ACP Youth Robotics Program

In 2018, ACP Robotics introduced its first group of FIRST Robotics teams, followed by the launch of the FIRST Robotics Team Advisory service in 2019. The program has gained significant momentum, and ACP has brought onboard highly skilled FTC team 8565 TechnicBots and their coach, Dr. Fang Wang, ACP Vice President, to lead this initiative.


From seasons through 2019 to 2024, the ACP ladder system has incubated more than 20 teams at the FLL-Explore, FLL-Challenge and FTC levels. Many of them have earned reputation and awards within the North Texas Region, Texas State and even in the FIRST World Championship. Refer to Hall of Fame to see individual team achievements accomplished by all the hardworking coaches, mentors and students.


From 2024-2025 season, ACP Robotics Program will evolve from the seeding phase to the blooming phase. What will evolution bring?

  • No more ladder teams affiliated with ACP Robotics Program. We believe our ladder program has seeded an incredible amount of accomplished teams, and aim to begin the cultivation and mentorship of the teams.
  • ACP Robotics Forum will occur on a monthly basis, inviting all individually operating teams to this new platform to offer technical sharing, community outreach collaboration, and the in-season co-operation.

Learn More about ACP Robotics

Learn more about our achievements - Hall of Fame


Learn more about our Annual Summer Camp Program

  • FTC Crash Course
  • FLL-Challenge Summer Camp
  • FLL-Explore Summer Camp


Learn more about our Monthly Robotics Forum


Need mentoring help? Fill out this form



FIRST Tech Challenge:

This level typically involves youth from grade 7-12. Commercial off-the-shelf mechanical parts, 3D-Printing, CNC or Laser-Cut customized parts are all allowed to forge the robot driven by 12V DC motors and industry-standard PWM servos.  Team members in ACP FTC teams are highly trained to utilize 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design) software to sketch and verify their designed mechanical modules before hands-on exercises. 


Java is the dominant programming language at this level. ACP FTC teams are considered quite advanced in software overall in the North Texas region. Team members are utilizing advanced IDEs or browser-based programming interfaces to implement classical and modern robot control, computer vision and AI algorithms, as well as to integrate complicated software frameworks.
(In photo: Victor X., David H. and Joseph S. tuning the turret of their team robot from past seasons.)


Two ACP teams are competing at this level in 2023-2024 Season.


FIRST LEGO League - Challenge

The robot design and programming in this level often involves youth from grade 4-8. All LEGO parts are allowed to build the team robot driven by LEGO EV3 or Spike core set motors and sensors. Advanced teams in ACP are expertised in LEGO CAD softwares to implement their design ideas into highly extensible and complicated competition robots. 



Although block (Scratch) is the mainstream programming language at this level, many ACP teams are efficient in Python to implement advanced control algorithms which often lead to more robust and consistent robots in the competition field. 
(In photo: FLL-C level award winning competition robot designed by team 40657 in past seasons.)


Five ACP teams are competing at this level in 2023-2024 Season. 

FIRST LEGO League - Explore

This level is for building up competences and providing an outlook of what FIRST Robotics can be to the junior kids typically in grade 2-4. Less competitive but more fun robots building and regional exhibitions are designed based on LEGO WeDo 2.0 kits and recently updated to the LEGO Spike Essential set, where basic mechanisms of structures, moving parts with motors, gear transmission and sensors can be learnt. 


(In photo: 1st grader Anni from ACP FLL-E team experimenting with gear rack transmission mechanisms from WeDo sets.)


Five ACP teams are competing at this level in 2023-2024 Season.

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