This season the North Texas Region will be holding an official Kickoff and Workshop event on September 7th from 9:30am to 12:30pm at Williams High School in Plano.  The purpose of the kickoff is meet other teams and provide an overview of the FTC 2019-2020 “Skystone” season for North Texas.  The kickoff event is free of charge, but because space for the event may be limited, we’re asking coaches/teams to pre-register for the event .

Overview: Doors will open at 9:00am.  The kickoff will begin at 9:30am with a review and overview of the upcoming FTC season, including tournament structure, league play, and robot tips. At 11:00 CDT (12:00 EDT) we will watch the official game reveal video and unveil a full, official field setup complete with game elements. This will give teams an opportunity to see, feel, and touch the game to get a head start on the season. After the field reveal we will then provide an review of the rules in Game Manual Part II and answer any initial questions teams have about the upcoming challenge and how to get started.

Location and Parking: TBD.  Maps and directions to follow.

Agenda/Topics:  League play and qualifying tournament details; common robot building systems; Android and REV Robotics control platform overview; updates, upgrades, and changes from previous sesons; resources for new teams; grants; game reveal; review of 2019 game scoring and rules; practice fields and scrimmages; questions and answers.

Anderson Powerpoles:  We will also have stations, equipment, and people on hand to help teams convert batteries and wires to use newer connectors.

Battery checks: If you have any older batteries, charge them up and bring them with you, as we will also be providing “battery health checks”. These are the same checks that are performed at the World Championship, they let teams know in advance which batteries are having difficulty supplying power or holding a charge.

Again, please pre-register for the event so we can keep track of space requirements.

If you have any further questions, please contact Patrick Michaud at <patrick.michaud@utdallas.edu>.

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you at the kickoff and throughout the upcoming season!