HAPPY NEW YEAR!
It's League Tournament and Qualifying Tournament Month!

IT'S TIME TO GO FOR THE RELIC!  
Your team has entered the "The Road to League/Qualifying Tournament". 
You have encountered two paths.... the proverbial fork in the road.   

Download your copy of the QUICK GUIDE to PREPARING FOR LEAGUE OR QUALIFYING TOURNAMENTS 

Avoid a drama llama day.  

SCHEDULE FOR JANUARY EVENTS - if you have any question as to which event your team is scheduled, please contact Cathy Swider 

Saturday, January 13   
Summit HS, Bend – Central Oregon League Qualifying Tournament

Saturday, January 20 
Pendleton Convention Center, Pendleton – Columbia Basin League Qualifying Tournament
Hillsboro HS, Hillsboro – Silicon Forest League Qualifying Tournament
Fremont MS, Roseburg – SOAR (Southern Oregon Area Robotics) League Qualifying Tournament

Saturday, January 27Hood River Valley HS, Hood River – Mid-Columbia League Qualifying Tournament
Tigard HS, Tigard –  Rose City/Tualatin Valley League Qualifying Tournament
Chemawa Indian School, Salem – Capitol/Midwestern League Qualifying Tournament
Gresham HS, Gresham – Non-League Qualifying Tournament
Kelley Engineering Center, OSU, Corvallis – Non-League Qualifying Tournament

Sunday, January 28 
Kelley Engineering Center, OSU, Corvallis – Non-League Qualifying Tournament

VOLUNTEERING AT THE FIRST LEGO League State Championship on January 13th and/or 14th.
Two separate state championships - we need you to volunteer. 

 

As always, we are short on volunteers for the FIRST LEGO League State Championship at Liberty High School, Hillsboro.  At this time we are particularly short on volunteers. There are three kinds roles that we are desperately trying to fill. 
1) Robot Design Judges and Core Values Judges  - must be an adult 18+. Looking for FTC Mentors, FTC team parents who are not associated with an FLL team that is competing to be Judges. 
This is a particular special ask because our FTC  Championship Lead Scorekeeper Krishnan Duraiswami is the Head FLL Robot Design Judge and Robert Swider, our FTC Championship  Judge Advisor is the Head FLL Core Values Judge.  As soon as they get their slots for FLL Championship Judges filled, they can go back to doing needed work for our upcoming FTC events.  We guarantee you'll have fun listening, encouraging and being wowed by outstanding FIRST LEGO League teams at the Championship.
  To volunteer  click here for further instructions from FLL Championship Judge Advisor Janis Stanfield. 
Thank you in advance. 

2) LOGISTICS VOLUNTEERS - FTC TEAM MEMBERS/Team Adults
"Connect" and "Motivate" the FIRST LEGO League kids!
We need Lots of Logistics Volunteers - these can be team members or adults -  We love having FIRST Tech Challenge team members serve as pit runners, judge queuers, practice table monitors, referee assistants, game announcers, live stream and sound help, security, and other roles. We welcome your coaches and mentors to fill any event volunteer role. This is a great activity to do and add into your ENGINEERING NOTEBOOK.

CLICK HERE TO VOLUNTEER FOR SATURDAY 

CLICK HERE TO VOLUNTEER FOR SUNDAY 

3) FIRST Tech Challenge Demos during Sharing Time 3pm - 4pm at each FIRST LEGO League  Championship.
A part of our event is showcasing the FIRST high school programs for an hour after the competitions end. If your team and a robot are available from 3-4pm on Saturday, January 13th and/or Sunday, January 14th please sign up to share with this form.  Each day a different group of 60 teams will be competing for the chance to go to the World Festival in Houston. Oregon only gets to send 2 teams. 1 will be selected each day.  Teams are needed to demonstrate on both days but you can choose one day or the other. Not required to do both.

Control System Software Version 3.6

FIRST Tech Challenge has released version 3.6 of the control system software.  Version 3.6 includes the following changes:

Changes include:

• Blocks Changes
  • Uses updated Google Blockly software to allow users to edit their op modes on Apple iOS devices (including iPad and iPhone).
  • Improvement in Blocks tool to handle corrupt op mode files.
  • Autonomous op modes should no longer get switched back to tele-op after re-opening them to be edited.
  • The system can now detect type mismatches during runtime and alert the user with a message on the Driver Station.
• Updated javadoc documentation for setPower() method to reflect correct range of values (-1 to +1).
• Modified VuforiaLocalizerImpl to allow for user rendering of frames
  • Added a user-overrideable onRenderFrame() method which gets called by the class's renderFrame() method.

Instructions on how to update the FIRST Tech Challenge software can be found on the FIRSTInpsires.org website:

https://www.firstinspires.org/sites/default/files/uploads/resource_library/ftc/updating-ftc-software-instructions.pdf