Weekend Event(s)

Just left the San Jose FTC regional - great job Jill and Mark!

One thing I can say is that the San Jose event underscores the need for team preparation. A good book called "Outliers" talks about 10,000 hours to become proficient in a skill. Larry Bird taking all those extra foul shots, Bill Gates getting all that programming time at Washington State, etc. The point is that proficiency takes time and mastery takes longer.

If there is a single piece of advice I could give teams - just one - it's preparation. The teams that test their software and robots succeed, period.

Just about everyone who participates in FIRST has a good experience. Immersion in the program(s), spending time with wonderful volunteers, mentors, and teams, it's all good... but it's up to those participating to make it great.

See you out there

Florida FTC Championship

This weekend there are 8 FTC events being held around the country including Florida, California, Oregon, Missouri, Massachusetts, Virginia, North Carolina and Texas.

The Florida event will be held at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Michael Coleman and his team are the FTC Partner in Florida and run a great event. A main sponsor of the event is Raytheon. They provide the A/V equipment and personnel and broadcast the event via the web. Check it out at: http://www.deepthunder.com/.

EDIT - Also - Rockwell Collins is the Global FTC Program Sponsor and has provided us with generous support to FTC for at least the next three years - I understand that Rockwell Collins is also putting their support behind the Tampa FTC event - Thanks!

I'll be in San Jose and then Portland, Oregon - see you out there!

Ken

Going Over and Above - FTC Alaska

I just got this photo. It's the raw material for 11 FTC HotShot! playing fields crated up for distribution across Alaska. I'm told these 14 crates include; over 700' of PVC pipe, over 700' of 2X2, 32 sheets of plywood, over 3000 parts that required over 8000 holes drilled in them and then secured with over 75 lbs of nut bolts and other fasteners.

Makes running to Home Depot with the minivan seem a little less of a burden when compared to this...

A quick FYI - Alaska has jumped into FTC with both feet. Last year Alaska has 15 FTC teams, this year there are 49 FTC teams - Making Alaska FTC's 7th largest state in terms of registered teams this season - Impressive.

Keep up the great work Alaska!

Season Update FTC

All,

We're preparing for the start of 2010/2011 Game Design, planning for next year, and of course the World Championships. We're also about 50% of the way through this season's events.

At the halfway mark I can confidently state:

*HotShot! is being well received - and teams are starting to use the IR seeker beacon and tracker.

*The Bluetooth communication system using the Field Control System developed in the off season is working well. The 1:1 robot to computer is making some of this possible. Probably the biggest improvement is a system that let's teams practice on their own with exactly the same setup as is used at the events.

*Teams are making better use of the additional allowed materials and developing some really unique ball handling an shooting mechanisms.

This good news does not mean we're totally happy - but we're moving in the right direction. Some of the things we're working on in addition to the above include further improvement in the robot communication system and ways to get more teams involved in FTC and FIRST.

February/March will be busy as we wrap up the last half of our events - we look forward to seeing you out there.

Ken