FIRST Tech Challenge Kickoff Week! September 10th

September 16, 2016

Happy back to school week! Wishing everyone a great start to the new academic season. 

FIRST Tech Challenge OREGON Kickoff 2016 

Please save time to attend our FIRST Tech Challenge Kickoff on Saturday, September 10th at one of four locations across the state - Portland - The Dalles - Bend - Medford. Each site will have a field and the new game elements for you to see and touch, measure and ponder. 

Portland and Medford sites will attempt to live stream their events in case you can't attend in person. 

Please click this link for detailed information about our kickoff plans.
Coaches please click the KICKOFF RSVP link so that we can print appropriate numbers of handouts and if you are attending in Medford, that they can order lunch.

Everyone is invited to attend. Please bring someone new to FTC,  team members, a prospective mentor or volunteer. We'll need about 700 league meet and tournament volunteers this season. 

Beacon Updating Veteran teams are encouraged to bring last year's beacons to kickoff sites for reprogramming. ORTOP has purchased the AndyMark re-programmers for updating the beacon firmware for this season's game. This will save your team $64. ORTOP is happy to provide this service. We'll be sending more re-programmers to League sites. We encourage non-league teams to visit a league meet to have their beacons updated. If that is not possible, contact Cathy Swider to make other arrangements for updating. 

KEY LINKS FOR GETTING YOUR FTC SEASON STARTED

• National Registration Information for FIRST Tech Challenge 
• FTC Oregon Event Fee Restructure Information - please read about these changes for 2016
• FTC Game 2016 Information  - Suggestion! Read Game Manual 1 prior to Kickoff
• FTC Curriculum 
• Southern Oregon Area Robotics (SOAR) FTC Workshop Slide Sets presented by #8372 - TNT, #9851- C4, #7013 Hot Wired. All three teams represented Oregon at the FTC World Championship 
• FTC Oregon 2016 Season Calendar  - scroll the center column 

2016 FIRST Tech Challenge Field Elements

Building your 2016 Field Elements instead of buying from AndyMark. Wise or unwise this season?

This past weekend our Championship Field Technical Advisor  Dale Jordan built 4 sets of 2016 Game Elements for Kickoff Day.  This season FTC will release building plans in case teams want to build their own set of elements.  We asked Dale to consider if it would save teams time/money and what he would recommend teams do.

Dale's recommendation to teams is to purchase at least a half field of elements from AndyMark because of the variety of building materials needed to source. To have the optimum field conditions present in team practices that will be at competition events,his opinion is it would be best to use the field kits sold by AndyMark. Teams should look at the field elements and make their own best decision. 

Should we join a League or stay a QT team or switch from League to QT? What is the best choice for your team? 

FIRST Tech Challenge Oregon is a hybrid FTC region offering both League and Non-League participation options. Choosing the best fit for your team is made by the Coaches, Mentors, Team Members with input from parents/guardians as well as school administrators. 

As of today, September 6th we anticipate having 11 leagues in the communities of Beaverton, Hillsboro, Portland, Hood River, Bend (Central Oregon), Pendleton (2), Salem, Springfield, Roseburg and a new league in the Port Orford area on the Southern Oregon Coast. Each league will have approximately 12 teams each, some a few more, some a few less. 

Leagues will hold team meetings and attend three or four league meets, about 4-hours in length League Meets in November and December and ALL league teams participate in a League Qualifying Tournament. Pros and information about  Leagues:

• Provides teams a jump start to the season and encourages iterative design meaning the robot is improved upon during the two weeks between league meets. 
• Teams do not need to be fully ready with a completely built robot to participate. The robot evolves over the 7-week League meet season. 
• Provides teams driving experience prior to qualifying tournament competition. 
• Teams accumulate Qualifying Points and Ranking Points during League Meets. Best 10 Qualifying Points with their associated Ranking Points are carried to the League Qualifying Tournament. All League Teams participate in the Tournament
• Teams learn what does and does not work in real competition prior to attending the League Qualifying Tournament in January. Frequently league teams will collaborate and assist each other in solving building, IT and programming issues. It is a collaborative community of teams.  

Non-League teams hold team meetings in the fall where they design and work on their robot in November and December prior to the Non-League Qualifying Tournament in January. 

• Non-league teams design and work on their robot between September and January on the schedule that best works for them prior to the Non-League Qualifying Tournament held in January. 
• Non-league teams only compete with other non-league teams at the Non-League Qualifying Tournament. 
• Teams work independently on their robot or with other teams at their school. 
• Non-league teams can attend informal scrimmages if offered by other non-league teams to gain field experience. 
• Non-league is a good option for teams with team members who have very busy schedules and do not wish to commit to a fall league schedule. Also, travel budget constraints may impact a team's decision to be a non-league team. 

DATES for SIGN-UP

• All tournament sign ups will open on September 15th. 
• Signups for League Teams will close on October 1st. Meaning if you are not signed up by October 1 you'll be a non-league team. If a league is over subscribed in a specific area, teams will be chosen on a first come, first serve basis.  All teams not 
• Signups for Non-League Teams will close on October 15th. 
• All teams must be nationally registered and paid to signup a tournament in Oregon. 

ADVANCEMENT 

• All league teams compete in a League Qualifying Tournament.
• All non-league teams compete in a Non-League Qualifying Tournament.
• Teams can only compete in one advancing tournament prior to Super-Qualifiers. 
• Approximately 1/2 of League Teams will advance from the League Qualifying Tournament to a Super-Qualifier Tournament held in February. 
• Approximately 1/2 of Non- League teams will advance from Non-League Qualifying Tournaments to a Super-Qualifier Tournament held in February. 
• All four Super-Qualifiers are a mix of both League and Non-League teams at each event. 
• Approximately half of Super-Qualifier teams will advance to the State Championship. 
• FIRST will determine the number of slots for Oregon teams for FTC West Super-Regional Championship in March. Last season Oregon was awarded 14 slots.

And finally..... What would a kickoff blog post be without a game hint? Keep your game guesses to yourself....remember the game is a secret until September 10, 2016 at noon Eastern Daylight Time. shhhhh..........
 

Respectfully submitted,

Cathy Swider 

FIRST Tech Challenge Oregon

FIRST Tech Challenge OREGON Kickoff 2016 

Saturday, September 10th - GAME REVEAL  at 9:00 am - Doors open about 15 minutes prior.  

Everyone is invited to attend. Registered teams, non-registered teams, kids and adults wanting to find out more about FIRST Tech Challenge, volunteers and prospective volunteers. Come to a kick-off and bring a friend. Please pass the word about the kickoff to anyone you know that wants to start a team. I don't have those email addresses...yet. 

FIRST Tech Challenge Oregon will host four kickoff events at the following locations. 

• Daimler Trucks North America Headquarters, 4555 N. Channel Avenue, Portland

• The Dalles High School,  220 E. 10th Street, The Dalles

• Summit High School, 2855 Clearwater Drive, Bend

• St. Mary’s School, 816 Black Oak Drive, Medford

Additional Information 

• RSVP by clicking here - we are looking for an approximation for the number of people attending. 
• Details for each Kickoff site - workshops available and other details.
• If your team is unable to attend a kickoff event in person, the game animation and Game Manual 2 will be available on line at 9/10/2016 at 9:00 am PDT.
• ORTOP will also post our FTC Oregon video presentations by key volunteers by Monday, September 12. We will also make available any links to workshop pdfs and videos. 
• Some kickoff sites are planning to live stream. Check the details page for live stream links.

FIRST Tech Challenge curriculum 

NEW THIS SEASON! FIRST Tech Challenge is making FIRST Tech Challenge curriculum available. This is geared for FTC in the classroom but I feel it could benefit any team.  To sign up for access to the curriculum materials - CLICK HERE 

KEY LINKS FOR GETTING YOUR FTC SEASON STARTED

• National Registration Information for FIRST Tech Challenge 
• FTC Oregon Event Fee Restructure Information - please read about these changes for 2016
• FTC Game 2016 Information  - Suggestion! Read Game Manual 1 prior to Kickoff
• FTC Curriculum 
• Southern Oregon Area Robotics (SOAR) FTC Workshop Slide Sets presented by #8372 - TNT, #9851- C4, #7013 Hot Wired. All three teams represented Oregon at the FTC World Championship 
• FTC Oregon 2016 Season Calendar  - scroll the center column 

FUNDING FOR YOUR TEAM 

• 10 veteran FTC Teams and 5 rookie FTC received funding from Daimler Trucks North America: Education in Motion 

• A record number of rookie and veteran FTC Oregon teams received Oregon Department of Education funding. 

• Two more possible sources of funding 

• National Rookie and Veteran Team CREDIT grant

• NOTE: If you have already registered your team and paid, your team is not eligible for this grant. This is only a grant credit. It is offered through the national FIRST Tech Challenge organization in Manchester, NH

• ORTOP Team Support Awards - Oregon Robotics Tournament & Outreach Program as the FTC Oregon Affiliate Partner, makes available a small number of Team Support Awards from our own sponsors for both rookie teams and veteran teams. 

• To apply for ORTOP Team Support read the information at this link. 

• NOTE: If your team applied but did not receive a Daimler award, your application for ONE TEAM will be entered into the pool of applicants for an ORTOP Team Support Award. 

• NOTE: If you want to apply for more than one team, you must complete a separate application for each team. If you did not apply for Daimler, you can still submit an application. I expect that all funds will be depleted by Sept. 30th. Applying by Sept. 15th would be wise. 

MAKE FIRST LOUD 

All summer long FIRST Oregon teams at all levels have been out and about in our communities promoting FIRST!  Oregon Robotics Tournament & Outreach Program appreciates the time you've encouraging others to Get Involved in FIRST as team members, mentors, coaches or volunteers.
If your team spent time doing outreach or conducted a workshop for rookies we want to hear about it AND we want to acknowledge your good work with a MAKE FIRST LOUD ribbon. 

To apply for a MAKE FIRST LOUD ribbon(s) for an event(s) your team made happen CLICK HERE and FILL OUT THE Make FIRST Loud FORM.  One form per event. 

Here is our MAKE FIRST LOUD team event board (so far) for 2016. Submit a form and have your team recognized. 
Teams can hang their Make FIRST Loud ribbons in their pit at competitions to show everyone your commitment to help others Get Involved in FIRST. 

Only activities that occurred between May 1 - October 1, 2016 are eligible. 

And finally...... look forward to a brand new e-newsletter about everything ORTOP! First edition will be published the first week of September 2016.