FIRST Technology Challenge

Each season, FIRST Tech Challenge presents live "Ask an Expert" trainings for rookie and veteran teams. This year, the schedule is jam-packed, so we want to share some highlights: New Technology Series This four-part series will look closely at the new FTC Android-based technology and the various components, led by FTC teams, volunteers, and staff. Be sure to attend these live Google Hangouts on Air sessions and bring your questions (specific dates TBA): A Look at the New Parts in late August - find out what each new item is and what it does. App Inventor Overview in September - get a walk-through of the program and its capabilities. Mounting, Prep, and Assembly in October - where should you put what and how? We'll tell you the best tips and tricks we have for adding the new technology to your robot. Your Technology in Competition in November - how will this new technology affect competition? This session will help you be prepared for what to expect on the compet...

So many FLL and FTC teams had a blast participating in last year’s MiniBot Challenge that we are doing it again!  Are you ready? To play, you must design a MiniBot, measuring 12"x12"x12" or less, using only parts allowed in the 2014-15 FIRST ® Tech Challenge Game Manual Part 1 or FIRST®LEGO® League allowed parts. The only exception to this rule is that the NXT does not have to be physically attached to your MiniBot (if it is, it must fit into the 12"x12"x12" space) and you may use an EV3 in place of the NXT brick. 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 a video of your robot in action 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.  Then the community will vote on the coolest Bot, and at the end of the contest period the MiniBot with the most likes (1 pt) an...

Your FIRST Tech Challenge team just finished their first season. What are you going to do now? Why, share what you've learned by mentoring another team, of course! Fruit Salad and Octopi. That’s exactly what Team #6007 Octopi did. When FIRST Lego League team Fruit Salad transitioned up to FTC, Octopi was there to help. Likewise, Fruit Salad has been mentoring FLL team The Brick 6. It’s not easy to learn all the pieces of being a FIRST team. Sharing knowledge and experience with another group is a valuable way to give back to the community, which is exactly what Octopi and now Fruit Salad are doing. In addition to knowledge, the three teams share work space and resources, too, of great benefit to all three teams.  The Brick Six and Fruit Salad. “The part of FTC that was the most daunting when we were rookies was the actual competition,” said Octopi. They were able to help Fruit Salad be prepared for competition, plus the teams cheer each other on.  “Mentoring other FTC te...

Heat It Up and Keep It Cool: Teambuilding and Transitioning by Teresa Smalley Our team, Heat it Up and Keep it Cool Robotics , and its five members, have just ended our fourth year . We have graduated FIRST Lego League and are now FIRST Tech Challenge Team 8496 starting our rookie year! We have also added a sixth team member.  During the past four years we have spent an average of 15 to 20 hours per week together. For the past three three years we have been an Ambassador Team for the Los Angeles Region . This year we were one of two teams to win the Los Angeles Regional Championships, but no promotions were made to the World Festival from Southern California. We instead were invited to attend the International Open in Toronto , Canada. What an honor and an unbelievably great experience. In addition, we do outreach activities including mentoring two FLL teams and robotics demos at local monthly events.  Our program runs year round, we meet during the school year and dur...

A few months ago, I introduced the first-ever FTC Minibot Challenge.  It was a lot of fun and it was great to see so many Teams participate (even some great FIRST  LEGO League Teams).  Each Team had really creative ideas on what these robots should look like and what function they should perform. Teams submitted their robot designs via YouTube videos and entries were judged by the community. Points were given for the number of likes and comments a video earned.  Now that these points are tallied, I'm excited to announce the top winners of this challenge. First Place goes to FTC Team 7172, Technical Difficulties, for their "Plotter Bot"! Second Place goes to FTC Team 5609, Ciberbots, for their Catapult! And in Third Place, we had a tie between FTC Team 4924, Tuxedo Pandas, and FTC Team 7361, CTRL-ALT-DEL! A big thank you to all of the FLL and FTC Teams that participated in this challenge.  It was fun watching all of the creative ideas come to life and all ...