Every acronym, decoded

The FRC A to Z

Every acronym and bit of jargon you'll hear in the pit, decoded. Search a term, jump to a letter, or filter by department — and learn the language of build season.

70terms indexed9categories20/26letters covered

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70 terms

Alliance

Competition & Game

A group of three teams that play together on the red or blue side of a match.

Alliance Selection

Competition & Game

The pre-playoff process where the top-seeded teams take turns inviting other teams to form playoff alliances.

Anderson SB Connector

The standard genderless quick-connect (often SB50) used between the battery and the robot.

AprilTag

Sensors & Controls

A fiducial marker (like a simple QR code) placed on the field that cameras use to estimate the robot's pose.

Autonomous

Competition & Game

The opening segment of a match where the robot operates entirely on pre-programmed code with no driver input.

Build Season

The intense period after Kickoff (historically ~6 weeks) when teams design and build their robot before competitions.

Bumpers

Competition & Game

The mandatory padded protective bumpers around a robot's frame, colored red or blue to match the alliance.

CAN bus

Controller Area Network — the wiring/protocol that lets motor controllers, sensors, and the roboRIO communicate on one daisy-chained bus.

Chief Delphi

The largest FRC community forum, where teams share technical knowledge, designs, and code.

Choreo

A trajectory-optimization tool that generates time-optimal autonomous paths, often paired with WPILib.

Command-Based Programming

WPILib's recommended structure that organizes robot code into Subsystems and Commands for clean, reusable behavior.

Coopertition

A FIRST value blending cooperation and competition — helping others even while competing against them; some games reward it directly.

COTS

Commercial Off-The-Shelf — pre-made parts teams can buy rather than fabricate, within the rules.

Dean's List Award

Honors exceptional student leaders for their contributions and leadership within their team and community.

District

Competition & Game

A regional model where teams earn points across multiple events to qualify for their District Championship.

Driver Station

The NI software (and the physical station) that connects driver inputs to the robot and reports status during matches.

Encoder

Sensors & Controls

A sensor that measures rotation/position of a shaft, essential for closed-loop control and odometry.

Endgame

Competition & Game

The final phase of teleop, usually with a special scoring objective such as climbing or parking.

EPA

Data & Scouting

Expected Points Added — Statbotics' rating model estimating a team's contribution to match score.

Falcon 500

Sensors & Controls

A brushless motor with an integrated Talon FX controller and encoder, controlled over the CAN bus.

Feedforward

Control that predicts the output needed (e.g., to overcome gravity or reach a velocity) and is combined with PID for accuracy.

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.

FIRST Championship

Competition & Game

The season-ending world championship (held in Houston) for teams that qualify through events and awards.

FIRST Choice

A program giving teams credits to select specific Kit of Parts components from partner vendors.

FIRST LEGO League

The entry-level FIRST program for younger students, using LEGO-based robots and research projects.

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.

FIRST Tech Challenge

The middle/high-school FIRST program using smaller robots — a common stepping stone to FRC.

Gear Ratio

The ratio between input and output rotation in a gearbox, trading speed for torque (or vice-versa).

Gracious Professionalism

A core FIRST value: competing hard while treating everyone with respect, kindness, and integrity.

Gyroscope / IMU

Sensors & Controls

A sensor that measures the robot's heading and rotation; common units are the NavX and CTRE Pigeon 2.0.

Impact Award

FRC's most prestigious award (formerly the Chairman's Award), honoring the team that best embodies FIRST's mission and impact.

Inspection

Competition & Game

The required check that a robot meets size, weight, safety, and rules before it can compete.

Kickoff

The event in early January that opens the season: the new game is revealed and the build period begins.

Kit of Parts

The components FIRST provides to every team each season as a starting point for the robot.

KitBot

The FIRST-provided everybot/starter robot design teams can build as a reliable, competition-ready baseline.

Kraken X60

Sensors & Controls

A high-performance brushless motor (with integrated Talon FX electronics) controlled over CAN via Phoenix.

Limelight

Sensors & Controls

A plug-and-play smart camera widely used for FRC vision targeting and AprilTag-based localization.

Main Breaker

The 120A circuit breaker that protects the entire robot's main power circuit between the battery and PDH/PDP.

Mecanum Drive

A drivetrain using rollered wheels that lets the robot strafe sideways without turning.

NEO / NEO 550

Sensors & Controls

REV Robotics brushless motors with built-in encoders, paired with SPARK MAX/Flex controllers.

Odometry

Tracking the robot's position on the field over time using encoder and gyro data (often fused with vision).

Onshape

A free, cloud-based CAD platform popular in FRC for collaborative robot design.

Open Alliance

A group of teams that publicly document their build season in real time to share knowledge with the community.

OPR

Data & Scouting

Offensive Power Rating — a calculated estimate of a team's average scoring contribution, derived from match results.

PathPlanner

A popular tool for designing and following autonomous paths/trajectories for FRC drivetrains.

PhotonVision

Sensors & Controls

Free, open-source vision software that runs on a coprocessor or Limelight for targeting and pose estimation.

Picklist

Data & Scouting

A ranked list of teams an alliance captain uses to decide whom to invite during alliance selection.

PID Controller

A feedback control loop (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) that drives a mechanism to a target by reacting to error.

Playoffs

Competition & Game

The elimination bracket after qualifications; FRC uses a double-elimination format among the alliance captains' picks.

Power Distribution Hub

REV's power distribution board that feeds and protects the robot's circuits; the successor to the CTRE PDP.

Power Distribution Panel

CTRE's power distribution board that splits battery power into protected branch circuits.

Qualification Match

Competition & Game

Randomly-scheduled matches that determine each team's seeding/ranking at an event.

Ranking Points

Competition & Game

Points earned from match outcomes and bonus objectives that determine a team's qualification ranking.

Regional

Competition & Game

A stand-alone event (used outside district areas) where winning advances a team toward the FIRST Championship.

roboRIO

The National Instruments controller that is the 'brain' of the robot, running team code and coordinating all devices.

Robot Signal Light

The required orange light that indicates robot state (solid = enabled, blinking = disabled).

RobotPy

The Python implementation of WPILib, letting teams program their robot in Python.

Rookie All-Star Award

The top award for a first-year team, recognizing a strong start that embodies FIRST's values.

Rookie Team

A team in its first year of FRC competition; rookies have access to special grants and awards.

Scouting

Data & Scouting

Systematically collecting data on robots' performance to inform strategy and alliance-selection decisions.

SPARK MAX

Sensors & Controls

A REV Robotics motor controller for brushed and brushless (NEO) motors, configured via REV Hardware Client.

Statbotics

Data & Scouting

An analytics site providing EPA ratings, predictions, and historical FRC data.

Swerve Drive

A drivetrain where each wheel module can independently steer and drive, giving full omnidirectional movement.

Talon FX / SRX

Sensors & Controls

CTR Electronics motor controllers (Talon FX is integrated in Falcon/Kraken; SRX is a standalone CAN controller).

Teleoperated

Competition & Game

The main portion of a match where drivers control the robot from the alliance station.

The Blue Alliance

Data & Scouting

The community database of teams, events, matches, and results — with a public API used by many scouting tools.

Voltage Regulator Module

Provides clean, regulated low-current power (e.g., 5V/12V) for sensors, the radio, and other accessories.

West Coast Drive

A rugged tank-style drivetrain with wheels mounted on one side ('cantilevered'), popular for its simplicity and durability.

Woodie Flowers Award

Recognizes an outstanding mentor who exemplifies excellence in communication and teaching within FRC.

WPILib

The official, free software library for programming FRC robots in Java, C++, or Python (RobotPy).