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!
Want to see how a remote match will work?
Check out this video by FTC Alumni Team 11115, Gluten Free, demonstrating Ultimate Goal!
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.