A Brief Intro to FRC Electrical

An introduction to what electrical looks like and means in the First Robotics Competition

If you don't understand what and how the First Robotics Competition works, or what it is, start here: (link). This will take you over what an FRC robot looks like, and the very basics of what we as a team do.

FRC electrical is probably not what comes to your mind if you think about electrical (unless you have participated in FRC or Vex or another robotics competition already), we do not use wire nuts, for example.

But it is probably the leading cause for in-competition breakages, despite being probably the simplest to learn and master of the major subteams.

Firstly, not all electrical components are allowed in competition, the ones that are are for the most part produced specifically for FRC and other robotics competitions. This is not to say that FRC electrical skills do not apply to other electrical ventures, however- wiring an FRC robot is surprisingly similar to wiring a car, and they both actually use the same control system.

The real art, and skill, in electrical, is not in crimping wires (reference Electrical Terminology page for what crimping means) or choosing components, its designing the layout and building a robust system. This involves where to place the electrical components and usually requires working closely with the cad team, but also thinking ahead about where to run wires and how to keep them safe. As the robot is being designed, electrical accessibility is something which needs to be considered. Let me provide an example: this past season (2025) we designed a robot with a 3 stage elevator (basically, there are three rectangles nested in each other, each able to move in the larger one. Refer to the design resources page for more information on what an elevator is). What this meant was that we would have to run wires from one part of the robot onto a another part sliding relative to it, multiple times. This was done using cable chains (link to wiring guide), and in the design process we had to find places to locate the cable chain and leave a path clear for it to travel.

At first the level of focus and perfection shown to wire layout and organization may seem silly, but once you have been to a competition, its value will become clear.

Designing a good robot requires not only a good performance of the tasks assigned by the game, but robustness, and beyond that, ease of troubleshooting and pit checks.

Reference (link electrical design) for more information about designing the electrical on the robot.