The Indiana Robotics Invitational (IRI) is an off-season FIRST Robotics Competition event, hosted in Indianapolis. It began in 2000 with 21 teams, and is now one of the premier FIRST events in the world. In 2011, 114 teams applied to compete at IRI, while only 66 teams were invited and accepted. We would like to invite all teams who wish to compete, but we simply cannot.
The mission of IRI is to host an enjoyable, high quality, and well-organized FIRST Robotics Competition event, bringing together top competitive and strong character teams from across the FIRST community.
The IRI is a family-friendly event that is open for all of the public to attend. Competitors are invited to attend after filling out an application to compete. Teams are invited after being evaluated on numerous qualities. These qualities include past seasons’ performance and impact at IRI, current season performance at FIRST Regionals and the FIRST Championships, and other extra-ordinary team aspects which will enhance the IRI event.
Since 2008, some teams applying to compete at IRI were not invited. This is simply due to the demand of teams wishing to attend compared with the limited size and time needed to run IRI. We invite these teams to attend as spectators and encourage them to still enjoy the event.
Thank you to all of the teams who make IRI an outstanding event.