Apply
Thank you for your interest in Livingston Robotics Club! We understand that finding an established and nearby robotics team for your enthusiastic child who is passionate with LEGO or robotics could be a challenging task.
It is FIRST’s policy that parents are encouraged to form and coach new teams for their children and friends, especially at the younger age. Thus the FIRST LEGO League (FLL for age 9 to 14) and the Junior FIRST LEGO League (Jr.FLL for age 6 to 9) teams are structured in a variety of different ways, manageable by coaches without engineering or robotics experience. Some teams are just friends in the neighborhood, some are from school or after-school programs, some are from youth groups such as the boys or girls scouts and 4-H groups; some are community organization or home-schooled children, while others may be teams from the local robotics training centers/classes. Due to concerns with privacy, FIRST and the local FIRST partners do not match individual children with pre-existing teams or share the team contact information. This is especially the case at the FLL level.
The FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) and FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) in the high school level for the older students are often part of the school teams, or graduates of neighborhood veteran FLL teams. Currently, LRC only has one FTC team, and no FRC team. Our highly competitive FTC team only accepts experienced FIRST members after a very rigorous screening. If you are interested in the high school level teams, first check with your local schools or search through the FIRST team locator.
Livingston Robotics Club (LRC) is will review your child’s application and try to find a match within an existing LRC teams, although there is no guarantee. Often, this is a time consuming process since most existing teams have very limited space and availability. Therefore, we encourage parents, or teachers, to start their own teams in their areas, and invite other interested students to join. LRC can assist you with this process.
There is a nominal annual fee per team to join our Club in order to receive the coaching and network support. Each divisions within LRC (FTC, FLL and Jr.FLL) has a main contact person to answer your questions or concerns, in order to reduce the learning curve in forming and coaching a team, and for your team to be successful during the season. Here is a quick outline of each FIRST divisions:
- For Jr.FLL: Age 6 to 9; 2 to 6 team members, (non-competitive, season from November to May)
- For FLL: Age 9 to 14; 3 to 10 team members, (season from September to December)
- For FTC: high school level (8th grade to 12 grade; maximum 10 team members, season from September to February)
- For FRC: high school level (currently not available in LRC; 10 to 70+ team members, with 6 weeks of build season starting in January).
Benefits to Livingston Robotics Club members include:
Be part of an extensive community network of parents and students who have the similar vision and interests
Be able to receive guidance from experience veteran coaches for questions and answers
Have a team home page as part of LRC website to blog and post progress and achievements
Usage of facilities available to LRC in the Livingston, NJ area (schedule permitted)
Donation to the individual team through LRC are tax exempted
Be a part of the news release and public spotlights for the team achievements
Be able to share and receive information about the FIRST programs and other science related events and competitions
Jr. FLL team be able to attend the LRC Jr. FLL Expo for free (waive the $35 Expo registration fee)
There are different ways to join LRC: 1) Apply as an individual member to find a team; 2) Apply as an established team; 3) Form a new team under LRC. All teams must be officially registered with FIRST for the season before submitting an application to LRC.
1) The Livingston Robotics Club Application is for individuals who are seeking to join an existing team or potentially willing to starting a new team. This process is often done at the FLL and FTC level, which requires a higher level of commitment and a more diverse skill set. This more extensive application form is used as a tool to assess the compatibility of the applicants with various teams. This application form is due by June 15, except at the discretion of the individual team who may accept late enrollment. Individual Application Form (for Team Application forms, see below)
2) After forming a team or to renew the LRC team membership, each team coach each season is fill out a LRC team application for one of the three divisions: Jr. FLL, FLL and FTC. This is to enroll the entire team as part of the LRC network for the season, the Team Application form and the LRC club membership fee is due by August 15 (no deadline for Jr.FLL). If the coach formed his/her own team without recruiting through the LRC, there is no need to submit the above Individual Application form as long as the coaches have enough information needed for their members.
3) Each LRC team is trained independently by the team coach who set his/her own team schedule, team fee (not part of the club membership fee), meeting location and expectation, as well as making the decision in accepting their team members. If an applicant can not be placed in an existing team, LRC encourages and will assist the parents to form their own team within the nearby towns. To find out more about FLL and what does it take, see Parents Frequently Asked Questions for FLL (for first time involvement and equipment purchases).
