FIRST Tech Challenge Community:

It's been a great season and it's not over yet.  Upcoming is our  FTC Oregon State Championship on February 25th at Liberty High School in Hillsboro.


COMPASS AND PROMOTE AWARD VIDEO SUBMISSIONS 

• All FIRST Tech Challenge Teams are eligible to submit  for the  Promote or Compass Award. 
• Rules and Guidelines for the Promote and Compass Awards were released in Game Manual 1 in July 2017.  
• Teams with videos  ready for submission should read the FTC Oregon Compass and Promote Award Submission Rules. CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE GUIDELINES 
• Deadline for submission is Sunday, February 18th at 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time  

SUPER- QUALIFIER WEEKEND 

Congratulations to our Super-Qualfier Teams who competed this past weekend! Our thanks to our many volunteers to helped us with the events! And to our Sponsors for helping us make it happen with their financial support and volunteerism. 

STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
FIRST Tech Challenge Oregon Championship Everyone is welcomed to attend our Championship event at Liberty High School, Hillsboro on Sunday, February 25. Qualifying Matches will be underway by 10:15 am. This will be an exciting two division event with 48 teams.

Mentors of teams who advanced to the FTC Championship will receive an email on 2/14/18 sent to: 

ftcoregon.champ.teams@ortop.org   

Mentors of Championship teams should check their email for Championship Information and the Registration Link. Confirmation forms must be returned by Friday, Feb 16 at 9:00 am

JumpStart YOUR 2018/2019 SEASON 
I've heard from several schools/organizations  that they wish to start more teams at their school or in their district or neighboring districts.  Getting a FIRST Tech Challenge JumpStart, may be the way to go! Here is a link to the JumpStart flyer with more information  Deadline to apply is March 30th

SQ Logistics: 

We have SQ updated information for you posted on the SQ page - Maps, Parking, etc.

• For SQ: Pi@Benson - since we have a "soft opening" the Judge/Inspection Schedule is published. All teams should check the schedule for the earliest scheduled activity time (Judging or Inspection). 
• First scheduled activity is 8:45 am.  
• For Delta/Theta @Evergreen - Teams are expected to arrive starting at 7:45 am and no later than 8:15 am. 
• VENUE FOOD AVAILABILITY: At this time we concessions will not be available, so pack a lunch, snacks, take-out, delivery are your options. 

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Super-Qualifier Weekend and the FLU 
Mentors we are asking that students, coaches and mentors who are ill with the flu not come to the events.

• This season the flu epidemic is particularly serious. If someone is contagious, they should not attend the event. 
• Please use this week to make contingency plans to replace students in key roles like drivers, drive coaches, presentation leads. Have a back up programmer, and a robot repair person. Do some cross training. 
• CONTACT: Cathy if your whole team is unable to attend.
• CONTINGENCY VOLUNTEERS: And in anticipation that some volunteers may be ill and unable to volunteer, we'd like to start contingency lists of team parents who will be at the events and willing to step in for someone who is ill.  If needed we would find the team to find the willing parent on our list.   
• Delta - Contingency Volunteers
• Theta - Contingency Volunteers
• Pi - Contingency Volunteers 

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SQ: Inspection  Information - from SQ Lead Inspector Bruce Schafer  Inspections at the Super Qualifiers will be more rigorous than earlier in the season. We assume that your team has corrected issues that were identified at previous tournaments.  Here are some things that your team should consider before this weekend's tournament:

(1) They should self inspect their robot using both the Robot Inspection and Field Inspection check lists and correct any problems.

(2) They should watch for things that you may have missed before like the requirement that each robot have one of the approved switches even if they are using a Core Power Distribution Module that includes a built-in switch.

(3) Make sure the pair of phones that you will be using meet all the requirements on the Field Inspection.  Examples include:

     (a) The version number of your Driver Station App should match the version of the SDK and/or Robot Controller application that you are using.  If you have upgraded your Driver Station to 3.6 and your Robot Controller app is on an older version, either upgrade your SDK or Robot Controller app to 3.6 or install the matching Driver Station app on your Driver Station.  If you arrive at the tournament without having done so, find a Lead Inspector and ask for help.

    (b) Your Autonomous op mode(s) and your Teleop op mode should stop immediately whenever stop is pressed.  Your Autonomous op mode must stop when the 30-second timer expires if it has not already stopped.  (At the tournament the drivers should make sure that the count-down clock is on the Driver Station whenever an Autonomous op mode is being used.)

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LOOKING PAST THE FTC OREGON STATE CHAMPIONSHIP 

• FIRST Tech Challenge West Super-Regional Championship - March 8 - 11, 2018 - Spokane Convention Center, Spokane, WA 
  • From the FTC Oregon STATE Championship on Feb 25, fourteen  FTC Oregon teams will advance to the FTC West Super-Regional  Championship.
    They will be part of a field of 72 teams from 12 states.
    Things you should know -
    • Flights in and out of Spokane are limited.
      • The organizers are expecting that most Oregon teams will drive to Spokane.
      • Flying might mean you'll need an extra day to fly out on Monday.
    • There is a block of Hotel/Motel rooms that are reserved for teams. - Check this link for more information 
    • There will be a teleconference meeting for mentors of Super-Regional Teams on February 28th - 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm.
      • The website says  "We will be hosting an informational web session for all the teams that will be advancing to Super-Regional.  Stay tuned for more details including how to join this briefing."
    • There is additional information about Tournament Fee ($500), registration and other details as they become available at the ftc.west.org website. 
    • VOLUNTEERING at FTC West  is a great experience. Team parents traveling with teams are encouraged to volunteer. Our FTC Oregon volunteers not affiliated with teams are also encouraged to volunteer

Archived team blast emails from the past week


FEBRUARY 3

Teams/Mentors:

Scouting for Alliances 
All Field Competition Results for all FTC Oregon League and Qualifying Tournaments are now posted on THE PURPLE ALLIANCE .

We have also submitted to the The Orange Alliance (aka #f57e25 Alliance, the official FTC posting site) but they are behind in posting results, so no idea when ours will be posted there.

 I see a high score match of 628 posted in Pennsylvania! WOWzer!  Is it on YouTube? 

Highest Match Score that I know of in Oregon is 454 scored at the TV/Rose City League Tournament last Saturday.

Payments for Super-Qualifier Weekend 
It's not automatic, but Jacie our payment tracker extraordinaire, updates this page Mon - Fri about twice a day. Let's turn Column-B ALL lime green by Monday, Feb 5 when SQ Payments are due. 
How to pay for SQ 
Check for SQ payments received 

SQ UPDATES
SQ Host Leads:  Jennifer Gingerich (Delta), Terry Alexander (Theta) and Kristin Bride (Pi) are doing a great job recruiting volunteers and helping me prepare for our big SQ weekend next week.  Check the SQ Info Page for updated information as we add it.   
We'll be posting site maps, parking information, and other details sometime this weekend. 

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JANUARY  31

 Is your team a DELTA ? a THETA? or a PI? 

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT! 

Be sure to pay for your SQ by February 5th! thanks much

Cathy Swider
FIRST Tech Challenge, Affiliate Partner, Oregon

cathy-swider@ortop.org

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JANUARY 30
Dear FIRST Tech Challenge Oregon Community:

Our thanks to our FTC Oregon Community for a great League Meet/League Tournament/Qualifying Tournaments for the  Relic Recovery Season. 

For the 104 teams who will not be competing at the Super-Qualifiers, we invite you to consider being part of the fun as a volunteer at our four remaining events. 

For our 94 teams Advancing to the FIRST Tech Challenge Super-Qualifier Weekend, last night  I sent an email to the primary mentors for each team. It was a test email to be sure you are receiving the information prior to the launch of SQ Venue Preference at 9:00 am 1/30.

Check your inbox for an email from ftcoregon.sq.teams@ortop.org .  Contact me if you did not receive an email last night, or if you are a primary mentor but are not listed as such in the official FIRST Team Registration system.

Event Results - Now that I have SQ sign-ups set to launch, I'll be working on posting event results over the next two days.

Take-away on the season: 
Improvements: We saw overall improved quality of engineering notebooks, over last season. We also saw a rise in the Control Award submissions. These are positive items. 

Places for  Improvements?  Carefully reading needed of Game Manual 1 and Game Manual 2 and the Forum. Doing critical self-inspections of  Robot Inspection, Field Inspection and the Engineering Notebook. 

Looking forward to next season: Open applications for new League Hosts, new Qualifying Tournament Hosts, site search for new SQ sites. Workshops and a new ORTOP office with space for training, scrimmage and workshops! 

JUMPSTART your 2018-2019 FIRST Tech Challenge season by signing up today!