FIRST Technology Challenge

We are so excited about the new website, www.firstinspires.org . It looks so awesome! But where's all the stuff? It's still there, but moving over to the new website, we re-organized and cleaned up to make it more user-friendly. Let's take a brief tour through the new website and help you locate what you need. When you arrive at the FIRST website , click on Programs, hover over FIRST Tech Challenge, and select a category to get to the FIRST Tech Challenge program pages . Here you will find information about the Game, Season, Starting a Team, Budget, Social Media, and more. But those pages are really geared more toward folks who are new to FIRST and FIRST Tech Challenge; the resources and materials for Team, Mentors, and Volunteers is located in the Resource Library . The Resource Library houses individual documents and lists of resources. We've organized most of the resources into lists, such as: Start a Team Resources Game and Season Info Volunteer Resources and l

One of the most unique aspects of FIRST Tech Challenge is how much our teams are invested in the FIRST Tech Challenge Community. Not only do they display pride and passion at events, but also work extremely hard to showcase both an online presence and one in their community. The amazing growth that FIRST Tech Challenge has experienced over the years is mainly due to the efforts of teams growing other teams. FIRST Tech Challenge participants understand the value of taking part in a team: the learning, the competition, and of course the sense of belonging.  To help recognize the efforts our Teams are doing in the field, FIRST Tech Challenge has created virtual badges that can be utilized by Teams on their online applications (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Has your team grown another team? 5 teams? 10 teams? Show off these accomplishments by downloading your badges on the Outreach & Marketing Resources list under "Website and Online Resources". Keep up the incredible wor

Our new FIRST Tech Challenge control system requires that your Driver Station (DS) device be “paired” with your Robot Controller (RC) device.  The FTC apps use Wi-Fi Direct technology to establish this connection between the two devices. If you are having problems pairing your devices, here are some tips: 1.   Make sure you pair the devices using the FTC Driver Station app .    Users should not try to pair the devices from the Android Wi-Fi Direct screen.   Instead they should use the Settings->Pair with Robot Controller screen on the FTC Driver Station App.      2. Make sure your devices are not connected to any other wireless networks.        If you are having difficulty pairing your devices, make sure your devices are not connected to any other Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi Direct networks.   You can use the Android Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct screens to forget any “remembered” groups, then restart the devices and reattempt the pairing process.        3.  Make sure your WiFi Direct names do not hav

The Modern Robotics (MR) Core Power Distribution Module (PDM) and the 12V 3000mAh battery are equipped with Tamiya electrical connectors. The PDM’s power input cable has a male Tamiya connector and the 12V battery has a female Tamiya connector.        Figure 1 - The PDM and the 12V Battery have Tamiya electrical connectors. The Tamiya connector is a common type of connector often used in the RC model industry. The Tamiya connector is a keyed type of electrical connector. This means that the shape of the connector prevents a user from improperly connecting two electrical components together. For the PDM, the square shaped component of the Tamiya connector matches the square shaped (positive) receptacle on the battery’s female Tamiya connector. The PDM’s circular shaped component matches the circular shaped (negative) receptacle on battery’s female Tamiya connector. The Tamiya connectors work well, but the internal components can stretch and loosen after repeated connect-disconnect cyc