Inaugural Electric City Regional taking place at the Anderson Sports and Entertainment Center
FIRST South Carolina announces the inaugural Electric City Regional taking place at the Anderson Sports and Entertainment Center in Anderson, SC. Hundreds of high school STEM students from across the southeast will compete at the robotics competition that serves as a qualifying event for the FRC Championship in Houston, TX.
(Anderson, SC, March 9-12, 2022) – FIRST SC proudly announces the inaugural Electric City Regional! Over 750 high school students from South Carolina, North Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee are coming to compete in South Carolina’s only FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC) regional at the Anderson Sports and Entertainment Center. FIRST® is a global, nonprofit robotics community that prepares young people for the future through exciting and accessible k-12 robotics competitions.
This year’s FRC game, sponsored by Boeing, is called RAPID REACT. The attending teams have two months to design, prototype, build, test, code, and refine their 100+ lb. robots before facing each other at the Electric City Regional to vie for a spot at the FRC Championship. Teams compete in two alliances of three robots each to intake ‘cargo’ from the Terminal and score it in either the lower or upper Hub before climbing up to 8 feet in the Hangar. The matches last for 2.5 minutes and are played on a field just a bit smaller than a basketball court. Matches have three distinct periods of play: auto, tele-op, and end game. The 15-second autonomous period is followed by two-minutes, 15 seconds of the driver-controlled period. The last 30 seconds of the driver-controlled period is called the end game. The top two teams on the winning alliance will advance to the FIRST® Robotics Competition Championship in Houston, Texas, April 20-23, 2022 where they will compete against teams from all around the world.
The soft skills of teamwork, collaboration, and communication are the foundation of FRC. Because teams might be on the same alliance in one match, and then on opposing alliances in a later match, sportsmanship and “coopertition” are essential. This means that, while teams contend for STEM awards recognizing innovation in programming, design, entrepreneurship, and manufacturing, the most coveted award in FIRST® recognizes excellence in community outreach.
Students who participate in FIRST® Robotics Competition are eligible for over $80 million in college scholarships provided by participating universities and sponsors. To learn more about FRC visit: FIRST Robotics Competition | FIRST (firstinspires.org)
For more details, visit our website: Electric City Regional — FIRST South Carolina. The event will be livestreamed on the FIRST SC Twitch channel.
While this event is closed to the public, volunteers are always welcome. To volunteer, contact FIRST SC Volunteer Coordinator, Carla Rickenbaker, (carla.rickenbaker@
For more information, contact FIRST SC Regional Director, Giselle Cheeseman, (giselle.cheeseman@