Thank you for your interest in Livingston Robotics Club! We are a community robotics club with all parent coaches oversee teams in grades K-12 from all over New Jersey. 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!

LRC Divisions

Each divisions within LRC (FTC, FLL and Jr.FLL) has a main contact person to answer your questions or concerns. Our goal is to enable your child to participate in this amazing activity, to reduce the learning curve in forming and coaching a team, while maximize the success during the season.  Here is a quick outline of each FIRST divisions:

• FIRST LEGO Leage Jr (Jr. FLL): Ages 6 to 9; 2 to 6 team members, non-competitive, flexible dates during the season from September to May. Start and end dates vary depending on the individual team. LRC teams typically participate toward the end of the season, from February to end of May.
• FIRST LEGO League (FLL): Ages 9 to 14; 3 to maximum 10 team members, season typically from late August to mid December.
• FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC): 7th to 12th grades; typically 2 to 15 team members, season typically from September to April.

Each LRC team is trained independently by the team coach who set his/her own team schedule, team fee (in additional to the club membership fee), meeting location and expectation, as well as making the decision in accepting their team members.

Where are the local teams

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 FLL and Jr.FLL teams are structured in a variety of different ways. Some teams are just friends from 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 students, 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.  Therefore, finding a nearby team could be a time consuming and relentless process. You can sign up for FIRST TeamUp to get connected with other FLL or Jr.FLL teams in your area, but that is only if the coaches will look through that website to recruit. Many recruitment are done privately.

Meanwhile, the FTC and FRC teams are often part of the high school teams, or graduates of neighborhood veteran FLL teams. Schools tend to accepts only their students, while the neighbor teams often recruit locally.  You can find the local events and teams from FIRST Event Locator, then try to contact a team through their website or social media.

Currently, LRC has multiple Jr.FLL and FLL teams, but only one highly competitive FTC team, and no FRC team. LRC also welcomes other community FTC teams to join our Club.

How to Join LRC

There are three different ways to join LRC:

1) Apply as an individual member to find a team:

The “LRC Individual Application” form (see below) is for individuals who are seeking to join an existing team or potentially willing to start 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. LRC will review your application and try to first find a match per age and location within an existing LRC teams, although there is no guarantee.  This is a time consuming process since most existing teams have very limited space and availability. Meanwhile, our existing FTC team recruitment is done on a case-by-case, with a very stringent review process accepts only highly motivated students. However, LRC does welcome other community FTC teams to join our Club.

This extensive LRC application form is used as a tool to assess the compatibility of the applicants with various teams and other applicants. Space is very limited, early application is strongly recommended. Late member acceptance is at the discretion of the individual team.

• FTC and FLL division applications are accepted from May 1 to August 15 each year.
• As of 2015, LRC is no longer accepting Individual Applications for the FLL Jr division, only accepting as Jr FLL teams.

2) Form a new team under LRC:

If there is no openings in the existing teams, LRC will assist new applicants to go through the team matching and recruitment process by grouping  students with similar interests, experience, ages and locations to form a new team.  Parents and children will have a chance to meet and greet with each other, have a Q&A session with the LRC officials, and decide if they would like to form a team.  The new team then must be officially registered with FIRST for the season before submitting the “LRC Team Application” form (see below).

3) Apply as an established team:

For teams that has already been formed or need to renew its annual LRC team membership, submit a new  “LRC Team Application” form (see below) each season by August 15 for FTC and FLL, and by February 15 for Jr.FLL.  If the coach formed his/her own team without recruiting through the LRC, there is no need to submit the Individual Application form as long as the coaches have enough information needed for their members. As of 2015, LRC will only accept FLL Jr membership as applied as a team.

To officially register a FIRST team, please go to the official FIRST site.

LRC Application

Please fill out this application form.

Each LRC team is trained independently by the team coach who set his/her own team schedule, team fee (in additional to the club membership fee), meeting location and expectation, as well as making the decision in accepting their team members.

LRC’s Benefits

There is a nominal annual fee per team to join our Club in order to enjoy many benefits as a Livingston Robotics Club member:

 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 teams through LRC, a subsidiary of an 501(c)(3) organization HCHY, are tax-exempt (consult your tax advisory)
 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
 Be able to participate in LRC only activities such as lectures, field trips, and outreach events.
 Have access to our in-house patent attorney for patent filing at a reduced rate
 FLL Jr team be able to attend the LRC FLL Jr Expo for free (the LRC FLL Jr Expo registration fee waived)