Kickoff registration: https://goo.gl/forms/PPA3fmuNo2AuMyBm1

(Note:  This workshop was originally scheduled to be held at the UT-Dallas campus in Richardson, but has now moved to Williams High School in Plano instead.)

This season the North Texas Region will be holding an official Kickoff and Workshop event on September 9th 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 2017-2018 “Relic Recovery” 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: The kickoff will be held in the Auditorium of Williams High School in Plano.  Map and directions are below.

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 2017 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 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 <patrick.michaud@utdallas.edu>.

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

2017 FLYSET FTC and PTC+FIRST Workshop

8/26/2017, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Event flyer

Please register at (detailed schedule will be published a few days in advance) http://flyset.org/events-2/upcoming-events/2017-ptcfirst-workshop/

Location: Jane’s Realty, 420 MapleLawn Drive, Plano, TX 75075
Morning: FTC workshop sessions
Afternoon: PTC+FIRST workshop, Velocity Vortex field is open

TechnicBots (FTC team #8565) is pleased to announce a combined FTC workshop and PTC+FIRST workshop on 8/26/2017. As a semifinalist captain team at the Houston World Championship for Velocity Vortex, we would like to share our lessons from the season and the results of our summer work based on the season reflections to get ready for the new season.

In addition, we are also inviting other FTC teams to share their experiences at the workshop. When you register, please indicate if you plan to present and if so, your sessions title. We can accommodate either longer sessions (30 min) or shorter ones (15 min). It’s a great way to improve and grow when we reflect and share.

During the sessions, we are planning to present Demo Robots built from different kits (including Tetrix, Actobotics, Rev Robotics, Modern Robotics), with various shooting mechanisms and harvesting mechanisms, and a navigation robot based on the computer vision. We will present a comparison these mechanisms, and also present the computer vision coding details along with our robot evolution through the season. And, as a send-off to the 2016-2017 Velocity Vortex season, we will setup the field for teams to have fun driving on.

For the PTC+FIRST workshop portion, TechnicBots will guide participants through several exercises from PTC’s “How to Model Almost Anything” curriculum, where participants will learn how to do basic building in CAD and some advanced concepts such as 3D part building and basic simulation.

REV Robotics Representative will be on site to demo their products, including the Expansion Hub as the official controller for the new season 2017-2018. 

Please register your team here (one registration per team)

If you have any questions or want to change something about your registration, please email us at info@flyset.org .

Presentations:

• Day one – Intro and Robot Build
• Tomahawk build instructions

Calling all FIRSTaTech Challenge coaches, mentors, and educators! Come brush up on your knowledge & skills during the summer break and hear proven tips for improving team performance.

UT-Dallas is once again offering summer training workshops for coaches and teachers where attendees get hands-on experience building and programming FIRST Tech Challenge Robots, including the new REV Robotics Expansion Hub controller and sensors.  Sessions are facilitated by Dr. Patrick Michaud, renowned FIRST coach with several world-ranked teams.

Workshops will consist of four afternoon sessions during the weeks of June 26-29 and August 7-10; each session will cost $30 (thus $120 to attend all four sessions).  UTD will provide the robot materials, computers, and software to be used during the workshops.  Space is limited and registration is required — registrations will generally be taken on a first-come first-served basis.

Day 1: Intro to FTC and robot construction (1p-4:30p)
– Introduction to FTC and season overview
– Basic components of the TETRIX robotics kit
– Key robot mechanical principles
– Hands-on build of a simple competition robot

Day 2: Beginning Programming for FTC (1p-4:30p)
– Introduction to control system components (REV Robotics)
– Android Studio / FTC application environment
– Basic gamepad programming for navigation
– Arm and servo programming
– Touch sensors

Day 3: Intermediate programming and competition prep (1p-4:30p)
– FTC competition: robot game, awards
– Engineering notebooks
– Other building systems, materials, and tools
– Autonomous mode programming
– Motor encoders

Day 4: Programming and building for success (1p-4:30p)
– Basic game, robot design, and alliance strategies
– (Un)Successful robot designs and devices
– Principles of leverage, gears, center of gravity
– Color sensing
– Gyro/IMU sensors
– Driver automation

To sign up for these workshops, please visit the UTD FIRST Robotics storefront at https://ezpay.utdallas.edu/C20239_ustores/web/store_main.jsp?STOREID=135, then
select one of the available “FTC Coaches Training Workshops”.  Again, space is limited and registration will be generally first-come first-served.

For more information regarding the workshops, please email <patrick.michaud@utdallas.edu>.  We look forward to seeing you at the workshops!

Presentation materials:

• Day 1 slides – intro to FTC, Tetrix parts, and build
• Day 2 slides – programming and the REV controller
• Tomahawk basic robot build (PDF)

See also the August episode of this workshop for updated slides and build instructions from that workshop.

Calling all FIRST Tech Challenge coaches, mentors, and educators! Come brush up on your knowledge & skills during the summer break and hear proven tips for improving team performance.

UT-Dallas is once again offering summer training workshops for coaches and teachers where attendees get hands-on experience building and programming FIRST Tech Challenge Robots, including the new REV Robotics Expansion Hub controller and sensors.  Sessions are facilitated by Dr. Patrick Michaud, renowned FIRST coach with several world-ranked teams.

Workshops will consist of four afternoon sessions during the weeks of June 26-29 and August 7-10; each session will cost $30 (thus $120 to attend all four sessions).  UTD will provide the robot materials, computers, and software to be used during the workshops.  Space is limited and registration is required — registrations will generally be taken on a first-come first-served basis.

Day 1: Intro to FTC and robot construction (1p-4:30p)
– Introduction to FTC and season overview
– Basic components of the TETRIX robotics kit
– Key robot mechanical principles
– Hands-on build of a simple competition robot

Day 2: Beginning Programming for FTC (1p-4:30p)
– Introduction to control system components (REV Robotics)
– Android Studio / FTC application environment
– Basic gamepad programming for navigation
– Arm and servo programming
– Touch sensors

Day 3: Intermediate programming and competition prep (1p-4:30p)
– FTC competition: robot game, awards
– Engineering notebooks
– Other building systems, materials, and tools
– Autonomous mode programming
– Motor encoders

Day 4: Programming and building for success (1p-4:30p)
– Basic game, robot design, and alliance strategies
– (Un)Successful robot designs and devices
– Principles of leverage, gears, center of gravity
– Color sensing
– Gyro/IMU sensors
– Driver automation

For more information regarding the workshops, please email <patrick.michaud@utdallas.edu>.  We look forward to seeing you at the workshops!