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FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®)
FRC Statistics
Things like FRC Team locations, awards, growth, playing field turnaround times, pretty much wherever curiosity leads us.
This is a collection of random statistics and facts about the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) that might be useful in team marketing presentations, elevator speeches, etc. Mostly it's just a running experiment in looking at things differently. Excel versions of a variety of takes on FRC historical data have been published for people to pursue their own interests. You are encouraged to take and use this information as you need. Please use the spreadsheets, modify them, combine them, add more data and produce your own interesting factoids.
FRC Team & Event Maps
FRC Growth 1992-2012 time lapse: North America, or a World View
2010 U.S. Population Density Map for comparison
Browseable Maps
2013 FRC Events
93% of the team coordinates are locations of an actual team school/organization associated with the team. That doesn't mean the team hasn't moved since, or has their build space located elsewhere, but it's a whole lot more accurate than just a city.
For multi-school teams, only the first school listed as part of their FIRST team name or by the school district website, gets the team marker.
The remaining 7% are simple offsets of the town. These teams either did not identify an associated school/definitive sponsor (such as home schoolers, 4H, Girl Scouts or other independents), or were unrecognized in a search and were difficult to resolve, e.g., many non-US addresses.
FRC Team Growth
FRC Team Growth Trends
In these charts team number changes are tracked by the primary educational base (school, 4H, Girl/Boy Scouts, Boys & Girls Clubs, home school, etc.), We choose to categorize a team as new when a particular school plays FRC for the first time, and this rule has been applied from the first unnumbered teams through to the present.
- Yearly FRC Team Rosters & Summary
(
, 2.6 MB)
- FRC Team Year-to-Year Comparison
(, 3.5 MB)
This is a year-to-year comparison of team lists for every year used to identify individual resurrected teams, returning teams and lost teams.
It has some odd worksheets summarizing subsets of data depending on what whimsy struck us and what amounts to statistical doodling.
FRC Team Retention
FRC Team Retention
To the left is a table from 2009 with # of rookies for each year and retention rates for those teams in subsequent years. The row is the year you're looking at (i.e. the row 2006 refers to the 2006 season). Then each column is the number of teams (out of the original # of teams) that participated in that season. So for row 2006, column 2000: then 271 of the 372 teams from the 2000 season also participated in the 2006 season for a retention rate of 72.849%.
To the right is a simpler chart showing overall team retention year-to-year. The numbers include continuing teams as well as teams that return after a hiatus of a year or more.
How old are the teams that drop out of FRC? The newest fledgling teams, the old tired teams, or the transition teams in their middle years? Here is a look at sequential years comparing dropouts and their years of competition experience.
The pie wedge numbers are the % of each year's dropouts, and the color of the wedge corresponds to the number of year's the team actually competed.
TeamLossesbyYrsExp.xls
FRC Team Daily Registration Trends
FRC Team Daily Registration Trends
Plot of FRC team registration day-by-day from Registration opening around October 2 to closing about December 3 (and then on through the events), for the years 2005 through the present with the final totals for the years back to 1992 thrown in for reference.
Registration actually peaks a week or so AFTER registration formally closes each year. Then that peak dwindles off as teams are not able to raise the funding, find the mentors, administration/teacher support flounders, facilities are unavailable, students aren't recruited, or local politics aren't conducive. Teams have dropped out as late as the middle of competition events, so don't count the season's final total until the very end.
In the detailed latter-year plots you can see the flat weekends pretty distinctly, especially the three day Thanksgiving holiday where no one registers.
Open Registration Year-to-Year Comparison (
, 132 KB)
Team Longevity
FRC Team Longevity Trends
At the very beginning in 1992, the first year of FIRST, no team had ever played before, so they all started with zero years of experience. As the years passed, teams came and went, a few have been around since that early beginning, others left and returned, and every year we get a great influx of rookie teams, again having zero experience. This chart shows how the average team longevity has climbed slowly from zero back in 1992 to an average 4.7 years of experience per team after the 2013 season. Of course, after new rookies signup in the Fall but before they play, it's roughly one less year experience. :)
FRC Veterans
Another way to look at this is to tally the teams vs. years of experience.
2013 FRC Groupings of Team Numbers
2013 FRC Team Numbers Normalized
These graphs show the distribution of team numbers that were in use during the 2013 season. Team numbers are broken into 100's, e.g., the 100 column shows the number of teams with a team number in the range 100 to 199. The first graph is raw numbers, while the second is normalized to eliminate team numbers that were never assigned to anyone.
All FRC Teams Past & Present
, 3.5 MB)
Here's a compiled list of every FRC team that ever was - teams that are no more, teams that have around since the beginning, teams that started this season, teams who last played in 1992, including un-numbered teams from those pre-team number days. Weren't you ever curious just how many teams there really have been? What with all the team numbers FIRST has skipped and never assigned to anybody it can be really hard to tell. You might be surprised at the sponsors and schools that first started your own team or the teams in your local area who came and went before you.
- 2524 teams played in 2013
- 3930 unique teams have existed at one time or another as of 2012
- ~20% have morphed team identities - number changes, splits, mergers, siblings.
- ~40% of FRC teams have dropped out. Luckily, many of those lost teams have just moved to FIRST Tech Challenge or another competition such as Battlebots IQ, so they haven't necessarily been lost to the inspiration of engineering.
- 13% of all teams who've dropped out have later returned
- 3 schools have each been known by 4 different names/permanent numbers
- 688 numbers below 4410 (2012 rookies) have been skipped over by FIRST and never used by any team
Random Statistics
2012 FRC Teams Come From...
A breakdown by nation, and another that adds US territories and States shows where all our teams come from.
- $22K average team expense in 2013
- 6-7% penetration rate average (35% on LI) in 2013
- 19,451 team-years (as of 2013) (28 teams in 1992 plus 25 teams in 1993 plus...)
- 22.7 students per team on average (Brandeis study 2011)
- 25% new students on average per team per year (estimate)
- 6.5 mentors per team average (Brandeis study 2011)
- 5.2 years average mentor experience (Brandeis study 2011)
- >100,000 HS graduates of the FRC program
- ~145,000 students directly Inspired by FRC (graduates + those still in HS)
- 50% more FIRST students likely to go to college
- 2x as likely to major in science or engineering
- 3x as likely to major specifically in engineering
- ~110 Volunteers per Regional
- FIRST salaried employees (2010) ...................... 90
- FIRST employees based at HQ (2010) ................... 70
- FIRST employees based in the field, i.e. Regional Directors (2010) .... 20
- FRC employees (2010) ..................................... 14.5
From FIRST - 2010 FRC Program at a Glance (or 2009 at a Glance) - Teams .............................................. 1,808
- Students ......................................... 45,000+
- Mentors .......................................... 25,000+
- Other volunteers ............................... 6,600+
- Average students per team ......................25
- Average mentors per team ......................14
- Kickoff (main)...........................................1
- Kickoff (remote).....................................57
- Regional Events .................................... 43
- District/State Events ............................... 8
- Championship ......................................... 1
- Championship teams ............................344
- Countries ...............................................12
- US states ...............................................48
- Canadian provinces ..................................4
- FRC recognition ('09) ............................. 58,000 medallions, 2,753 trophies, 222 banners
- FTC recognition ('09) ............................. 3,780 medallions, 495 trophies
- FLL recognition ('09) ............................. 40,000 medallions, >1000 trophies
- Scholarship providers ...........................136
- Scholarships available ......................... 746 worth close to $12.2 million
- Corporate sponsors ......................... 3,000+
- KOP pneumatic tubing ...........................17 miles
- KOP batteries ........................................13 tons
- KOP wire ..............................................20 miles
- KOP suppliers .......................................75
- KOP material ......................................126 tons
- KOP parts per kit .................................577 (39% donated)
- KOP motors ...................................18,750
- FRC Teams shipped robot crates (09) ...... >1.5 million lbs.
- FRC Teams traveled to/from events (09) ................2.5 million miles
- What it costs FIRST per FRC team (08)..... $13,700 (covered by registration fees and corporate donations)
From FIRST-All Programs (2012 Report) - Youth participants ......................... 293,000+ (ages 6-18)
- Mentors and volunteers ................... 101,000
- Number of volunteer hours ......... 5,715,980
- U.S. States participating ......................... 50
- Countries participating ............................ 50+
- Number of robots (2012) ................................ 24,000+
- Jr. FLL Teams (2012) ................................ 2600
- FLL Teams (2012) ................................ 19,800
- FTC Teams (2012) ................................ 2,100
- FRC Teams (2012) ................................ 2,339
- FRC Operating Expenses (09) .................. $25,259,844
- FLL Operating Expenses (09) .................. $3,714,529
- FTC Operating Expenses (09) .................. $1,169,372
- Team Registration fees (all programs 09) .......$15,535,666
FRC Team Awards
FRC Woodie Flowers Awards
FRC Team Awards 1992-present
Here is just an example from 2012:
|
Top award winners
# Awards - Team - Award
|
Defunct Awards:
Autodesk retired awards:
|
Field Turnaround & Scoring
Just some random statistics about field operations, # matches per event, matches per team, average match cycle time, average qualifying/elimination scores. Some of these are quite dependent on volunteer staff experience and availability, as well as, the complexity of the game (penalties, field reset, scoring), and unusual local constraints.
2012 Event Match Cycles & Scores
2011 Event Match Cycles & Scores
2010 Event Match Cycles & Scores
2009 Event Match Cycles & Scores
2008 Event Match Cycles & Scores
Just What is Average at an Event? |
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| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |
| # teams | 46 | 49 | 48 | 48 | 49 | 48 |
| # matches | 71 | 71 | 80 | 81 | 86 | 83 |
| Matches per team | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10.2 | 10.8 | 10.6 |
| Avg. Match turnaround | 6:40 | 7:21 | 7:45 | 7:30 | 7:01 | 7:45 |
| Avg. Qualifying score | 36.1 | 52.4 | 6 | 27.9 | 20.1 | 54.4 |
| Avg. Elimination score | 48.6 | 52.8 | 11 | 56.7 | 41.9 | 93.8 |
What About the Best at Championships? |
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| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |
| # teams | 340 | 348 | 344 | 352 | 400 | 400 |
| # teams per Division | 85 | 87 | 86 | 88 | 100 | 100 |
| # matches | 100 | 102 | 144 | 147 | 150 | 134 |
| Matches per team | 7 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 |
| Avg. Match turnaround | 5:58 | 6:13 | 6:13 | 6:16 | 6:22 | 7:03 |
| Avg. Qualifying score | 67.3 | 71.4 | 14.2 | 68.3 | 38.5 | 107.3 |
| Avg. Einstein score | 101.6 | 72.4 | 29.3 | 97.7 | 70.6 | 175.0 |
How Many Events Does the Average Team Attend?
MultipleEventAttendance.xls
FRC-EventLists.xls
Teams at Multiple Regionals(excluding the Districts) |
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| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |
| multiple event teams | 379 | 352 | 437 | 435 | 475 | 562 | 671 |
| single event teams | 922 | 1031 | 1108 | 1238 | 1426 | 1515 | 1544 |
| % of all teams | 29.13% | 25.45% | 28.28% | 26.00% | 25.00% | 27.00% | 30.03% |
Teams at Multiple Events(including the Districts & Championship) |
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| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |
| 1-event teams | 760 (58.4%) | 992 (66.1%) | 965 (57.5%) | 1090 (60.3%) | 1262 (61.1%) | 1354 (57.9%) | 1433 (56.8%) |
| 2-event teams | 352 (27.1%) | 352 (23.5%) | 462 (27.5%) | 478 (26.4%) | 559 (27.1%) | 635 (27.1%) | 702 (27.8%) |
| 3-event teams | 172 (13.2%) | 142 (9.5%) | 206 (12.2%) | 203 (11.2%) | 199 (9.6%) | 270 (11.5%) | 299 (11.8%) |
| 4-event teams | 17 (1.3%) | 14 (.9%) | 36 (2.1%) | 35 (1.9%) | 38 (1.8%) | 62 (2.7%) | 69 (2.7%) |
| 5-event teams | 0 | 1 (.1%) | 8 (.5%) | 2 (.1%) | 6 (.3%) | 18 (.8%) | 20 (.8%) |
| 6-event teams | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (.05%) | 0 | 1 (.04%) |
Multi-event Team Success |
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| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |
| Attend CMP | 52.9% | 53.6% | 58.6% | 57.5% | 53.7% | 65.0% | 72.0% |
| Make Elims | 71.9% | 74.7% | 86.5% | 88.3% | 86.5% | 92.7% | 92.7% |
| Division Win | 91.7% | 81.8% | 83.3% | 91.7% | 100% | 75% | 100% |
| CMP Win | 100% | 100% | 66.7% | 66.7% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
At early events no one knows the game, has a drive team experienced in this year's game play, or has all the kinks worked out of their robot design, but in 2010 for instance, by the time Week 5 rolls around almost half the teams competing that week have already played at an earlier event. Of course, that's also the week of the Michigan State Championship where every team has played twice before.
2013 Teams Who'd Played Before |
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| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | |
| Regionals | 0% | 2.3% | 10.2% | 21.2% | 37.8% | 53.0% | 70.3% |
| Districts | 0% | 5.1% | 41.7% | 84.4% | 92.4% | 100% | 100% |
| Combined | 0% | 2.6% | 18.8% | 34.4% | 43.6% | 59.7% | 89.3% |
Robotics Program Growth Cross-Comparison
Just a chart comparing the growth of various robotics programs: Jr. FLL, FLL, FTC, FRC, Vex, Botball, BEST.
Data
Research Data Sources
Data populating these charts and spreadsheets has been culled from multiple sources. If at all possible we tried to have collaborating sources that could be reconciled, validating the results. The best sources are the official FIRST ones of course, but even those come in several forms: online database, website, print and electronic versions of competition documents, press releases. Other sources include news articles, physical possession of team awards, team histories/photos, eye-witness reports, documentary videos, etc. Some sources are given more weight than others depending on the circumstances, for instance news articles can garble facts, memories can deteriorate, but also hard data such as the FIRST database is manually entered by a large number of people and sometimes will not reconcile even against itself.- FRC Annual Team Rosters:
What Events And Teams Are In My Area?
The team portion of this database is good back through 2001 with partial/spotty records for pre-2001 years on individual teams, BUT ONLY for teams that are still active or have been active within the past three years. The purged team records are still available on our preserved FIRST database archive (see FRC Team Lookup on the left navigation bar). For events it only goes back to 2003, although errors can be found, so again the data should be validated against other sources if at all possible. Also, in some earlier years the database is missing select fields, such as team names or locations.
- FRC official individual team records also available via:
http://frclinks.frclinks.com/team/358
(links courtesy of Pat Fairbank) -
just replace the team number at the end with the team you want
or through the team rosters link above (but only available for teams active within the past 3 years).
- The TechnoKats History Project has made available a wonderful collection of old documents and records.
- FIRST-a-holics has a lot of the Game Manuals from the 1990's.
FIRST has changed criteria over the years, defining when a team is new, continuing, etc. Often the reasoning at the time involved continuing or switching sponsors, primary mentors involved in moving teams from one school to another, all reasons that are hard to uncover when we're restricted to examining raw team databases and original competition lists. That's where personal team member accounts are valuable. Rookie year's in the FIRST Team database no longer reflect when that team number actually first joined or played, but are currently based on how many founding team members have been involved in FRC before. All this just means you have to be careful when using the data that you understand what the data signifies. Be wary of FIRST reports and publications. The trouble with FIRST Annual Reports and marketing brochures is that the data is often published before the year's final talley is in. Errors are usually corrected in later official reports, but brochure errors don't suffer the same scrutiny.
FIRST Official Sources:
- Internet Archive - search for www.usfirst.org
- Games Year-by-Year - local copies of some FIRST data (team list, awards, game manuals)
FRC Team/history Discussions (on CD)
- All the FRC Teams That Ever Were (2009)
- Two schools, One team (2012)
- Historic FIRST Data Wanted (2011)
- Team Homes for Home Schoolers (2011)
- Finding the girls teams (2011)
- An FRC Family Tree (2010)
- Smallest public school to have a team (2011)
- Predicting team startup growth (2009)
- Championship Winners (2008)
- FRC Team #1 (2008)
- Team Names (2006)
- All NASA Teams - 1997 (2005)
- 1 School - 2 Teams (2002)
- Origins of FRC COTS in 2004
FRC Team Registration Discussions (on CD)
- 2017 Registration Progress
- 2016 Registration Progress
- 2015 Registration Progress
- 2014 Registration Progress
- 2013 Registration Progress
- 2012 Registration Progress
- 2011 Registration Progress
- 2010 Registration Progress
- 2009 Registration Progress
- 2008 Registration Progress
- 2008 Regional Summary Spreadsheet
- 2006 Registration Progress
- 2005 Registration Progress
- 2004 Registration Progress
- 2001 Registration Progress
FRC Statistics/Records Discussions (on CD)
- 2012 Event Averages
- 2011 Field Stats
- 2010 Regional Stats
- FIRST Championship History Results (2010/2011)
