About Us

Isotope FRC is a community-based robotics team founded in August 2023. We are based at the Build, RVA Makerspace in Richmond, VA. Our team serves high school students (ages 14-18, grades 9-12) in the Greater Richmond region who don’t have access to FRC teams at their public, private, or homeschools. With support from sponsors, our team is led by volunteer mentors who provide technical and operational support for the students who manage team activities. We actively compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), the highest level of competitive youth robotics in the world.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded by noted inventor Dean Kamen in 1989, and its goal is to motivate young people to pursue education and careers in STEM fields and to foster the development of leadership skills. Each year we are introduced to a new competition theme and rules around which robotics games are played. FRC pits alliances of robotics teams against each other, combining the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology. First Robotics Competition is the ultimate Sport for the Mind (TM), and most students consider it “the hardest fun they’ve ever had.” Learn more at: www.firstinspires.org.

FRC 2025 Game: REEFSCAPE

The 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition game, Reefscape, challenges teams to restore a coral reef by collecting and placing coral elements, removing pollution, and planting artificial reefs. Each match begins with a 15-second autonomous period, followed by human players loading coral elements onto robots, which then place them on the reef, remove pollution represented by foam blocks, and plant artificial reefs in designated areas. Points are awarded for these actions, as well as completing challenges during the autonomous period, with the alliance earning the highest score declared the winner.