UTD Coaches Clinic — Chassis Building and Attachments

2015-10-10 @ 1:00pm - 4:00pm, University of Texas at Dallas / SEEC

Slides from clinic

On October 10 from 1p-4p the UT-Dallas Science and Engineering Education Center (UTD/SEEC) will be hosting a clinic on FLL chassis building and attachments. Map and parking details are given below.

Seating for this event is very limited, so we’re restricting attendance to a maximum of three persons per team (coaches and/or team members). If you can get by with just one or two attendees, that will help leave space for other teams to attend. Latecomers to the event may have difficulty getting a seat.

The clinic will start with an overview of the LEGO building pieces most commonly used for building FLL robots, and then present the design principles important to developing a good chassis and efficient Robot Game execution. The clinic will then demonstrate a wide variety of attachment types and mounting options.

utd-parking-seec-1The clinic will be held in the SEEC laboratory, room FN 2.302 in the Founders North building on the UTD campus (see map). Attendees may park in any GREEN space on campus; we recommend parking in Lot H or Parking Structure 3 (PS3). The only handicap accessible path to Founders North is along Drive E and Drive D.

Lot H: The easiest access to Lot H is via Waterview Pkwy on the west side of campus, then turn east onto Drive L. Once parked in Lot H, follow the sidewalk just north of the Arts and Humanities building, cross Rutford Ave, and continue past the SLC building until you reach the wooden ramp leading to Founders North.

PS3: We recommend taking Synergy Park Blvd on the north side of campus, then turn south onto Rutford Ave and east onto Loop Rd to enter PS3. After parking in PS3, follow the sidewalks south to Drive D and the Founders North building north entrance.

For further information regarding this clinic, contact Patrick Michaud at pmichaud@pobox.com .

2015-09-14 0 Comments

FIRST LEGO League Resources

Key documents from FIRST LEGO League

The FIRST LEGO League site has many useful documents, but when getting started it’s hard to know which ones are the most important or relevant. Here is our curated list of helpful resources:

2021/2022 Cargo Connect Season

2020/2021 Replay Season

2020 Regional Presentations

2019 Regional Presentations and Handouts

2018/19 Into Orbit Season

2018 Regional Presentations and Handouts

2017 Regional Presentations and Handouts

2016 Regional Presentations and Handouts

2015 Regional Presentations and Handouts

Software

Online

FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL®) Website http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/fll
FLL® Team Information Management System (TIMS) https://my.usfirst.org/fll/tims/site.lasso
Youth Protection Plan (YPP) http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/youth-protection-program
North Texas FLL® Google Group https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/northtexasfll
Perot Museum (FLL® Regional Partner) http://www.perotmuseum.org/events-and-programs/school-programs/first-lego-league/index.html
Roboplex http://roboplex.org/fll
TechBrick Robotics http://www.techbrick.com/Lego/Lego2015/Resources/index.html
Brick Owl http://www.brickowl.com/
NXT Programs.com http://nxtprograms.com/

Contact information

Kelly Goodner, FIRST in Texas – mailto:kelly.goodner@firstintexas.org
Joe Varnell,  FIRST Senior Mentor – jvarnell@firstinspires.org
Jim Brodnick, Coach – james.brodnick@gmail.com
Patrick Michaud, Coach Republic of Pi – pmichaud@pobox.com
Jay Jordan, Coach & Tournament Director FCA Robotech – info@fcarbotics.com

Regional match videos

Table ideas and suggestions

2015-09-05 1 Comment fll

UTD Clinic – FTC Programming in Android Studio

2015-10-04 @ 1:00pm - 4:00pm, University of Texas at Dallas / SEEC

This will be a FTC clinic focusing on programming FTC robots using Android Studio (Java).  The clinic will be held at UT-Dallas on Sunday October 4 from 1:00p to 4:00p in room SLC 1.102.  Attendees may park in any GREEN or GOLD space on campus (see map); the closest parking spots are in lot H (west of SLC) and the parking garage (PS3) north of SLC.  For those wanting to park in PS3 we recommend using Synergy Park Blvd on the north side of campus and then driving south on Rutford Ave.

The focus of the clinic will be programming and control systems using Android Studio, although we’ll be glad to discuss any topic pertaining to FTC.   If there are any specific programming topics you would like to see covered, please contact Patrick Michaud.  Currently the clinic is expected to cover:

– configuring phones and controllers
– FTC programming basics – OpModes and LinearOpModes
– motor and servo control
– gamepads and driving logic
– organizing code into functions
– sensor basics, including the new color sensor from Modern Robotics
– threads and concurrency (time permitting)

We don’t expect to have any “hands-on exercises” in the clinic, so you don’t need to bring a robot, control systems, laptop, or other equipment with you.  You’re welcome to bring these things if you like (for demonstration, questions, troubleshooting, etc.), but we won’t be allocating a lot of time during the clinic itself to work on them.

To register for the event, send email to pmichaud@pobox.com with the following information:
1. Your name
2. Your team number and team name
3. How many people from your team will be attending
4. An email contact address, if different from the reply address

More details will be sent out to registered participants prior to the event.

2015-09-01 0 Comments

FTC League Play FAQ (2015-2016 season)

Last updated: 2015.10.28

Overview of this document

This page attempts to document what is known (and not known) about League Play and Qualifying Tournaments in the North Texas FTC Region for the 2015-2016 season.  This page is not an official document; the statements below are simply opinions and citations from various sources, and they do not represent official rulings from the regional organizers.  Where possible, we will attempt to link to or cite official sources for each of the answers below.

Patrick Michaud (Pm) is the primary maintainer for this page.  If you have further questions, suggestions, additions, corrections, or alterations for this page, please send them to pmichaud@pobox.com or post them to the NorthTexasFTC Google Group. (more…)

2015-08-31 ftc

Portable FLL Table

In 2013 the Republic of Pi came up with a portable FLL table that is relatively lightweight, sturdy, and can be disassembled for transportation to other sites (e.g., for demonstrations).  The video below shows the table we created.  We hope to be publishing plans for building a table like this one soon — stay tuned.

 

 

2015-08-27 3 Comments fll

FTC 2015 Season Kickoff

2015-09-19 @ 9:00am - 12:00pm, Fellowship Christian Academy

Slides from Kickoff Presentation

FTC  #7172 (“Technical Difficulties”) is hosting a Kickoff event on September 19th for the 2015-2016 FIRST Tech Challenge season. The purpose of the kickoff is to share details about the upcoming season, including game rules, league and qualifier play, the new Android Technology Platform, and more. At the Kickoff we will have an official FTC competition field (complete with game elements) and some example robots using the new technology platform. We intend for this event to also be an opportunity for teams to network, discuss game strategy, and share robot design ideas.

The Kickoff will be held 9:00a-12:00p at Fellowship Christian Academy, 1821 W. Camp Wisdom Rd, Dallas, TX 75232.

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

(more…)

2015-08-26 0 Comments