Acronyms Used by FIRST
Most of these acronyms were curated from various posts on Chief Delphi, with others from the game manual.
General Acronyms
FIRST - For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology AM - AndyMark, a business started by Andy Baker and Mark Koors in 2004. BAE - BAE Systems - sponsor BB - BaneBots - provide compliant wheels and other parts BOM/CAW - Bill Of Materials/Cost Accounting Worksheet CAD - Computer Aided Design - SolidWorks, Autodesk, etc. CAM - Computer Aided Manufacturing CCL - Chiaphua Components Limited, which is the conglomerate that owns CIM. CD - Chief Delphi - a very useful forum for robotics CMU Cam - Carnegie-Mellon University [developed] Camera) COTS - Commercial Off the Shelf - parts you can buy locally and from vendors CTRE - Cross the Road Electronics, a supplier of control system parts DCMP - District Championship (only in districts) DK - Dean Kamen EI - Engineering Inspiration - an award EM - pronounced “eem” - could also be a member of NEMO - an engineering mentor FGC - FIRST Global Challenge FLL - FIRST Lego League FRC - FIRST Robotics Competition FSM - FIRST Senior Mentor FSP - FIRST Scholarship Opportunity FTC - FIRST Tech Challenge FUN - FIRST Updates Now GDC - game design committee - comes up with the games each year GP - Gracious Professionalism HOF - Hall of Fame - teams who won the Championship Impact Award HQ - Headquarters located in Manchester, NH IFI - Innovation FIRST Inc., who supplies the control system KISS - keep it simple, silly KOP - Kit of Parts - includes optional drivebase kit, optional grey tote, and season specific box Manch-Vegas - Home of FIRST HQ; Manchester New Hampshire. McMC - McMaster-Carr - supplier of parts MS - Microsoft NEMO - Non engineering mentor NI - National Instruments - company who provides software and parts OA - Open Alliance (Special CD threads to share info) OP - Original Poster, in relation to CD posts P^7 - Proper Prior Planning Prevents Pathetically Poor Performance PDP - Program Delivery Partner - FIRST in Alabama Q&A - the official question and answer forums RAP = NASA Robotics Alliance Project RCA - Regional Chairman’s Award, now called the FIRST Impact Award RCR - Rocket City Regional RD - Regional Director - associated with the PDP REV - REV Robotics, founded by Greg Needel and David Yanoshak in 2014 Ri3D - Robot in 3 Days - groups that build a robot within 3 days of kickoff RTFM or RTFD - read the FIRST (game) manual/documentation SDS - Swerve Drive Specialties - vendor for robot parts STEM or STEAM - Science Technology Engineering Arts Math TBA - The Blue Alliance - website that provides info about all FRC teams and events TBB - The Thrifty Bot - supplier of robot parts TLAs - three letter acronyms. (shouldn’t this be 3LAs?) TS - usually referring to the Team Spirit award UFH - Unsung FIRST Hero VIMS - Volunteer Information & Matching System - allows volunteers to sign up to help at events, etc. WCP - West Coast Products, a supplier of robot parts WF - Woodie Flowers WFA - Woodie Flowers Award WFFA - Woodie Flowers Finalist Award WPI - Worcester Polytechnic Institute - a technological university located in Worcester, MA WWT - “What was that?” generally said after____occurs on the field. YPP - Youth Protection Program Event-Related Acronyms
A-STOP - Autonomous Stop AD - Audience Display AUTO - Autonomous phase of a match CCWM - Calculated Contribution to Winning the Match CMP - Championship CPM - Cycles per Match CRI - Chief Robot Inspector CSA - Control System Advisor - wears orange hat DPR - Defensive Power Rating DQ - Disqualified DS - Driver Station section of the field D-STOP - Emergency Stop EC - Event Coordinator EPA - Expected Points Added - translates event ratings to points FCUI - Field Control User Interface FMS - Field Management System FS - Field Supervisor FTA - FIRST Technical Advisor; Wears a blue vest with FTA on the back. GA - Game Announcer HP - Human Player HR - Head Referee IFI Guy - The lifesaving technician on the field who has that spare copy of xxxx on his flash drive JA - Judge Advisor KV - Key Volunteer LRI - Lead Robot Inspector - wears yellow hat/black cargo vest MC - Master of Ceremonies/Emcee OI - Operator Interface (goes in your driver’s station) OPR - Offensive Power Rating QM - Queue Master Q_ - Qualification Match Number QF - Quarter Finals Ref - Referee RP - Ranking Point SCC - Station Control Cabinet - enclosures that house field electronics SF - Semi Finals TeleOp - Teleoperated Period - the second part of a match TIMS - Team Information Management System VC - Volunteer Coordinator W(zero) - Week Zero events |
Robot-Specific Acronyms
80/20 - Company that makes extruded aluminum 4/6/8WD - number of wheels a drivetrain has <Gnn> - rule from the “Game” section, where nn is the number (likewise, <Rnn>, <Snn>, &c.) ABS - Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (printer filament) ADC - Analog to Digital Converter APP - Anderson Power Pole connectors BHCS - Button Cap Head Screw BIGCIM – the larger CIM. CAM - Computer Aided Manufacturing CIM - CCL Industrial Motor CPR - Cycles per Rotation DAA - Dual-axis accelerometer DC - Direct Current (from a battery) DOC - Depth of Cut DP - Diametrical Pitch - size of gear calculated :# teeth/diameter ECCP - Enhanced Capture/Compare/PWM EMF - Electromotive Force FHCS - Flat Head Cap Screw GR - Gear Ratio GTS - Gear Tooth Sensor ID - Inside Diameter IPM - Inches per minute KITBot - a drivetrain made from components in the KOP LED - Light Emitting Diode LL - Limelight camera MA - Mechanical Advantage MDL-BDC - Module Brushed DC motor controller AKA Talon SRX MP - MAXPlanetary (gearbox) NEO - a brushless motor supplied by REV Robotic OD - OUtside Diameter PETG - Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol (printer filament) PLA - Polylactic Acid (printer filament) PSI - pounds per square inch (Pneumatics) RPM - Revolutions Per Minute (of the shaft coming out of your gearboxes or motors) SHCS - Socket Head Cap Screw TPI - Threads per inch TPU - Thermoplastic Polyurethane (printer filament) UNC - Unified National Coarse Thread UNF - Unified National Fine Thread UP - UltraPlanetary (gearbox) VP - VersaPlanetary (gearbox) WCD - West Coast Drive YRG - Yaw rate gyro Robot Control System/Electronics Acronyms
CAN - Controller Area Network (communication mode for controller) - Green/Yellow wire ESC - Electronic Speed Controller IMU - Inertial measurement Unit - combines accelerometer and gyroscope in the same unit IR Sensor (Infrared Sensor) PCM - Pneumatics Control Module PDH - Power Distribution Hub (REV) PDP - Power Distribution Panel PH - Pneumatic Hub POE - Power Over Ethernet POT - Potentiometer PWM - Pulse Width Modulation - Red/Black/White wires roboRIO - control system "brain" RPM - Radio Power Module RSL - Robot Signal Light SLA - Sealed Lead-Acid Battery UL - Underwriters Laboratories VRM - Voltage Regulator Module Programming Acronyms ALU - Arithmetic Logic Unit API - Application Programming Interface DIO - Digital Input Output EEPROM - Electrically Eraseable/Programmable Read-Only Memory EUSART - Enhanced Universal Serial Reciever/Transmitter FPGA - Field Programmable Gate Array GH - GITHub - a place for finding and sharing code LV - Labview MXP - myRio Expansion Port, the expansion port on the RoboRIO NT - Network Tables OpI - Orange Pi PCB - Printed Circuit Board PID - Proportional Integral Derivative (closed loop programming PP - Pathplanner - software for generating motion profiles PPR - pulses per rotation from an encoder PV - Photon Vision - vision software PW - Pathweaver - software for programming autonomous motion RIO - Reconfigurable Input/Output RPi - Raspberry Pi, a mini computer SOAP - SigmaC@T Opponent Analysis Program. SPI - Serial Peripheral Interface STEP - Standard ofr Exchange of Product Data - a file format used for 3d printing USB - Universal Serial Bus VSC or VSCode - Visual Studio Code VI - Virtual Environment WPILib - WPI Robotics Library - a standard software library |