FTC Qualifier Event - Florida

Last weekend Michael Coleman's team hosted a qualifying event leading up to Florida's State Championship to be held later in the year. The teams were in great early season shape and had a great time.

We're now ready for take-off as we approach our Championship season week one events December 4-6. The FTC staff will scatter to all points to cover as many of these events as possible.

Events that weekend include South Carolina, Missouri, upstate NY, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Arizona.

The constant drum-beat is preparation. Download and use the FCS (Field Control System) and template with your code. If we've seen anything in early scrimmages and qualifying events it's that teams who show up without having practiced with the FCS spend the first half-day struggling - so get going and use it!

See you out there,
Ken

More IR Seeker Examples and Code

I recently posted a quick video of Steve Hassenplug and the robot he built to follow the IR beacon you'll be using in HotShot! Check out this link to see a RobotC video and the supporting code used. The object being tracked is an IR ball, but it runs at the same 1200Hz frequency as the beacon in HotShot!

You can see the video and code here: http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/content/lego/resources/index.htm

Ken

Software Knowledge

Just yesterday I posted a note about software and understanding both the field control system (FCS) and programming languages. Most mentors and students intuitively "get" the mechanics of building a robot and develop a variety of solutions. Software (in general) is a bit less intuitive and requires some practice. If you and your teams don't get some practice time with the software your FTC experience will suffer.

For those of you reading this who are mentors check out this resource (below). It's a mentor/coach training call focused on software. There are limited spots but there should be room. The call is also recorded if you want to listen later. If your a student reading this - get your mentor(s) the note.

Ken

Senior Mentor/FTC Coach/Mentor Training Call

**Please note there are only 150 lines open for these calls, first-come, first- served. All calls are recorded**

Call Topic: FTC Software basics

Hosted By: FSM Mike Henry, TX, partnered with Andrew Schuetze (FTC Affiliate Partner, San Antonio), Sean Kelly (FTA, San Antonio) , and Richard Jennings Labview Consultant

When:
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 @ 7pm EST

How:
1-800-503-2899
Access Code-6663906

Areas of Content:

Software
• Software Options
• RobotC Pros and Cons, required templates and how to use them properly
• Labview Pros and Cons, required templates and how to use them properly
• Controlling your robot at the tournament on the Laptop YOUR TEAM PROVIDES
o What is the FCS
o How to Establish a connection and assign joysticks
o What can cause Bluetooth communication errors

Screamage

We held the now annual FIRST scrimmage/workshop here at FIRST Place last Saturday. Ten teams from as far away as South Carolina made the trip to Manchester.

Thanks to all that attended and volunteered. It was a great day, lot's of learning, building, and some pretty impressive robots.

I'm convinced that the key contributor to success in FTC is preparation. Learn the software including the field control system. I'll post tomorrow links to these resources - they're all on the FIRST web site. Check them out sooner rather than later.

See you out there - Ken