The FRC Kit of Parts, Explained

If you just registered a rookie FIRST Robotics Competition team, the "Kit of Parts" is one of the first things you will hear about, and one of the most misunderstood. Here is what it actually is, what rookies get that veterans do not, and what it does and does not cover.

What the Kit of Parts actually is

The Kit of Parts (KOP) is the bundle of physical parts, a drive base, and digital resources that FIRST and its suppliers provide to registered teams each season. It is not a complete robot in a box. Think of it as a strong starting point: enough core hardware to build a basic driving robot, plus a pile of software licenses and vendor vouchers to fill in the rest.

The KOP comes in a few pieces. There is a season-specific box with game-related items that every team gets, one or more totes of mechanical and electrical components, a drive base chassis kit, and the Virtual Kit, which is the catalog of software and vouchers. You unlock the Virtual Kit at Kickoff, the event in early January where the new game is revealed.

What rookie teams get that veterans do not

This is the part that confuses new teams. Rookies and veterans do not receive the same physical kit.

• Rookie teams receive a Gray Tote, sometimes called the Rookie Tote. It holds the harder-to-source, reusable components a brand-new team has never owned, things you keep and reuse year after year.
• Veteran teams instead get a Black Tote of season-restock items, and they can opt out of it in exchange for vendor vouchers.
• Both rookies and veterans are offered the Drive Base Kit, the AM14U6 six-wheel chassis. Rookies cannot opt out of it; veterans can trade it for an AndyMark voucher because most already own a chassis.

So the rookie kit is deliberately heavier and more complete. FIRST front-loads the expensive, foundational parts to teams in their first year. If you are still figuring out how all of this fits together, our Getting Started guide walks through the first-season basics.

The control system inside the kit

The single most valuable thing in a rookie kit is a legal, working control system, the electronics that make the robot move. The core pieces are:

• A roboRIO, the main robot controller, often called the brain.
• A power distribution device (the REV Power Distribution Hub, CTRE Power Distribution Panel, or AndyMark Power Distribution Board are all legal options) to split 12V power across the robot.
• A VH-109 radio for wireless communication with the driver station.
• A Robot Signal Light (RSL), motor controllers, a 12V battery, and a main 120A breaker.

These are exactly the parts the game manual requires, so building from the kit keeps you legal without having to research every rule on day one.

The KitBot and the drive base

The Drive Base Kit is the AM14U6 chassis, a rolling frame that a small group can assemble in roughly a day. On top of that, FIRST releases a KitBot each season: a free set of instructions and a parts list for a simple, competitive robot built around that chassis. Many strong rookie teams build the KitBot in year one rather than designing something custom, because it reliably scores and gives you a working robot to practice driving. There is no shame in it, and it is genuinely good advice.

The Virtual Kit: software and vouchers

A huge share of the kit's value is digital. The Virtual Kit includes free professional CAD software (options have included Autodesk Fusion, Onshape, SOLIDWORKS, and Mastercam), engineering tools like MATLAB, and a stack of vouchers and credits toward parts and manufacturing services such as laser cutting. The exact lineup changes every season, so always check the current Virtual Kit catalog at Kickoff rather than assuming last year's list.

One thing that is always free and never in a voucher: WPILib, the official open-source software you use to program the robot. Anyone can download it, no kit required.

What the kit is not

The Kit of Parts will not, by itself, win you a regional. It gives you a drivetrain and electronics; the mechanisms that actually play the game, intakes, arms, shooters, and the like, are up to you to design, buy, or fabricate. Treat the kit as your foundation, not your finished robot, and plan a budget for the parts you will add on top.

New to all of this? Start with our Getting Started guide for a step-by-step path from unboxing the kit to a robot that drives.