Week Two - and Rocket Science

We just concluded week 2 of the FTC season and so far it's been a blast. This weekend we held championship events in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Bellevue, WA.

I attended the Los Angeles event. This was essentially a "first year" event in that the Affiliate Partner is new to FTC. Suparna Mukherjee is the new LA Partner. Her and her team ran a tremendous competition.

Turns out Suparna is an FRC alum and happens to work at JPL (Jet Propulsion Labs). She was able to tap into a wealth of talented, energetic, and really bright volunteers from JPL to organize and run the event.

I'm not sure if all the teams were aware, but they were surrounded by true rocket scientists throughout the day - many who were responsible for the Mars Rover project.

Below is the announcer for the LA event - and yes he is a JPL Engineer.


I love to hear these stories - they truly underscore the value of FTC and the importance of inspiring the next generation of technology heroes.

Things quiet down a bit for the Christmas break but pick back up with tournaments in BC Canada and Iowa January 9th.

Keep building and practicing. Teams are doing a great job using the mix of technology in the kit to do well in HotShot! - you have your work cut out for you.

Ken

FCS... FCS... FCS... FCS & Week One

Hey - it's been hectic running right up to our launch of FTC "week one" championship events - I'll try to post a bit more regularly now that the season is underway.

If you have not yet heard HotShot! is turning out to be a pretty good test of skill. Last weekend seven FTC events were held. Two in South Carolina and one each in Arizona, New York, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Missouri. All events were great successes - thanks to our tremendous volunteers and teams.

The title of this post is THE key thing teams need to understand before the event. The Field Control System is that basic piece of software you need to run your robot at the event. You can download it directly from FIRST at: http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc/content.aspx?id=15924 If you have not done it DO IT!

Run it in your robot lab and you're duplicating what you'll do at the event - simple. Believe me - event day will be much easier.



I was in St. Louis for opening weekend. Team 2888 walked away with both the Inspire and Captain of the Winning Alliance Awards. Great work... and a great event to kick off the season.

In addition to robots there were a few other sights at the event. I love the effort and the attitude!





See you out there,
Ken