The Whitacre College of Engineering Robotics Program hosts the West/Panhandle Plains robotics competitions serving around 1,000 students each year in the Lubbock, Midland, El Paso, and Amarillo regions of Texas. First Tech Challenge is a mid-level robotics competition for students in grades 7th-12th (ages 12-18). Participants compete head-to-head using a sports model. Teams of 10+ students – including coaches, mentors, and volunteers – are required to develop a strategy and construct robots based on sound engineering principles. Teams design, build and program robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams to solve the game task for a given year. Teams also focus on community outreach, design and other real-world accomplishments.