The Bridges Robotics Team #4019 participates in an international competition called FIRST.  FIRST is an annual engineering competition that challenges teams of high school students to fully design, build and program a robot that performs very specialized tasks in just six weeks with the aid of professional engineer volunteer mentors.

​FIRST prides itself as being "the varsity sport for the mind" and "the hardest fun you'll ever have", and it really is.  The students have an unbelievable opportunity to develop real world engineering skills in a fast-paced and hands-on environment that challenges them to build community through cooperation and collaboration.  ​

Last year’s robot fulfilled all aspects of the challenge: climbing, receiving and depositing gears, intaking and shooting "fuel" (balls), and multi-directional driving. In addition to completing the robot on time, the team also prepared a complete replacement module as a backup.

The robot was designed on an iPad, using a 3-dimensional design application and a 3D printer donated by the Paton Group, which was also used to manufacture parts for the robot. At the event, the Bridges team used their 3D printer to print out coins (used as a currency to build alliances with other teams) and other parts for themselves and other teams.