Congrats on an Incredible Season

Whew, what a season - capped off by the first ever Festival of Champions right here in Manchester, New Hampshire. 

Thanks to everyone who made this year a success. The students were tremendous and our program grew for the 12th year in a row. I’ve been with FIRST for 10 years and I’m still amazed by the passion, drive, and intellect demonstrated by our teams. Our planet faces big problems, but with this generation I have great confidence we will meet those challenges.

Our volunteers share this hope, it’s why they dedicate millions of person-hours each year to make this possible. Although they may not have had FIRST when they were young, they see the critical need, and the amazing benefits. FIRST Tech Challenge alone held over 800 events last season and every single one depended on these outstanding volunteers. I know of no other organization in the world that attracts such passionate, and intelligent folks.

Finally, a huge thank you to the FIRST Tech Challenge staff. Believe it or not there are just twelve full time FIRST Tech Challenge employees. They are all wonderful and unique, and committed to the mission of FIRST. They are almost always behind the scenes and they are the engine that makes all the magic possible.

The image I’ll take with me from this season is the one below, taken immediately after the final match was held and includes our teams from Houston and St. Louis. In the foreground are some of our key volunteers and several of our staff. I’m lucky to be part of this wonderful organization and program.



Our “off season” is incredibly short this year. What has traditionally been four months of preparation for the new season has been compressed to about six weeks. Have no fear, the FIRST Tech Challenge staff, key volunteers, and our technology partners have been hard at work. We’re excited for September 9th and the 2017/2018 unveiling of FIRST Relic Recovery, presented by Qualcomm. 

See you out there!


Ken Johnson
Director FIRST Tech Challenge

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2015-2016 FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship Awards!

Image
FIRST Tech Challenge Judged Awards Inspire Award – Team 7013 – Hot Wired from Portland, Oregon Finalists: Team 6081 – I 2 R Robotics from West Port Connecticut Team 6389 – The Lazybots from Eden Prairie Minnesota Team 7013 – Hot Wired from Portland, Oregon **Award Winner** Team 7655 – The Q is Silqent from Eagan Minnesota Rockwell Collins Innovate Award – Team 7350 – Watts NXT? from Edison New Jersey Finalists: Team 6022 – TBD To Be Determined, Aurora Ohio Team 7013 – Hot Wired  from Portland, Oregon Team 7152 – Robot Squad from Rochester Minnesota Team 7350 – Watts NXT? from Edison New Jersey **Award Winner** Team 7486 – Team Erebor from Suffern New York Team 9048 – Phiobots from Austin, TX Motivate Award – Team 4855 – Batteries in Black from Portland, Oregon Finalists: Team 4855 – Batteries in Black from Portland, Oregon **Award Winner** Team 5070 – N.U.T.S. from Orlando, Florida Team 5202 – Zip TIE Fighters from Decatur Illinois Team 5220 – RoboKnights from Fremont California Tea
Read more

GAME HINT and FIRST Tech Challenge 2016-2017 Season Field Pre-Order Information

Image
AndyMark will start accepting Team pre-orders for the 2016-2017 field sets beginning on 7/1/2016! All team shipments will be sent out on 9/9/2016. There will not be Saturday deliveries. For orders to ship by 9/9/2016 they must be placed with AndyMark and processed by 8/26/2016.  2016-2017 Beacons FIRST Tech Challenge is excited to announce that for the 2016-2017 seasons’ game, we will be reusing the RES-Q℠ Beacon. The beacon will function differently than it had for the FIRST RES-Q℠ game, and there will be a total of four Beacons on each field instead of just two. Teams do not have to purchase brand new beacons, they will be able to reuse Beacons purchased from last season. The Beacons used last season will need to be reprogrammed with the 2016-2017 game’s software for those Teams that would like to reuse their already purchased beacons. AndyMark will be offering a Programming Tool to reprogram each beacon*. AndyMark has been hard at work this summer to make some significant changes a
Read more

FTC Team Purple Gears Awarded a Patent!

Image
Purple Gears Get a Patent! by Rachelle Garbarine Numbers are important to the Cardinal Gibbons High School Robotics Team . None, however, is as memorable as 8,794,386 – the number issued to the team’s first U.S. patent.  The patent, which the team assigned to Cardinal Gibbons, is for a folding forklift. The FIRST Tech Challenge team - the Purple Gears aka Team 2901 - conceived, tested, and built the device as part of its design for the robot it entered in the 2011 national robotics competition known as FIRST (ForInspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge or FTC. That year, the Purple Gears also went to the FTC World Championship in St. Louis.  While it is rare for a high school team to file a patent, the Cardinal Gibbons Team has three filings to its credit. In addition to the forklift patent, which underwent three years of review before it was issued this August 5, the team has filed a second one for a custom treaded wheel; and a third for a claw mech
Read more