FIRST Technology Challenge

We are so excited to share the new FIRST Tech Challenge Game with you all this coming Saturday, September 6th, that we can hardly stand it! We hope the fun of dissecting all of the blog, Twitter , and Facebook posts for Game hints has kept you busy enough that the last few weeks of waiting have flown right by. There are any number of ways that you can celebrate the FTC Kickoff this Saturday. Attend a Kickoff event in your area and you will get to meet other Teams and FTC fans and get a feel for the energy of an FTC event. If you can't make it to an event, watch the live stream of the Massachusetts Kickoff available on the FTC Game Page on Saturday. Or you can always hold a Kickoff party just for your Team, screening the FTC Game Video at 12 noon EST on Saturday. Definitely make sure your Team is registered for this season. Then be sure to review all the FTC Game Materials carefully as you begin work on your Robot, as well as look through the new resources available today (mor...

Self-Reflection is an essential life skill. Whether it be our own behavior, job performance, or when brainstorming a new invention, learning how to step back and objectively provide self-feedback is invaluable. Not everyone around us will be willing or able to provide the type of feedback that we need to move ahead and improve. Some situations may not even allow for feedback to come our way. Instead of being left wondering questions like “why?” or “what did I do wrong?” or “how did I do?” over and over, we all need to develop the skill of providing our own feedback after objective self-reflection so we will be able to quickly reflect, adapt, and move forward.  There's a lot of talk about setting goals and, don't get me wrong, goals are important, but what happens if we don't meet our goals? Does that mean we wasted your time? Good scientists, explorers, engineers, inventors, and even chefs - they all know that accidents often lead to amazing discoveries. Learning from ...

FIRST Tech Challenge is excited to partner with AndyMark on Field and Game Elements for the 2014-2015 Season.  That means you no longer have to build a practice field, but can purchase one from AndyMark and have it shipped to you after Kickoff (no Team pre-orders!). They will offer teams a full or half field option and each kit comes with the Field Setup elements and Game Elements. Don't worry, you can still build a field if you want to! But what will they be? Each year, the Game Design Committee drums up a new element that presents a variety of manipulation challenges for teams to overcome. They've chosen wiffle balls, rings, two varieties of racquet balls, hockey pucks and batons, to name a few.  Since elements are different from year to year, teams must redesign their robots each season to accommodate the new item and the scoring objectives. What do you think this year's element will be?  Leave your guesses below and go to a kickoff event , or go to www.usfirst.org/...

Hey there FTC ! This is Michelle Long again from the FIRST Scholarship Program . It’s that time of year again to start thinking about the FIRST Scholarship Program and life after FTC. Photo courtesy of Scott Nichols and The Webb School . First of all, check out last year’s FTC FIRST Scholarship Program blog post - all of that information is still accurate. Also check out the FTC Google Hangout that we had last winter with Timm Huffman and Kate Caulfield at Olin College of Engineering: again LOTS of good information. The FIRST Scholarship webpage is THE place to go for information on all FIRST Scholarships. We are currently in the middle of renewing last year’s scholarships and developing new ones for the year- we anticipate the new 2015 Scholarship Program going live in early September. The other program that I wanted to talk to you about is the FIRST Alumni Program- actually the FIRST Alumni Program s ! We’re revving up our Alumni initiatives and developing programming to offer ...

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...

Texas is the home of The Alamo, delicious BBQ, and the slogan “Don’t Mess with Texas.” It is one of the largest states in the continental US and encompasses some of the most diverse terrains in the country, ranging from deserts, swamps, to coastlines. It also happens to be the home of FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Team 7785, The Pink Lady Hornets , a team who had the honor of advancing to the FTC South Super Regional for the 2013-2014 season. These ladies hail from Flour Bluff High School in Corpus Christi and alongside them, have a program at their school that includes 4 additional rookie teams, 2 of which are all girls’ teams. Team 7785, an all girls’ team of juniors and seniors, states that their mission is "To not only spread the idea of robotics, but to change the future of robotics by encouraging young girls to dream of being in the STEM fields and to chase these dreams regardless of societal stereotypes." This past season, The Pink Lady Hornets held their first “No Rob...

Did you get to participate in the inaugural Gear Up with FTC! FIRST Tech Challenge Virtual Summer Conference ? I learned so many new things my brain hurts. If you didn't get a chance to check in, here's a recap of what you missed. Follow the links to watch any of the sessions on the FIRST Tech Challenge YouTube Channel. On Wednesday Kari Karwedsky from PTC talked about Shared Connections between the engineering field, PTC, and FIRST . Her topic was a great reminder that FIRST Tech Challenge is about more than just robots-there is a lot of practical, life learning that happens on and off the competition field! Maintaining the connection theme, 2014 FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship Inspire Award winners The Bears joined us from Mexico to talk about FTC teams building international connections and practical team organization methods and tips, which will be especially useful for rookie teams starting to plan their season. Their high-energy presentation was followed by ...