FIRST, an acronym for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science & Technology", is a not-for-profit public charity designed to motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in STEM while it teaches important soft skills such as confidence, leadership, problem-solving, teamwork and more.
NFPA Fluid Power Scholarships
NFPA Robotics Challenge Scholarship
Festo has supported FIRST since it’s inception on Long Island in 2000, as it’s our corporate belief that this program is an investment in a brighter and more secure future for everyone involved.
Support consists of:
Festo is a Silver Level Supplier throughout this year First Robotics Competition Season
Need Festo parts to help build your robot? Call us today and be sure to tell us that you are a FIRST Robotics team member and receive a discount on parts!
Please contact the Festo Regional Contact Center if you require additional valve kits.
1-800-99-Festo (800-993-3786)
To download information on the valve assembly left click to view or right click and use "Save as" option to download it to your PC.
For over 20 years, Festo has supported FIRST, a non-profit organization whose mission is to generate interest in science and technology in today’s youth. Listen as Frank Langro, Director of Product Management, and Troy Douglas, Customer Solutions Engineer, discuss their experiences with FIRST both personally and with Festo. Click here to watch their Trends in Automation video.
"Festo’s generous contribution has allowed our FIRST Robotics team to improve the overall quality and craftsmanship of this year's robot. This donation allowed us to pay for the entry ticket for our off-season event at Half Hollow Hills High School, making Festo our title sponsor for the event. As a team, we have really flourished this year with the support from Festo. Kingsmen Robotics 5736 is extremely excited to compete in the upcoming FRC Regional Event at Hofstra University!"
- Sam Kruse (Team Kingsmen Robotics 5736 - First Robotics Adviser)
“Going into ThunderChickens I immediately found that it is a unique program that involves lots of problem solving unlike most schools. In a lot of schools, textbook problems and core lessons teach a student how to solve a problem based on a set formula. In ThunderChickens, I found that students work with real world problems. There are many factors that have to be taken into account and no set formula to solve issues. There is no right answer, just better and more efficient ways to tackle the problem. Finding the best and most optimal way is up to the students.
Although I have learned how to use different power tools and about some electrical components, I hope I will continue to learn much more. I look forward to expanding my knowledge on robotics and strengthening my problem solving skills during the season. The donation from Festo has allowed our team to continue to engage high school students in all the technological and engineering challenges of building a robot while learning self-confidence, communication skills, and leadership.”
Victoria Tsiang - ThunderChickens student
“The first Robotics Competition Program is an amazing program that builds students and robots. It's been my pleasure to work with an evolving group of HS students for over ten years. The students learn about teamwork, collaboration, the creative process for solving difficult problems and a whole lot of life skills that help them in their future careers. It's amazing to see students come into the program with few practical skills and come out with skills in leadership, public presentation, working safely with shop equipment and how to apply STEM to solve difficult problems. They also learn about budgeting, business planning, and spend quite a lot of time promoting STEM in the community. We have been using pneumatics on our robots for about 8 years now and Festo equipment has been key to our design process throughout that time. Donations like yours are critical to our success. Thank you.”
Greg Vincent - FRobotics Team 4150