FIRST Technology Challenge

By the time Rich Gomez, a challenge course supervisor at Northern Arizona University, started volunteering for FTC in 2012, he was already sold on what  FIRST  offers students. Rich Gomez Rich, who is a retired U.S. Navy officer, began volunteering with the FIRST  LEGO League in 2008 as a head referee . "The inspiration I saw in the young men and women, as well as the parents and mentors, fostered my belief that the FIRST  program is a wonderful organization for youth development and what is needed in our society to develop stronger leaders." His first role in FTC was as the Head Robot Inspector at the Arizona FTC Championship for the Bowled Over! season.  He said the level of competence he saw in the teams was overwhelming and that he had a great time interacting with the teams in the pits. One team Rich encountered during his first tournament really stuck out in his mind.  After failing their initial inspection, this team continued to have an uphill battle with getting thei

If you've ever attended an FTC event, you’ll no doubt agree that it is predominantly a male activity. For reasons that are too nebulous to catalog and more than a bit fraught to “explain,” boys flock to engineering and robots and all things remotely controlled. That’s not to say that girls don’t flock to it, but the tendency of many, I’d venture to say, is to hang back when faced with the sheer intensity of the boys’ confidence, enthusiasm, and perhaps even obsession. The girls may have just as strong an interest, but they approach it all more obliquely and cautiously. The outcome is often that, in a coed environment, you have a team that is primarily boys with maybe one or two girls, and those girls are the ones who are the most experienced, confident, or simply impervious to intimidation. I’d even go so far as to guess that those girls are there because they were inspired by a male relative, like a brother who was way into LEGO building, or an engineer father. While there’s n

When the Samantha Module was introduced for the 2009 Get Over It! season, FTC organizers in Oklahoma were looking for someone to do technical support and clear up questions around the new WiFi system.  They reached out to Jeremy Weimer. "I participated in the BEST robotics program [in high school], which was very enjoyable and rewarding," said Jeremy, who now works at an engineering firm specializing in mechanical, electrical and power for new buildings. "When I heard about the FTC competition, I was quite curious and interested in what was involved." Jeremy Weimer Jeremy's first tournament, the state championship at Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) where he's a student, was also the first time the Field Control System was used in Oklahoma.  He was tasked with setting it up and running it.  However, he had only gotten his hands on it two days prior to the tournament. "It was chaotic, to say the least," he said. Despite some delays due

Hey, FTC Community, what’s kickin’? That’s right, it’s Engineer’s Week - a celebration of the coolest people, who design the coolest stuff humans can think up; a party for people who design makeup, shirts that don’t wrinkle, vessels that take us to space, metal that has memory, cars that go farther on less fuel, harness wind and water, create intelligent machines and software, and continue to make sure the roads and buildings that we frequent daily are constructed precisely to code. It’s a festival for critical thinkers, problem solvers, makers, tinkerers, coders, and designers. My name is Nick, and I’m a Mechanical Engineer at FIRST .  I’d like to share my path to Engineering, and then I’ll finish up with what Engineering means to me on a more personal level. Here we go! I received my bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in December of 2008 from Iowa State University – an overwhelming day to say the least.  I was crazy-excited to be holding on to a piece of paper that signified

After seeing an FTC demo as part of a Boy Scout meeting, the children of David and Lydean Spangler talked repeatedly about starting a team.  The Maryland duo relented and in 2008 implemented the program as part of their children's homeschooling studies. The Spangler family, which includes children Renee, Erik, Laura and Mary, formed Spangler Software Incredibles and quickly assimilated into the FTC community around them. (left to right) Mary, David, Erik and Laura "That first year, we met Jeff Tjiputra, the Maryland Affiliate Partner at the time, and our first competition was at the College of Southern Maryland," said Lydean, a computer scientist.  "Over the course of the next year we began working closely with Jeff, who convinced David to become an FTA and the rest of us helped as there was a need." David, who is an electrical engineer, was apprehensive at first, questioning whether he had time for it.  But seeing the need for volunteers, he pitched in. The fam

FTC Minibot Playlist - vote for your favorite today!  With all of the interest the community has shown in the recent T-shirt design contest, I'm excited to announce the next challenge - the FTC Mini-Bot Contest!  Are you ready? To play, you must design a mini-bot, measuring 12"x12"x12" or less, using only parts allowed in the 2013-14 FTC Game Manual Part 1 .  The only exception to this rule is that the NXT does not have to be physically attached to your mini-bot (if it is, it must fit into the 12"x12"x12" space). What does the mini-bot do?  It can do anything you want it to, but the cooler, the better.  That's because you're going to upload it to YouTube and share the link with us.  We'll watch it and if it meets the time criteria (see below), we'll add it to a YouTube playlist.  At the end of the contest period, the mini-bot with the most likes (1 pt) and comments (2 pts) will be declared the winner. Oh, and in the spirit of building o

Pippin Wallace started volunteering with FTC eight years ago when the program was still in it's infancy.  It wasn't just the robots that kept him coming back though. Pippin Wallace speaks during the 2013 MT FTC Championship Opening Ceremony (photo courtesyof Darren Steiner) "The kids have always embraced the spirit of Coopertition and Gracious Professionalism in the FIRST  events and this is the big reason I've gotten behind the program," said the Oracle cloud software system administrator. Pippin, who started with FIRST  Vex Challenge as a hardware and software inspector in 2006, said he was excited to be involved with anything robotics related, but he had no idea what we was getting himself into.  His first go-round was rewarding and addictive and it wasn't long before he found himself stepping in to lead FTC in Montana as the Affiliate Partner there. As Affiliate Partner, Pippin became responsible for organizing the State Championship and managing team gro

In case you missed the big news in the most recent FTC Team e-mail blast, I want to take this opportunity to let you know that FTC Teams are now eligible to compete alongside FRC Teams for the Media and Technology Award, Sponsored by Comcast/NBCUniversal (formerly the FRC Website Award)! This award recognizes the FRC or FTC Team that develops and implements the most outstanding digital experience, marketing strategy and rationale for digital channels to share the FIRST  mission with the public.  It will be awarded to the team that looks beyond just their team website and takes into account the various ways people search for and consume content. The award was originally started in 2003 as the FRC Website Award.  As technology advanced and people changed the ways in which they consume media, the award expanded to include digital media as well.  The Comcast Corporation began sponsoring the award in 2013 and this year, the award received its name makeover and eligibility was extended to FT