deserve to be reconized but do not fit in any of the other prizes. The great efforts made in the building of the robot and fundraising, among other difficulties facing during the season, qualified the team to this award. The FIRST judges are notorious representatives of the companies and institutions that sponsor or support the event. It is normal in national competitions that the students have contact with NASA astronauts and directors of big multinational enterprises, with this prize being chosen through the consensus of the valuable opinion of these people. The Judges award is also a very important prize in order to recognize the diverse qualities that identify a team that knew how to accomplish and teach the FIRST message.

These awards prizes the incomparable success of a team in approaching its members to engineering, making them love and respect it, both in school and in the community. The criteria includes: Creativity and effort of the team in order to approach students to engineering, the means and effectiveness of them to transmit these interests to the community. This is the second biggest award that a team can receive. Contrary to the Chairman’s Award, the Engineering Inspiration hás no formal subscritpion or presentation to the judges. The judges get all the information directly from the team, mentors and by observing the robot performance, to find the most deserving team.