the card catalogue

Every acronym you’ll hear in the pit.

Search a term, narrow it to one department, or jump to a letter. Written the way somebody would explain it across a workbench, not the way the manual defines it.

look it up mid-argument, that is what it is for

terms filed: 70
categories: 9
letters in use: 20/26

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70 terms showing

Competition & Game
Alliance
A group of three teams that play together on the red or blue side of a match.
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Competition & Game
Alliance Selection
The pre-playoff process where the top-seeded teams take turns inviting other teams to form playoff alliances.
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Electrical
Anderson SB Connector
The standard genderless quick-connect (often SB50) used between the battery and the robot.
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Sensors & Controls
AprilTag
A fiducial marker (like a simple QR code) placed on the field that cameras use to estimate the robot's pose.
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Competition & Game
Auto
Autonomous
The opening segment of a match where the robot operates entirely on pre-programmed code with no driver input.
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General
Build Season
The intense period after Kickoff (historically ~6 weeks) when teams design and build their robot before competitions.
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Competition & Game
Bumpers
The mandatory padded protective bumpers around a robot's frame, colored red or blue to match the alliance.
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Electrical
CAN
CAN bus
Controller Area Network — the wiring/protocol that lets motor controllers, sensors, and the roboRIO communicate on one daisy-chained bus.
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Community
CD
Chief Delphi
The largest FRC community forum, where teams share technical knowledge, designs, and code.
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Software
Choreo
A trajectory-optimization tool that generates time-optimal autonomous paths, often paired with WPILib.
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Software
Command-Based Programming
WPILib's recommended structure that organizes robot code into Subsystems and Commands for clean, reusable behavior.
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General
Coopertition
A FIRST value blending cooperation and competition — helping others even while competing against them; some games reward it directly.
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Mechanical
COTS
Commercial Off-The-Shelf — pre-made parts teams can buy rather than fabricate, within the rules.
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Awards
Dean's List Award
Honors exceptional student leaders for their contributions and leadership within their team and community.
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Competition & Game
District
A regional model where teams earn points across multiple events to qualify for their District Championship.
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Software
DS
Driver Station
The NI software (and the physical station) that connects driver inputs to the robot and reports status during matches.
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Sensors & Controls
Encoder
A sensor that measures rotation/position of a shaft, essential for closed-loop control and odometry.
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Competition & Game
Endgame
The final phase of teleop, usually with a special scoring objective such as climbing or parking.
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Data & Scouting
EPA
Expected Points Added — Statbotics' rating model estimating a team's contribution to match score.
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Sensors & Controls
Falcon 500
A brushless motor with an integrated Talon FX controller and encoder, controlled over the CAN bus.
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Software
Feedforward
Control that predicts the output needed (e.g., to overcome gravity or reach a velocity) and is combined with PID for accuracy.
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General
FIRST
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology — the non-profit founded by Dean Kamen in 1989 that runs FRC and its sister programs.
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Competition & Game
Champs
FIRST Championship
The season-ending world championship (held in Houston) for teams that qualify through events and awards.
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Mechanical
FIRST Choice
A program giving teams credits to select specific Kit of Parts components from partner vendors.
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General
FLL
FIRST LEGO League
The entry-level FIRST program for younger students, using LEGO-based robots and research projects.
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General
FRC
FIRST Robotics Competition
The flagship high-school program where teams have a few weeks to design, build, and program an industrial-size robot to play that season's game.
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General
FTC
FIRST Tech Challenge
The middle/high-school FIRST program using smaller robots — a common stepping stone to FRC.
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Mechanical
Gear Ratio
The ratio between input and output rotation in a gearbox, trading speed for torque (or vice-versa).
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General
GP
Gracious Professionalism
A core FIRST value: competing hard while treating everyone with respect, kindness, and integrity.
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Sensors & Controls
IMU
Gyroscope / IMU
A sensor that measures the robot's heading and rotation; common units are the NavX and CTRE Pigeon 2.0.
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Awards
Impact Award
FRC's most prestigious award (formerly the Chairman's Award), honoring the team that best embodies FIRST's mission and impact.
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Competition & Game
Inspection
The required check that a robot meets size, weight, safety, and rules before it can compete.
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General
Kickoff
The event in early January that opens the season: the new game is revealed and the build period begins.
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Mechanical
KOP
Kit of Parts
The components FIRST provides to every team each season as a starting point for the robot.
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Mechanical
KitBot
The FIRST-provided everybot/starter robot design teams can build as a reliable, competition-ready baseline.
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Sensors & Controls
Kraken X60
A high-performance brushless motor (with integrated Talon FX electronics) controlled over CAN via Phoenix.
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Sensors & Controls
Limelight
A plug-and-play smart camera widely used for FRC vision targeting and AprilTag-based localization.
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Electrical
Main Breaker
The 120A circuit breaker that protects the entire robot's main power circuit between the battery and PDH/PDP.
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Mechanical
Mecanum Drive
A drivetrain using rollered wheels that lets the robot strafe sideways without turning.
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Sensors & Controls
NEO / NEO 550
REV Robotics brushless motors with built-in encoders, paired with SPARK MAX/Flex controllers.
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Software
Odometry
Tracking the robot's position on the field over time using encoder and gyro data (often fused with vision).
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Community
Onshape
A free, cloud-based CAD platform popular in FRC for collaborative robot design.
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Community
Open Alliance
A group of teams that publicly document their build season in real time to share knowledge with the community.
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Data & Scouting
OPR
Offensive Power Rating — a calculated estimate of a team's average scoring contribution, derived from match results.
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Software
PathPlanner
A popular tool for designing and following autonomous paths/trajectories for FRC drivetrains.
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Sensors & Controls
PhotonVision
Free, open-source vision software that runs on a coprocessor or Limelight for targeting and pose estimation.
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Data & Scouting
Picklist
A ranked list of teams an alliance captain uses to decide whom to invite during alliance selection.
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Software
PID
PID Controller
A feedback control loop (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) that drives a mechanism to a target by reacting to error.
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Competition & Game
Playoffs
The elimination bracket after qualifications; FRC uses a double-elimination format among the alliance captains' picks.
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Electrical
PDH
Power Distribution Hub
REV's power distribution board that feeds and protects the robot's circuits; the successor to the CTRE PDP.
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Electrical
PDP
Power Distribution Panel
CTRE's power distribution board that splits battery power into protected branch circuits.
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Competition & Game
Quals
Qualification Match
Randomly-scheduled matches that determine each team's seeding/ranking at an event.
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Competition & Game
RP
Ranking Points
Points earned from match outcomes and bonus objectives that determine a team's qualification ranking.
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Competition & Game
Regional
A stand-alone event (used outside district areas) where winning advances a team toward the FIRST Championship.
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Electrical
roboRIO
The National Instruments controller that is the 'brain' of the robot, running team code and coordinating all devices.
read the entry
Electrical
RSL
Robot Signal Light
The required orange light that indicates robot state (solid = enabled, blinking = disabled).
read the entry
Software
RobotPy
The Python implementation of WPILib, letting teams program their robot in Python.
read the entry
Awards
Rookie All-Star Award
The top award for a first-year team, recognizing a strong start that embodies FIRST's values.
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General
Rookie Team
A team in its first year of FRC competition; rookies have access to special grants and awards.
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Data & Scouting
Scouting
Systematically collecting data on robots' performance to inform strategy and alliance-selection decisions.
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Sensors & Controls
SPARK MAX
A REV Robotics motor controller for brushed and brushless (NEO) motors, configured via REV Hardware Client.
read the entry
Data & Scouting
Statbotics
An analytics site providing EPA ratings, predictions, and historical FRC data.
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Mechanical
Swerve Drive
A drivetrain where each wheel module can independently steer and drive, giving full omnidirectional movement.
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Sensors & Controls
Talon FX / SRX
CTR Electronics motor controllers (Talon FX is integrated in Falcon/Kraken; SRX is a standalone CAN controller).
read the entry
Competition & Game
Teleop
Teleoperated
The main portion of a match where drivers control the robot from the alliance station.
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Data & Scouting
TBA
The Blue Alliance
The community database of teams, events, matches, and results — with a public API used by many scouting tools.
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Electrical
VRM
Voltage Regulator Module
Provides clean, regulated low-current power (e.g., 5V/12V) for sensors, the radio, and other accessories.
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Mechanical
WCD
West Coast Drive
A rugged tank-style drivetrain with wheels mounted on one side ('cantilevered'), popular for its simplicity and durability.
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Awards
WFFA
Woodie Flowers Award
Recognizes an outstanding mentor who exemplifies excellence in communication and teaching within FRC.
read the entry
Software
WPILib
The official, free software library for programming FRC robots in Java, C++, or Python (RobotPy).
read the entry

Every acronym you’ll hear in the pit.

70 terms showing

Alliance

Alliance Selection

Anderson SB Connector

AprilTag

Autonomous

Build Season

Bumpers

CAN bus

Chief Delphi

Choreo

Command-Based Programming

Coopertition

COTS

Dean's List Award

District

Driver Station

Encoder

Endgame

EPA

Falcon 500

Feedforward

FIRST

FIRST Championship

FIRST Choice

FIRST LEGO League

FIRST Robotics Competition

FIRST Tech Challenge

Gear Ratio

Gracious Professionalism

Gyroscope / IMU

Impact Award

Inspection

Kickoff

Kit of Parts

KitBot

Kraken X60

Limelight

Main Breaker

Mecanum Drive

NEO / NEO 550

Odometry

Onshape

Open Alliance

OPR

PathPlanner

PhotonVision

Picklist

PID Controller

Playoffs

Power Distribution Hub

Power Distribution Panel

Qualification Match

Ranking Points

Regional

roboRIO

Robot Signal Light

RobotPy

Rookie All-Star Award

Rookie Team

Scouting

SPARK MAX

Statbotics

Swerve Drive

Talon FX / SRX

Teleoperated

The Blue Alliance

Voltage Regulator Module

West Coast Drive

Woodie Flowers Award

WPILib