NOMAD had the incredible opportunity to showcase FIRST at the Society for Lab Automation and Screening Conference (SLAS) held at the San Diego Convention Center. Within the convention center, we had a large area dedicated for FLL, FTC, and FRC teams to present what FIRST is all about to an audience of biotech industry professionals. Our team was excited to present a virtual demonstration of our 2025 Robot CAD executing Choreo autos and teleop motion in AdvantageScope. Thank you to 1538 and the Berggrens for allowing us to operate their 2023 robot during the exhibit.
Many attendees of the conference took a genuine interest in what we were showing, asking detailed questions about FIRST Robotics programs, technical processes, and software. One biotech professional, impressed by our high level of work, jokingly compared it to his own experience, saying, “When I was a teenager, all we had was a field and a stick. And we threw the stick.”
We enjoyed visiting the exhibits inside the convention center, where we spoke with biotech representatives and watched product demonstrations. One particularly intriguing robot was developed by OMRON Automation. This autonomous drivebase appeared in several booths, carrying exhibitors’ lab automation machines. The one pictured above quickly sorts small containers, using cameras to locate ArUco markers (similar to AprilTags) for navigation and precise placement of the containers on shelves. It was incredible to see how similar technology that FIRST teams are using is being used to solve real-world problems.
Another fascinating aspect was observing how different companies solved similar challenges with different solutions, similar to FIRST teams. Many machines developed by the biotech firms were designed to manipulate similar vials and trays. It was exciting to see the various methods each company employed to solve common problems, parallelling how FIRST teams approach building robots to manipulate the same game pieces in unique ways.
The highlight of the conference was witnessing the innovations in biotech and recognizing their similarity to FIRST robotics. This experience was truly eye-opening, showing how much overlap there is between the professional work in the biotech field and the robots we are building in high school. It emphasized the idea that the future of technology and innovation begins with the projects we are developing today.
Thank you to FIRST California for inviting us to participate! Attending the SLAS Conference was an amazing experience for our team, allowing us not only to exhibit our projects, but also to connect with people who were equally excited about automation technology!