Topics today are:
1) FIRST Innovation Challenge (no robot required! Shark Tank for FTC teams!)
2) League Meet 3
3) FLL Remote State Championship needs some help – outreach opportunity!
4) Tournament update
Find all the season information on the FTC Team Portal web page!
NEW Competition – the FIRST Innovation Challenge!
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)
Sunday, Jan 17, 8am — Event opens for matches (https://ftc-scoring.firstinspires.org/)
Saturday, Jan 23, 8pm — Match submission deadline (https://ftc-scoring.firstinspires.org/)
Sunday, Jan 24, 2pm — Match Video upload deadline (submit match videos at this link)
Wednesday, Jan 27, 7pm — Results and Highlights show ( https://www.twitch.tv/firstinoklahoma)
Everything you need to know to get going should be on the web page here:
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:
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