For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), is a global non-profit founded in 1989 that prepares students for the future through FIRST ® Robotics, Tech Leagues and Lego Leagues competitions that build skills, confidence, and resilience for students pre-K through 12th grade. The ABB Foundation provides grants to FIRST Teams who are mentored by ABB employees.
The FIRST Robotics World Championships in Houston, TX in April hosted 50,000 attendees from around the globe. 
The EastBots Robot, Team #4795 from Chapel Hill, N.C.
Medium Voltage (MV) Product Line Manager at ABB's Mebane, North Carolina, manufacturing facility, Harsh Karandikar, has been a mentor for ABB's FIRST Robotics program for six years, mentoring as many as four teams in one year. This year, Harsh mentored two teams, the EastBots and the BeastBots, each made up of 25 students and both from East Chapel Hill High School in North Carolina. Teams are broken up into mechanical, electrical and programming so students can choose which portion of the competition they will work on.
"It's fun and very exciting,” Karanikar says about mentoring his FIRST Robotics teams. "The high school coaches and seniors on the teams do most of the heavy lifting, and are responsible for teaching the freshmen, who will do the same to underclassmen as they advance through high school.
An engineer by training, Harsh says the kids learn many skills throughout the FIRST experience. "It's not just science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), technology and robotics, but how to lead, mentor and teach, overcoming challenges, collaborating together, and more."
Harsh admitted that his favorite thing about being a mentor is watching how students work to get out of tight situations as a team. "Like when a robot gets in trouble early on and the students have to work under pressure to do a root-cause analysis and find and fix the issue to get back in the game in time for the next round, the pressure is on." He says it's amazing how quickly they work as a team to get back on track.
A total of 112,000 teams and 850,000 students from 100 countries participated in regional, state and national competitions to make it to the World Championships in Houston in April. Karandikar’s team, the EastBots, won a spot at the FIRST World Championships for the third year in a row, along with seven other ABB teams from across the U.S.
The ABB Foundation in the U.S. exists to improve the communities where ABB employees live and work. The ABB Foundation gives to organizations that work creatively to affect lasting change in three areas: STEM education, hunger and disaster relief. We also encourage and multiply the effects of volunteerism and charity from ABB employees in our communities.
