League Play Comes to illlinois

FTC Leagues and Meets Overview

Why Leagues and Meets?

The primary reason is to create more opportunities for more teams to compete. In addition Leagues and Meets also reinforce the rapid prototype and design of the FTC program. It also becomes easier for kids and schools to participate, as the events require less of a time commitment and can be run after school (more affordable for busing) and are generally closer geographically. Meets provide a unique learning opportunity – having all those Teams there is a chance to highlight or educate on a skill while they are a captive audience. Lastly, Leagues and Meets promote community: Teams interact more and develop closer ties while Volunteers have more ownership and investment in the events.

What is a League?

A League is a group of 10-16 Teams that compete together in a series of League Meets. A League may be locally or regionally grouped. The League selects Teams or assigns committees to plan Meets, which are locally-funded. Each League must provide enough Meets so that each Team can participate in at least three. Regions may choose whether or not to allow inter-League play and regions may choose to allow inter-region League play.

What is a Meet?

A Meet is a one-field competition with modified Judging (see Judging section below) that uses the same field and game as other events. Teams may choose to participate in as few or many Meets as they choose, but participating in more improves their League ranking (see League Ranking section below). A Meet is approximately 3-4 hours long, and includes: set-up, inspections, five or more matches per Team, Judging, and tear down. Volunteers commit to five hours of time. These could be held as an after-school activity,

Don't be blocked out-register now

I’d like to remind you that there are 3 days left to register your FTC team(s) for a second FTC event (or first event if that is the case).

The December events are full with waiting lists but so far we have room at Highland Park, Marion, Argenta and Batavia.

The second round of registration goes much faster.  Note, registration closes on 10/25 and then opens to out of state teams. Indiana had 75 out of state teams(from 6 states) apply for 10 slots at their regional tournament and after Nov 5, I predict that all slots will be filled.

See http://www.ilfirst.org/ftc/teams/ftcregistration.html to register soon.

3 scrimmages in Nov-Get your Blocks in a row

Barrington Fall Classic: FTC Scrimmage

Date:	Saturday, November 9, 2013
TImes:	Pits open at 7 AM, Competition starts at 9 AM, and ends at approximately 2 PM
Venue:	Barrington High School Student Cafeteria
Address:	616 West Main Street (Lake/Cook Road), Barrington, IL  60015 (note the cafeteria is in the front of the building near the flagpole)
Contact:	Tom Bredemeier tbredemeier@barrington220.org
:	to register http://bit.ly/BarringtonFallClassic

McKinley Park Block Party: FTC Scrimmage and Robot Clinic

This year its going to be a real (block) party in Illinois!   One of our veteran teams is offering a Scrimmage for teams who will be ready to test their robot creations in a friendly competition.  They are also offering a Robot Clinic for anyone who could use a little help.  There is a small fee (see below) to help defray the cost of hosting the event.  Please mark your calendars and hope to see you there!  http://roboconchicago.com/scrimmage/

Location:		HSA McKinley Park 2245 W Pershing Rd Chicago, IL 60609
Date:		Friday, November 15, 2013
Tentative Schedule:
	4:00 PM 4:30-5:00 PM 5:00-9:00 PM	Doors open Team registration and Samantha Flashing Matches
Robot Clinic Tentative Schedule:
	4:00 PM 4:30-5:00 PM 5:00-9:00 PM	Doors open Team registration Robot Clinic
Contact:		akgul@cmsaonline.net

Event Name: " WildStang FTC Tune-up Scrimmage"

Date: Saturday, November 30, 2013

Times:  Pits open at 9 AM, Competition starts at 10:15 AM, and ends at approximately 5 PM.

Venue: Rolling Meadows High School

Address: 2901 Central Rd, Rolling Meadows, IL 60008

Contact: Any questions please feel free to email us at Wildstang.FTC.2013@Gmail.com

Registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1bFCqYD2kIjp9cMPtNvLp_Ua3tlGk-nsLFKlP8fco0uQ/viewform

Cost $30 

Illinois FIRST FTC Registration now open

1. http://www.ilfirst.org/ftc/teams/ftcregistration.html Start here

2. Click on Illinois First FTC Registration

3. Login screen-click-register here

4. Setup your profile (edit profile) with address and contact info

5. Now you are ready to register (more things to fill out) and pay

How to be a better FTC Team Mate-What Can I do now

Study

a.      the game video http://youtu.be/UPAATO-NpcM?t=2m16s,b.      study the two parts of the game manual(download the pdf from http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc/game) ,c.       study the online forums http://ftcforum.usfirst.org/forum.php where all of the details parts of the game or reviewed. Every team needs to have a legal expert there are often controversies at events and it helps to have somebody who knows the rules inside and out.

2.      Learn to program-robot C. 

• You can learn Robot C at home, on your own,  right now. http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/previews/robot_c_products/teaching_rc_tetrix_preview/index.html    
• Check out the Virtual RobotC Worlds at CS2N https://www.cs2n.org/activities/cs2n-learn/robotc-programming-for-ftc-teamshttp://www.robotvirtualworlds.com/curriculumcompanion/ 
• The virtual world has a “block party” game field setup for you to work with as an online virtual programming challenge. 

Learn Labview. 

• http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/372668f.pdf LabView is an industrial tool in wide use in all tech industries today.  LabView runs modern factories. Self Training Videos http://www.ni.com/academic/students/learn/  (note most FTC teams use RobotC )

4.      Download PTC for your home computer.

• PTC has weekly lessons on how to be a PTCdesigner. See Robotalk.  This is a weekly webinar with Q&A Session offered by PTC from September through November to all FIRST teams. To register for the weekly seminar see http://www.ptc.com/appserver/wcms/standards/free.jsp?&im_dbkey=150516&icg_dbkey=841  I deally, every team should have a CAD oriented design for their robot. This can give your team the ability to pre -build your robot on the computer before you waste time design building it.

5.      Do some research on the computer;

•  study  youtube videos of  FTC robots,  taking pictures of or  copying down drivetrain options.  Analyze the benefits of each? Diagram them. Look at and study lifting mechanisms, arms.

6.      Find the VEX youtube videos 

• when their competition used blocks- how did they solve problems? Take screen shots? Diagram parts.

Suggestions to make building a field set up go faster

Welcome to the block party !
I built 4 fields, the first two took almost 10 hours plus a few more hours for painting, The next two went faster but I still need a few hours of painting. 

1.  Can’t decide if one should paint first- build second. Paint first- lots of flat pieces of wood. Paint second might make cutting easier but lots of corners and details to paint.I
2. IF the field is not going to be moved and taken apart-skip the metal inserts  H6.  Use 2 ½ or longer screws to hold everything together. Read page 14! Before you proceed without inserts.
3.    I found that a power drill hex driver made using the threaded inserts much more pleasant
4.  Note you can use 8- 10 foot 2X4 which are much cheaper than 12 foot ones-Might have some waste but if cost is a factor.
5.   Clamp the uprights-page 24 esp if using insert
6. Clamp the balance arm frame-when building the box

FTC "Ask an Expert" Call on Google Hangout

FTC Mentoring 101

Date: September 09, 2013 7 P.M. ET  ( 6 P.M. Central time )

Register to attend: FIRST Tech Challenge Google+ Hangout

Expert: Jill Wilker, FTC Affiliate Partner, Northern California

Overview: Join Jill Wilker, the Northern California FTC Affiliate Partner, as she talks through important aspects of leading your FTC Team.  This webinar is a great opportunity to learn more about the program and ask questions about mentoring your team.

Update:  The video recording of this Google+ Hangout has been posted on  https://www.youtube.com/firsttechchallenge