Seniors, check below for some really good scholarship opportunities for FIRST students!
Invoices
The $150 Oklahoma season fee is due now. If the lead coach did not receive it, they should check their spam/junk folder. If it’s still not there, please email Madeline Baugher (madeline.baugher@swosu.edu) and let her know so she can re-issue it,
Remote League Meet #3 – Jan 17-23, 2021
It’s ongoing! Drivers’ and Coaches’ Meeting video can be found here
Volunteers needed for FIRST Lego League remote events
FIRST Lego League events need volunteers (judges and referees)! The next competition on Feb. 13 is really short-handed. If you are an adult, or a high school junior/senior with prior FIRST volunteer experience, please sign up on your FIRST Dashboard at www.firstinspires.org (top right corner – “My Dashboard” – “Event Volunteer” — or try this link which may or may not work)
Scholarships!
Here is a pretty nice STEM scholarship ($10,000/year) from Lockheed-Martin that Oklahoma FIRST students have won recently. Deadline is April 1:
Oklahoma State University is offering 20 $1000 scholarships to FIRST students! Deadline is Feb. 1. Search for that one and $80 million in scholarships for FIRST students at:
Reminder – check out the discord server to communicate with other teams and ask questions!
We’ve got teams asking for help with specific things, teams offering help, and teams who are planning events that you could check out! Sign up at this link:
Through the FIRST Innovation Challenge presented by Qualcomm students in FIRST Tech Challenge will explore what it means to be an innovator and find solutions to society’s greatest challenges that impact the world for generations to come.
Through the FIRST GAME CHANGERS themed challenge, participating teams will:
Identify a problem or opportunity to help people (or a community of people) keep, regain, or achieve optimum physical and/or mental health and fitness through active play or movement
Design a solution to seize the opportunity or solve the problem.
Actualize their innovation by creating a business model and developing a business pitch.
Advance their skills by using technology in their solution development process and/or design.
Participating teams will also have exclusive access to the Innovation Challenge Expert Educational Series featuring panels, Q&A sessions, and webinars featuring alumni and industry experts on such topics as:
So yes, it’s Shark Tank for FTC! You invent something cool to help humanity and make a pitch to sell it. You can find the rules in the FIRST Innovation Challenge game manual.
Remote League Meet #3 – Jan 17-23, 2021
The following teams are competing. If you are planning to compete and are not on the list, please email tsmith@firstpartners.org ASAP. If you need to back out, please do the same. We encourage any team that has a semi-functional robot and can safely meet to go ahead and compete this week, as there are no penalties for doing so and tons of benefits.
3638
Atomic Shock
8638
tadpole
14671
inside joke
4155
M.I.T (Muskogee’s Innovative Team)
8825
CADFish
14906
Leviathan Robotics
4250
LIGHTSABERS
8866
Cybernetics
15657
Millwood Robotics
4266
Makin’ Stuff Move
9838
elopdat
15665
Liberal Tech Challengers
4378
Black Box Robotics
9898
Tech No Pickles
16240
Chargers
4962
Rockettes
10355
Project Peacock
16426
Absolute Zero
5395
Team Clutch
10641
Atomic Gears
16505
Quantum
5553
RoboComets
11344
Merritt Oilers
17034
Gears of Liberty
6042
Commandobots
11354
The Midnight Ostrich Runners
17035
Knightmares
6735
Team Medusa
11572
Mouse Spit
18274
PR0J3C7 P4R4D0X
6973
Radical Robotics
12535
Revolutionary Robots
18333
Epic Robotics – Team 3
6974
Monsters of Mechanics
12766
Thundercatz
18410
Lego Queens
7163
The Bazinga Project
13049
Prototypes
18595
0613gorf
7366
The Lab Rats
13806
Project Agnizab
18802
Robo Renegades
7506
System Overload
14286
Milburn Robotics Club
Remote Meet #3 timeline
Friday, Jan 15, 7pm – Drivers’ and Coaches’ Meeting (Zoom link)
FLL Remote State Championship needs help – a great outreach opportunity!
The Oklahoma Science & Engineering Foundation (OKSEF) is the organization that promotes & operates FIRST LEGO League Challenge competitions and Explore Festivals across the state. Currently we are executing a series of Remote Qualifiers that will lead up to our Remote Championship in early March.
In normal seasons of the past we have interactions and contributions from FTC & FRC teams throughout the season that impact and enrich the experience for FLL teams and thus far that is missing from this season.
In order to provide a better experience at our championship event, OKSEF is calling upon willing FTC & FRC teams to provide pre-recorded video content for use during the opening ceremony and awards ceremony. Examples of content include the national anthem for opening ceremonies, Promotional progression of program videos to encourage students graduating from FLL to continue in FIRST, and inspirational videos that may compliment the season theme. Perhaps your team has an idea for a short video that conveys information you would have appreciated when you were in FLL. All ideas are welcome.
Over the next few weeks until Feb 1st we would like teams to submit proposals for content that they would like to produce in the month of February for use at the early March Championship. We are asking for proposals rather than submitted videos initially to reduce duplication of effort and to also provide additional direction and clarification before teams record content. Obviously we will not be able to accept all submissions and the final videos will be reviewed prior to use at the event. Please send all proposals via email to staylor@firstpartners.org
As always FLL appreciates the support from other FIRST programs and we hope this also provides a creative outlet for Oklahoma FTC & FRC teams to exhibit their Gracious Professionalism this season.
Thanks,
Scott Taylor, P.E.
FIRST LEGO League Program Delivery Partner Oklahoma
Oklahoma Science & Engineering Foundation Director
Tournament Update
Thank you to all the teams who responded to the surveys. We’re currently evaluating the responses. We don’t anticipate that everyone will get their first choice but you should get your first or second choice. We do anticipate assignments will be made prior to league meet #4, and at that point we will also be keeping standing for each sub-league of 12-20 teams rather than just statewide.
So far, we’ve had about five teams express interest in a remote league tournament in place of an in-person league tournament. We need at least 12 to make that work – so if anyone wants to change your response to choose that option, please email Travis (tsmith@firstpartners.org) to discuss. It also seems likely that some in-person events will end up being converted to remote due to venue restrictions, team cancellations, or insufficient volunteers, so in that case we can add “remote only” teams to a tournament without too much difficulty.
(Note that all teams that don’t make it to state via a league tournament will still be able to compete in the Last Chance Qualifier tournament.)
Reminder – check out the discord server to communicate with other teams and ask questions!
We’ve got teams asking for help with specific things, teams offering help, and teams who are planning events that you could check out! Sign up at this link:
Welcome to the newsletter, December 9, 2020 – Competitions have begun!
Wow, what a great first event! We had 18 teams compete – scroll down for results, following some other important stuff. We’ve heard lots of positive feedback from teams about their competition experience – it’s great that we’re able to compete at all, given the circumstances!
League Meet #2 starts on Sunday!
In-person tournaments – schedule adjustments
Our organizing committee has been closely evaluating the situation with the pandemic in Oklahoma, as I’m sure most of you have as well. Our initial deadline for tournament sign-up has blown by, and we only have 15 teams (total) signed up for four in-person events. So here are the actions we are taking:
The two Feb in-person league tournaments will be moved to April
The other two will stay as they are; the remote “last chance” qualifier will also move back a week
We will re-open tournament registration next week and teams will select which events they can try to attend
Deadline to register will be Dec. 31. At that point, we will assign teams to a league tournament; Oklahoma ($150/team) invoices will be sent out in early Jan. If you are still uncertain at that time, let us know and we can probably work something out, but we’d like a count of which teams still need an extension
We’ll add a couple more remote league meet events in Feb. to make up for the tournaments being moved and to give later-starting teams more chances to compete.
Two weeks before each league tournament start date, we will evaluate whether or not the tournament will be held in-person. In-person events will have safety guidelines in effect, which will likely include restrictions on attendance numbers. The decision will be made by including, at minimum, the following information:
Discretion of the host site – what is their local situation (is the school open and holding events?)
Team feedback – we will survey the invited teams to see if they can attend and require a minimum number for the event to take place in person
Volunteers – are there enough who can attend to make the event happen? (Keep in mind that judging will be remote, in either case)
Watch for a new tournament sign-up form coming next week after we finalize the venues. Each team will attend one in-person tournament. Those new dates are:
March 13
March 27
April 3
April 10
The Last Chance remote tournament will be around April 17, and the tentative date for the state championship is May 1. We won’t be able to determine advancement criteria from tournaments to the state championship until later.
Remote League Meet #2 – Dec 13-19
The following teams are competing. If you are planning to compete and are not on the list, please email tsmith@firstpartners.org ASAP. If you need to back out, please do the same. We encourage any team that has a semi-functional robot and can safely meet to go ahead and compete this week, as there are no penalties for doing so and tons of benefits.
4962
Rockettes
6042
Commandobots
4155
M.I.T (Muskogee’s Innovative Team)
8638
tadpole
12766
Thundercatz
4378
Black Box Robotics
10641
Atomic Gears
11354
The Midnight Ostrich Runners
6735
Team Medusa
15657
Millwood Robotics
5553
RoboComets
7366
The Lab Rats
16505
Quantum
13806
Project Agnizab
7506
System Overload
12535
Revolutionary Robots
3638
Atomic Shock
8866
Cybernetics
18274
PR0J3C7 P4R4D0X
16240
Chargers
9898
Tech No Pickles
16426
Absolute Zero
4266
Makin’ Stuff Move
13049
Prototypes
11572
Mouse Spit
7242
BC Robocats
15665
Liberal Tech Challengers
4250
LIGHTSABERS
10355
Project Peacock
18410
Lego Queens of Girl Scout Troop 2612
14671
inside joke
9838
elopdat
14906
Leviathan Robotics
7163
The Bazinga Project
League Meet #2 timeline
Friday, Dec 11, 7pm – Drivers’ and Coaches’ Meeting (Zoom link)
All competing teams for league meet #2 should attend the Drivers’ and Coaches’ meeting! The first 10 minutes or so will contain new information and those who already attended the League Meet #1 drivers meeting can just stay for that part. Teams who have not competed, yet, should plan to stay for the whole thing, as it contains important information that will help you score your matches correctly.
Please mute yourself unless asking a question. Questions will be taken in both chat and verbally.
League Meet #2 highlights / results show
Tune in on Monday, Dec. 21 at 7pm to see the results and some match highlights! We’ll be broadcasting at https://www.twitch.tv/firstinoklahoma and everyone is welcome to come watch and join in the chat!
How to run and score your matches
Please watch the Remote Event Scoring for Teams video by FIRST Tech Challenge prior to the Drivers’ / Coaches’ meeting and come with questions!
All scoring will be done on the FTC Remote Scoring platform (https://ftc-scoring.firstinspires.org/). If you have internet connectivity issues, please bring this up at the Driver’s / Coaches’ meeting and we’ll work with you on a back-up plan.
You can run your official matches at any time during the scoring window (Sunday 8am to Saturday at 8pm). They don’t all need to be recorded during the same meeting. For instance, if your team meets on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, you could run 2 official matches each day.
League Meet #2 video submission
Although our matches are remote, we want to make sure that teams still get to see each others’ robots and interact with each other. We ask that each team record and upload your matches. Some matches may be shown on the highlight show and we’ll also make a Youtube and/or Google Drive playlist so we can all see each others’ work. Teams can have follow-up conversations on the Twitch steam during the highlights show or on the discord server. Getting to know each other and learning from each other is a huge part of FIRST Tech Challenge!
Game Manual Part 1 – RemoteEvents: This is a pared down version of the traditional manual, with many of the in-person event rules and resources removed. Robot build rules are the same for both traditional and remote events.
Game Manual Part 2 – RemoteEvents: The remote game manual covers the rules for a single team competing in the challenge. Rules that referred to a traditional, head to head alliance style competition are removed or altered to fit with single team gameplay.
Remote Field Requirements Guide: This guide provides options for teams on how to set up their own remote playing field while stating the minimum requirements to compete remotely in official matches.
DIY Field Element Guide: This guide offers detailed instructions on how to build a tower goal, return rack, and power shot out of cardboard. These items are competition legal and can be used to compete in official remote matches.
Return Rack PDF: This is the template teams can use to help trace the return rack when building the cardboard field elements.
Reminder – check out the discord server to communicate with other teams!
We’ve got teams asking for help with specific things, teams offering help, and teams who are planning events that you could check out! Sign up at this link:
League Meet #1 results
Congratulations to all the competing teams. You did awesome!
Welcome to the newsletter, November 28, 2020 – Remote League Meet #1 starts tomorrow!
We hope your turkey (or Thanksgiving meal of choice) was delicious! Today, we are going to talk about our first official competition of the year.
The following teams are competing. If you are planning to compete and are not on the list, please email tsmith@firstpartners.org ASAP. If you need to back out, please do the same. We encourage any team that has a semi-functional robot and can safely meet to go ahead and compete this week, as there are no penalties for doing so and tons of benefits.
All competing teams for league meet #1 should attend the Drivers’ and Coaches’ meeting! Non-competing teams are encouraged to also have a representative or two listen in so you know what’s coming for you over the next few weeks as well.
Please mute yourself unless asking a question. Questions will be taken in both chat and verbally. (Note that these meetings will occur prior to the start of the rest of the events – this one was delayed due to the holiday).
League Meet #1 highlights / results show
Tune in on Monday, Dec. 7 at 7pm to see the results and some match highlights! We’ll be broadcasting at https://www.twitch.tv/firstinoklahoma and everyone is welcome to come watch and join in the chat!
How to run and score your matches
Please watch the Remote Event Scoring for Teams video by FIRST Tech Challenge prior to the Drivers’ / Coaches’ meeting and come with questions!
All scoring will be done on the FTC Remote Scoring platform (https://ftc-scoring.firstinspires.org/). If you have internet connectivity issues, please bring this up at the Driver’s / Coaches’ meeting and we’ll work with you on a back-up plan.
You can run your official matches at any time during the scoring window (Sunday 8am to Saturday at 8pm). They don’t all need to be recorded during the same meeting. For instance, if your team meets on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, you could run 2 official matches each day.
League Meet #1 video submission
Although our matches are remote, we want to make sure that teams still get to see each others’ robots and interact with each other. We ask that each team record and upload your matches. Some matches may be shown on the highlight show and we’ll also make a Youtube and/or Google Drive playlist so we can all see each others’ work. Teams can have follow-up conversations on the Twitch steam during the highlights show or on the discord server. Getting to know each other and learning from each other is a huge part of FIRST Tech Challenge!
Game Manual Part 1 – RemoteEvents: This is a pared down version of the traditional manual, with many of the in-person event rules and resources removed. Robot build rules are the same for both traditional and remote events.
Game Manual Part 2 – RemoteEvents: The remote game manual covers the rules for a single team competing in the challenge. Rules that referred to a traditional, head to head alliance style competition are removed or altered to fit with single team gameplay.
Remote Field Requirements Guide: This guide provides options for teams on how to set up their own remote playing field while stating the minimum requirements to compete remotely in official matches.
DIY Field Element Guide: This guide offers detailed instructions on how to build a tower goal, return rack, and power shot out of cardboard. These items are competition legal and can be used to compete in official remote matches.
Return Rack PDF: This is the template teams can use to help trace the return rack when building the cardboard field elements.
Reminder – check out the discord server to communicate with other teams!
We’ve got teams asking for help with specific things, teams offering help, and teams who are planning events that you could check out! Sign up at this link:
It’s time to sign up for league tournaments! These will ideally occur in Feb/Mar.
As a reminder, each team will be assigned to one event. Teams that have not had too many COVID-related delays should try to sign up for the February events so that teams who have had COVID-related shutdowns and haven’t been able to meet at all have a little more time to prepare. Each event will have approximately 16 teams assigned to it.
League Meet #1 is coming soon! + Virtual Coaches and Drivers meeting (everyone invited)
The Coaches and Drivers meeting for League Meet #1 will be held on Monday, Nov 30, at 7pm. (This is a little after the scoring window opens, but is the best available time given Thanksgiving occurring the week before). It is highly recommended that all teams competing in League Meet #1 attend this virtual meeting, and everyone else is also invited if you’d like to learn about how events will work this season. Topics include (but not limited to):
Scoring
Safety
Choosing camera angles to record your match
Q&A with the Head Referee
The Oklahoma FTC highlights show, including results, from League Meet #1 is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 7 at 7pm on Twitch.
22 teams have signed up for League Meet #1, 44 for any league meet at all, and 70 teams are registered with FIRST (national entry fee) in Oklahoma this year.
Watch this space during the next week for more information!
Competition Questions and Answers
We’ve added a section to the web site that will hopefully answer more of your questions:
December 31 is the last day to register a team to compete in Oklahoma.
We will send out invoices in early January for the $150 Oklahoma fee.
Reminder – check out the discord server to communicate with other teams!
It’s not been too active, but it should be! We’ve got teams asking for help with specific things, teams offering help, and teams who are planning events that you could check out! Sign up at this link:
Oklahoma FIRST Volunteers email list
There is a new mailing list for Oklahoma volunteers! Be sure to sign up so you can find out where help is needed. It’s great for outreach, and this year there will probably be lots of help you can give from your living room!
Coaches or mentors will be added to this distribution list automatically, but anyone can join – volunteers, competitors, parents, administrators, sponsors, students, etc. are all welcome! They can subscribe by sending an email to:
(sign in with a Google account may be needed). If you cannot get that work for some reason, then please email tsmith@firstpartners.org with the subject “newsletter subscription” and you will be added manually. Please check your spam/junk email folder to make sure it’s not ending up in the wrong location.
More Competition Dates Added (plus one minor change)
These league tournaments will be held in person, if is possible (and converted to remote if necessary):
Feb 20: Muskogee
Feb 27: Newcastle
Mar 13: Mustang
Mar 27: Bishop Kelley (Tulsa)
Any team that does not qualify for the State Tournament at one of those or is unable to compete in person will be able to attend the Last Chance remote Qualifying Tournament:
April 5-11: Last Chance Qualifying Tournament (remote)
League Meet 5, originally scheduled for Feb 14-20 will be moved up one week to Feb 7-13 so it doesn’t overlap with the Feb 20 League Tournament.
The state championship is planned for late April, but the exact date and venue have not yet been set.
The graphic below shows how the season will progress. Each team can play up to 5 league meets and selects one league tournament to attend.
Registration Deadline (Oklahoma) and Payment
December 31 is the last day to register a team to compete in Oklahoma.
We will send out invoices in early January for the $150 Oklahoma fee.
Survey Results
Robot situation (as of about Nov. 1):
We’ve not been able to meet in person to work on a robot: 26%
We have ideas: 61%
We have CAD or sketches: 32%
We have put together a thing: 40%
We have something that can move around the field: 24%
We have something that can score: 3%
We’ll probably have something that can move and score by the end of November: 40%
We’ll probably have something that can move and score by the end of December: 21%
We hope to eventually have something that can move and score: 18%
Our robot is so good it has achieved sentience and is currently working on a COVID vaccine: 3%
Various other answers: 9%
There were about an equal number of teams who preferred the OKC versus Tulsa areas for geographic location of their in-person event. Several teams made comments that they were struggling with meeting in person, waiting on parts and various other issues. If there is anything that Oklahoma FTC can help you with, please reach out!
Reminder – check out the discord server to communicate with other teams!
It’s not been too active, but it should be! We’ve got teams asking for help with specific things, teams offering help, and teams who are planning events that you could check out! Sign up at this link:
Oklahoma FIRST Volunteers email list
There is a new mailing list for Oklahoma volunteers! Be sure to sign up so you can find out where help is needed. It’s great for outreach, and this year there will probably be lots of help you can give from your living room!
Thanks to all the teams who tried out the software. Although I don’t think we had any robots actually running, we did have 11 teams who got the scoring software to work and entered at least one score! If you did run a robot and have any photos, please forward those along and we’ll get them to FIRST headquarters.
Mailing list information
Coaches or mentors will be added to this distribution list automatically, but anyone can join – volunteers, competitors, parents, administrators, sponsors, students, etc. are all welcome! They can subscribe by sending an email to:
(sign in with a Google account may be needed). If you cannot get that work for some reason, then please email tsmith@firstpartners.org with the subject “newsletter subscription” and you will be added manually. Please check your spam/junk email folder to make sure it’s not ending up in the wrong location.
Event preference for league tournaments will open in a week or two.
October scrimmage event! Oct 26-Nov 1
Our test scrimmage is open for business! We want every team to try to login this week and see if you can access the scoring system and play a match or six. Fake scores/matches are okay if your robot isn’t ready, but I’d really like everyone to take this opportunity to have your teams learn how to play a remote match. All teams that have registered with FIRST should be able to access this event, as I automatically registered all the teams in the state plus our one SW Kansas team.
We are guinea pigs on this — the very first FTC event of the season, anywhere –, so there are likely going to be bugs. Please email your bugs/issues to me and I’ll try to help (I don’t have “team access” since I don’t coach a team, so this might get a little tricky – bear with me).
3) At that point, they should be able to add others in the team as a “Team Administrator” on that site.
4) The team administrators can login to run the scorekeeper at http://ftc-scoring.firstinspires.org. If it throws an error, please click the FIRST Tech Challenge logo in the top-left corner and it might let you in. Hooray for bugs.
5) go ahead and play with the test matches. Run a real match if you can.
6) Let me know how it goes. We’re going to have to work through this together because I expect a lot of hiccups. If you run into a bug, please take a screenshot, note the time of the error, write a short description and email it to tsmith@firstpartners.org and it will be relayed to FIRST HQ.
This will also be a subject of this Friday’s coaches’ hangout from 4-6pm, so if you are having problems we can try to work them out together then.
Our usual Final Friday gathering is 4-8pm on Oct 30! You can join via Zoom at:
We’ll be stepping through the scoring software and talking about anything else you want to bring up.
Mailing list information
Coaches or mentors will be added to this distribution list automatically, but anyone can join – volunteers, competitors, parents, administrators, sponsors, students, etc. are all welcome! They can subscribe by sending an email to:
(sign in with a Google account may be needed). If you cannot get that work for some reason, then please email tsmith@firstpartners.org with the subject “newsletter subscription” and you will be added manually. Please check your spam/junk email folder to make sure it’s not ending up in the wrong location.
Welcome to the weekly newsletter, October 21, 2020 – Remote Event Update Edition!
We hope you are having a great week!
Quick but Important Survey
As we finalize event schedules, we’d like to know where each team (or program – if you have lots of teams then you can just fill it out once) stands, here, about 6 weeks into the season. Are you able to meet? Have you started a robot? Can your robot score? Any issues of note? There are also a couple of scheduling questions that will help us finalize things for the season.
1) Very Important: Watch this set of videos on remote scoring and practice. It shows you exactly how a remote event will work. It also gives you a way to practice matches and scoring before your first event.
4) Run your robot (or just log in to test things if you don’t have a robot ready – this is probably almost everyone!) at the scrimmage event next week (see below).
Sign Up now for Remote League Meets!
We will have five remote league meets over the next several months, and we have some good news: You can choose up to five of them to attend! So no need to fear showing up for the first one with a robot that barely works because you will have lots of opportunities to improve your scores without penalty. Remember that each meet has six matches per robot, and over the course of the season you will get to keep the top 10 scores to apply to your standings in your league tournament at the end of the season. For example, if you play 3 remote meets, you will keep your top 10 out of 18 scores.
Each team will get to attend one league tournament as well. These are currently planned to be in-person events on a Saturday between Feb 20 and March 27. Standby for more news on these in a couple of weeks, after venues are finalized.
To play in a remote event, you are going to need:
Your robot.
A remote field to play on
Internet access to the FTC Remote Scoring System
A device for entering scores
A field display (optional)
If you don’t have access to a field, we can help with that. Just speak up! Given that each team will have access to so many chances to play and drop their low scores, we will not have a lot of scrimmage events.
If anyone has fun name ideas for these events (“Robot Rumble”, “Thanksgiving Throwdown”, etc. — okay those are names, not necessarily fun names) send ‘em to tsmith@firstinspires.org for the planning committee’s consideration.
October scrimmage event! Oct 26-Nov 1
We’ve already got one event on the schedule! We want as many teams as possible to try to give your robot a drive if you are able to do so. If not, then we still want you to log into the scoring system and see if it works so we can give feedback to FIRST. This is purely to help everyone get to know the scoring system we’ll be using for remote events, so really there is no robot required.
Watch this set of videos to see how it works, and how you can also run practice matches for your own team. We can also make this the primary topic of next week’s Last Friday Coaches’ Hangout so we can test it out together.
Mailing list information
Coaches or mentors will be added to this distribution list automatically, but anyone can join – volunteers, competitors, parents, administrators, sponsors, students, etc. are all welcome! They can subscribe by sending an email to:
(sign in with a Google account may be needed). If you cannot get that work for some reason, then please email tsmith@firstpartners.org with the subject “newsletter subscription” and you will be added manually. Please check your spam/junk email folder to make sure it’s not ending up in the wrong location.
Welcome to the weekly newsletter, October 8, 2020 – I wanna know what’s going on edition!
We hope you are having a great week!
FTC Help Session via Zoom
The help session originally scheduled for October 10 will be rescheduled for November. At that time, we’re going to get into the specifics of remote matches and how to run them. Speaking of which…
Season Events
Everyone has been wondering about how this is going to work – including us! But after lots of long discussions, guidance from FIRST, and feedback from teams, we are slowly making our way through the planning process for this unique season.
Each team will register for 2 or 3 remote meets (and maybe more) (timeline = November thru February). These are the league meets that about half of the teams in the state have played in the past couple of years. We’ll have training on how exactly this will work coming up. You will only run your robot at this event – there is no judging. Standings will be kept statewide, and each team will get to keep their top 10 matches toward their ranking for their league tournament. For these remote events, you will have about a week to make your robot runs and submit your scores using the FTC Cloud Scorekeeping Platform.
We’ve got some ideas about how to make these events a little more fun, but are open to feedback from teams and volunteers! For instance, we would also like teams to submit videos of their robot runs that can be used in a highlights show to wrap up each remote event, make use of our Discord and Twitch channel for team interaction, and also have each team host a “virtual pit” where visitors can drop in to talk about your robot. We are also planning some fun recognitions for teams (“top score”, “most improved”, and some that teams can vote for each other about)! Please send us your thoughts!
Each team can sign up for remote scrimmage events (timeline = late October – March). We’ll have at least one of these per month and any team can attend. Please plan on attending one before your first actual event to work out any issues with your robot, scorekeeping, etc.
Each team will be able to choose one league tournament to attend in person (timeline = January-March). These are essentially the same as the qualifying tournaments that you are all used to if you’ve been in FTC before. There are matches, playoffs, and judging sessions. The matches you played in during your remote meets will carry into this tournament and will be added to the results of the qualifying matches that take place at the tournament to determine your final ranking prior to alliance selection. We anticipate that there will be four dates to choose from in late Jan through the end of March.
NOTE 1: if an in-person tournament cannot take place due to local conditions, then the tournament will be converted to a remote tournament (it will still have judging, but the matches will be remote).
NOTE 2: Depending on venue size and local conditions, we will likely need to limit the number of people who can attend from each team. Decisions will be made in coordination with the host venue.
NOTE 3: some host venues have been determined, but others are still under investigation pending school district decisions and the like. We’ll announce these once they are all finalized, hopefully by the end of October.
NOTE 4: Advancement to the state tournament will be via the usual formula (see Game Manual Part 1 for details)
Teams that do not advance from the league tournament will be invited to attend a remote “last chance” tournament (timeline = early April). Didn’t make it to state at your league tournament? Robot broke? Circumstances beyond your control kept you from attending the tournament? This is for you. Sign up for your last chance to qualify for state! Judging and matches will all be remote.
The state championship is anticipated for late April. We hope it will be in-person at a venue to be determined, but there are still things to work out. It will likely have fewer teams invited than in past years and will be a one-day event with remote judging beforehand. Thanks, COVID.
FIRST Championship is tentatively scheduled for mid-July 2021 in Houston, TX.We likely won’t know the status of that event for several more months. We also don’t know how many teams will advance from Oklahoma if it does happen.
So, your steps are:
On or around Oct 18, registration will open for remote meet events. Each team can sign up for up to three of these. There is no limit on the number of teams who can attend each.
Remote scrimmage events will also open up at that time. Feel free to sign up for as many of those as you want. The first one will be Oct 26-Nov 1.
In early November, registration will open for in-person Tournament events.
Please send questions about any of this to tsmith@firstinspires.org and we’ll make a Q&A list about how the season will work.
October scrimmage event!
We’ve already got one event on the schedule! We want as many teams as possible to try to give your robot a drive if you are able to do so. This will let you and us both test how the season is going to work. The scrimmage will be held Oct 26-Nov 1. More details next week!
You can find the remote field requirements document here, and the rest of the information about Ultimate Goal (game manuals, etc) on this page. If you need help attaining a field or finding a team who can share theirs with you then please reply to this email and let us know!
Prize winners from kickoff
Your teams have been submitted to the vendors. We’ve reminded the vendors this week to get back to you on how to claim your prizes, so hopefully that will happen soon!
Mailing list information
Coaches or mentors will be added to this distribution list automatically, but anyone can join – volunteers, competitors, parents, administrators, sponsors, students, etc. are all welcome! They can subscribe by sending an email to:
ok-ftc-newsletter+subscribe@googlegroups.com(sign in with a Google account may be needed). If you cannot get that work for some reason, then please email tsmith@firstpartners.org with the subject “newsletter subscription” and you will be added manually. Please check your spam/junk email folder to make sure it’s not ending up in the wrong location.
Welcome to the new weekly newsletter, Sep 30, 2020!
Hi everyone – we hope your season is off to a good start, even if you aren’t able to meet in person. There will be plenty of opportunities to participate this year. We hope to have some more specifics to share about how the season will work and details about when event registration will start in next week’s newsletter.
October 10 — FTC Help Session via Zoom
We’re going to have a drop-in help session for teams from 1-3pm on October 10 on Zoom! Please let us know what type of help your team needs so far, whether it be robot design in CAD, mechanical or electrical help, programming assistance, or whatever, and we’ll set up some breakout sessions for students and mentors to participate in together.
Please RSVP here so we know what you are looking for and can get a rough estimate of how many are planning to attend.
Team Registrations
As of today, we have 56 teams paid with FIRST. This includes 10 rookie teams! If you’ve not paid your national FIRST registration, yet, please log into your dashboard and do so. We’re trying to get the national registrations taken care of so we can send out invoices for the Oklahoma registrations in bulk. If your team might be taking the year off, please email tsmith@firstpartners.org to let us know – this year is a very challenging year to run a team and events.
Monthly Coaches’ and Volunteers’ Hangout
We usually do this the last Friday of every month, but we thought we’d be different and move it back a week and just pretend that it is September 32nd. Our come-and-go hangout will be Friday, Oct 2, from 4-6pm. You can drop in at this link:
It’s super casual! Ask questions, talk about your week, tell funny stories.
You can find the remote field requirements document here, and the rest of the information about Ultimate Goal (game manuals, etc) on this page. If you need help attaining a field or finding a team who can share theirs with you then please reply to this email and let us know!
New software for 2020 (Important)
The new FTC SDK 6.0 has been released. That means you need to update your phones and control hub to be legal for this year.
Android Studio users can access the new version on github and you can also find the 6.0 release notes there.
You should also download the REV Hardware Client. This program will help you get your expansion and control hubs up-to-date.
Prize winners from kickoff
Your teams have been submitted to the vendors, so you should be hearing something this week about how to get your freebies!
Mailing list information
Coaches or mentors will be added to this distribution list automatically, but anyone can join – volunteers, competitors, parents, administrators, sponsors, students, etc. are all welcome! They can subscribe by sending an email to:
(sign in with a Google account may be needed). If you cannot get that work for some reason, then please email tsmith@firstpartners.org with the subject “newsletter subscription” and you will be added manually. Please check your spam/junk email folder to make sure it’s not ending up in the wrong location.
