Kickoff registration: https://goo.gl/forms/cULyiM0Bp8G9RFWN2
Location/Parking: UTD Cecil Auditorium / campus map
Parking permit: 2016-09-10-permit

This season the North Texas Region will be holding an official Kickoff and Workshop event at UT-Dallas on September 10th from 10:00am to 1:00pm.  The purpose of the kickoff is meet other teams and provide an overview of the FTC 2016-2017 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 9:30am.  The kickoff will begin at 10:00am 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: The kickoff will be held in the Cecil Auditorium in Hoblitzelle Hall on the UTD campus — see this map for location and car/van parking.  The closest places to park are Lot H and Parking Structure 4 (PS4) on the west side of campus; you can use this parking permit to park in either the GOLD (yellow) or GREEN spaces of Lot H or PS4.  To get to these lots, enter from Waterview Parkway on the west side of campus using either Frank Johnson or Franklyn Jenifer drives.

If your team is arriving via a school bus, please drop off attendees in Lot H and then have the bus park in Lot B, Lot U, or Lot V.

Agenda/Topics:  League play and qualifying tournament details; common robot building systems; Android control platform overview; updates, upgrades, and changes from 2015 season; resources for new teams; grants; game reveal; review of 2016 game scoring and rules; practice fields and scrimmages; questions and answers.

Beacon upgrades:  This year’s challenge will use upgraded versions of the beacons from last season.  If you have FTC beacons from the RES-Q season, you can bring them with you (or at least the logic board) to the kickoff for reprogramming with this season’s game software. We will have AndyMark’s Beacon Programmer Tool (am-3280) on hand to upgrade FIRST RES-Q beacons into beacons that can be used for this season’s game.

Anderson Powerpoles:  We will also have stations, equipment, and people on hand to help teams convert batteries and wires to use Anderson Powerpole 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 <pmichaud@pobox.com>.

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