Email Archive

Florida

FIRST Tech Challenge

2011-2012 Florida Team Email Archive

August 18, 2011

Hello Teams,

This is the first official Florida FTC team email blast for the 2011-2012 season. Please share this and all other team email blasts with your team. Unless you have made other arrangements with me, the only people on your team that receive this email are the main and alternate team contacts that are listed in the FIRST Team Information Management System that was used to register your team with FIRST. All of the Florida FTC team email blasts are placed in an email archive on the www.flfirst.org web site.

Topics in this email include:

1. Season Kickoff

2. Tournament Structure

3. Qualifying Tournament Hosts

4. FTC Workshops at the FRC Off-Season Tournament Tempest N Tampa

5. Florida FTC Social Networking

----------------

1. Season Kickoff

The 2011 Florida season kickoff will be held on Saturday, September 10, 2011. This free event is sponsored by FTC & FRC teams 1902, Exploding Bacon and it is open to the public. We will offer technical workshops that directly relate to the new robot game, reveal the game, display the playing field for teams to explore, and hold a game Q&A session. The kickoff event will be held at the Orange County -University of Florida/IFAS Extension Education Center located at 6021 South Conway Road in Orlando. The web site for the education center is found here: ocextension.ifas.ufl.edu/

Teams attending the kickoff will receive sample game elements to jump-start their robot design efforts. Send an email to Michael.Coleman@flfirst.org with your team number(s) and the estimated number of attendees so that we can assure that we have sufficient seating, refreshments, and game elements. Also let me know if your team is attending the workshops and game reveal or just the game reveal.

Lunch is not provided at the kickoff. Snacks and refreshments will be provided between the workshops and the game reveal.

If you attend the kickoff, please ask your team to keep the game confidential until 3:00 p.m. That means, no pictures posted, no tweets or FB updates with game information, etc.

Schedule:

12:15 p.m. - Check-in

12:30 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. - Sensor Workshop. Sensor use during game play is instrumental in building a high scoring robot. Hans and Carson Wolf from the 2010 Florida Inspire Award Winning team FTC 1369 (Minotaur) will instruct teams on how to use sensors with the ROBOTC programming language.

1:30 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. - Mechanical Design Workshop. This workshop covers robot mechanical design topics that specifically address the challenges presented in the new robot game.

2:30 p.m. - Game reveal and teams explore the playing field.

3:30 p.m - Game Q&A

----------------

2. Tournament Structure

The Florida FTC program runs a two tier tournament structure. FTC teams host qualifying tournaments where 12 to 16-teams compete to earn an invitation to the Florida Championship. The number of teams from each qualifying tournament receiving invitations to the State Championship depends on the total number of qualifying tournaments, the number of teams attending a tournament and the capacity of the Florida Championship. In general, two or three top performing teams plus the team hosting the qualifying tournament earn invitations to the State Championship. Tournament advancement criteria are specified in section three of the 2011-2012 Game Manual.

Registration for qualifying tournaments will be performed through the Florida FTC web site (www.flfirst.org) starting in late September.

----------------

3. Qualifying Tournament Hosts

Our goal is to have sufficient qualifying tournament capacity so that each team has the opportunity to attend at least two tournaments. To achieve this goal, we need to hold nine or ten qualifying tournaments if the number of teams grows by our typical 20%. We currently have four confirmed tournament dates, one tentative tournament and two tournaments that are working on selecting dates. If all of these tournaments are confirmed, we will need at least two more teams to host qualifying tournaments. Visit the Florida FTC web site for a list of confirmed and tentative qualifying tournaments: www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/Events.html

Tournament Hosts provide a facility from Friday afternoon through Saturday evening (a Saturday-Sunday tournament is also an option), volunteers, volunteer lunch and snacks, trophies, and a practice field. I provide the competition playing field, electronics, referee shirts, robot sizing box. I can also provide PA and video systems for some tournaments. I will help with tournament setup and volunteer on tournament day. We also have several awesome volunteers that can fill key roles such as referees, judges, Field Technical Advisors, and robot inspectors.

As a thank you for running a tournament, Tournament Hosts receive an automatic invitation for one team to attend the Florida Championship and priority registration during the first phase of qualifying tournament registration for all of the host's teams.

Please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested in hosting a qualifying tournament. I would like to finalize the tournament schedule prior to the season kickoff on September 10, 2011.

----------------

4. FTC Workshops at the FRC Off-Season Tournament Tempest N Tampa

Tempest N Tampa (TNT) is the FRC off-season competition held in Tampa on Saturday, September 17th. The FTC program will offer workshops at TNT covering game strategy and scouting, what to expect on tournament day, sensors, and mechanical design. It is unlikely that we will setup a playing field for the new game at this event. A detailed workshop schedule will be in the next team email blast.

----------------

5. Florida FTC Social Networking

The Florida FTC program offers several online social networking options that facilitate team-to-team communication. These are great forums to share your team's best practices, ask for help, organize informal scrimmages, or to keep in touch with your FIRST friends. Checkout Florida FTC online today:

Web Site: www.flfirst.org

Forum: flftc.forumotion.com

FTC Twitter: twitter.com/FLFirst

Facebook: www.facebook.com/FloridaFTC

Michael Coleman

FTC Affiliate Partner for Florida

September 5, 2011

Hello Teams,

Please share this and all other team email blasts with your team. Unless you have made other arrangements with me, the only people on your team that receive this email are the main and alternate team contacts that are listed in the FIRST Team Information Management System that was used to register your team with FIRST. All of the Florida FTC team email blasts are placed in an email archive on the www.flfirst.org web site.

Topics in this email include:

1. Season Kickoff

2. "Guess the Game" by FTC 2845, Team Duct Tape

3. FTC Workshops at the FRC Off-Season Tournament Tempest N Tampa

Attachments: 1) FIRST Consent and Release Form; 2) "Guess the Game" game flyer

----------------

1. Season Kickoff

The 2011 Florida season kickoff will be held on Saturday, September 10, 2011. This free event is sponsored by FTC & FRC teams 1902, Exploding Bacon. We will offer technical workshops that directly relate to the new robot game, reveal the game, display the playing field for teams to explore, and hold a game Q&A session. The kickoff event will be held at the Orange County-University of Florida/IFAS Extension Education Center located at 6021 South Conway Road in Orlando. The web site for the education center is found here: ocextension.ifas.ufl.edu/

Everyone attending needs to complete the attached FIRST Consent and Release Form and turn it in at the kickoff event.

Teams attending the kickoff will receive sample game elements to jump-start their robot design efforts. Send an email to Michael.Coleman@flfirst.org with your team number(s) and the estimated number of attendees (adults and students) so that we can assure that we have sufficient seating, refreshments, and game elements. Also let me know if your team is attending the workshops and game reveal or just the game reveal.

Lunch is not provided at the kickoff. Snacks and refreshments will be provided between the workshops and the game reveal.

If you attend the kickoff, please ask your team to keep the game confidential until 3:00 p.m. That means, no pictures posted, no tweets or FB updates with game information, etc.

Schedule:

12:15 p.m. - Check-in

12:30 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. - FTC Programming Sensors in ROBOTC. Sensor use during game play is instrumental in building a high scoring robot. Hans and Carson Wolf from the 2010 Florida Inspire Award Winning team FTC 1369 (Minotaur) will instruct teams on how to use sensors with the ROBOTC programming language.

1:30 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. - Effective Design Process for FTC Manipulators for the 2011-12 Game. This workshop covers robot mechanical design topics that specifically address the challenges presented in the new robot game.

2:30 p.m. - Game reveal and teams explore the playing field.

3:30 p.m - Game Q&A

----------------

2. "Guess the Game" by FTC 2845, Team Duct Tape

Team Duct Tape has been kicking around all sorts of guesses on what Ken Johnson's game clues on his FTC blog might mean, and thought it would be fun to see what kind of ideas everyone else is entertaining. So we're hosting a kickoff party game called Guess the Game. Send us your ideas or drop them in the marked box the day of the kickoff, and we'll see who comes closest to the actual game after the reveal. Winner(s) gets a duct tape gift! See you at the Kick-Off!

See the attached flyer for game details.

The complete set of game hints is found in Ken Johnson's FTC Blog: www.firsttechchallenge.blogspot.com/

----------------

3. FTC Workshops at the FRC Off-Season Tournament Tempest N Tampa

Tempest N Tampa (TNT) is the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) off-season competition held by a local FRC team in Tampa on Saturday, September 17th. This event is free and open to the public. Although the focus of TNT is on the FRC robots, it is a very good opportunity for FTC teams to bring family, friends, mentors, etc. to show them the excitement of a FIRST tournament. There will be lots of time between the FTC workshops to watch the FRC robots play last year's game, LOGO MOTION and to visit with teams in their pit areas. The FRC robots are larger than our FTC robots, however, an up close look at the FRC robots reveals that the underlying technology is similar to FTC robots.

The FTC program will offer workshops at TNT covering game strategy and scouting, what to expect on tournament day, programming sensors in ROBOTC, and mechanical design. We are not setting up a playing field for the new game at this event.

Send an email to Michael.Coleman@flfirst.org with your team number(s) and the estimated number of attendees. Everyone attending this event needs to complete the attached FIRST Consent and Release Form and give it to Michael Coleman during the workshops. If you turned in a FIRST Consent and Release form at the FTC kickoff on September 10th, you don't need to turn in a form at TNT.

The workshop schedule is as follows:

10:00 a.m. - Using Scouting and Strategy to Your Best Advantage in FTC

12:00 p.m. - FTC Programming Sensors in ROBOTC

1:00 p.m. - Effective Design Process for FTC Manipulators for the 2011-12 Game

3:00 p.m. - What to Expect at Your First FTC Tournament

Location:

Sword & Shield Room or Room 104 [The rooms are adjacent]

Bob Martinez Sports Center at the University of Tampa

312 N Blvd., Tampa, FL, 33606

Michael Coleman

FTC Affiliate Partner for Florida

Web Site: www.flfirst.org

Forum: flftc.forumotion.com

FTC Twitter: twitter.com/FLFirst

Facebook: www.facebook.com/FloridaFTC

September 15, 2011

Hello Teams,

This is a brief email to remind FTC teams about the upcoming FTC workshops in Tampa on Saturday, September 17th. The workshops are free and open to the public. I will be available all day to answer questions about the FTC program or the Bowled Over! game. You will find me wearing a blue and black Florida FTC bowling team shirt.

Between workshops, remember to check-out the FRC teams playing last year's game LOGO MOTION. The mini-bots used in this game are built from FTC parts (motors, batteries, metal, wheels, etc.) plus a few additional allowed parts. Also, stop by the lobby and visit the FTC display run by FTC 2845, Team Duct Tape.

Everyone attending the workshops need to turn in a completed FIRST Consent and Release form if they haven't already turned in this form at the season kickoff held last weekend in Orlando. The form is attached to this email.

The FTC workshop schedule is as follows:

10:00 a.m. - Using Scouting and Strategy to Your Best Advantage in FTC

12:00 p.m. - FTC Programming Sensors in ROBOTC

1:00 p.m. - Effective Design Process for FTC Manipulators for the 2011-12 Game

3:00 p.m. - What to Expect at Your First FTC Tournament

The Location is:

Bob Martinez Sports Center at the University of Tampa

312 N Blvd., Tampa, FL, 33606

The presentations will be held in a classroom immediately off the main lobby to the arena. As you go in the main entrance, turn left into the classroom.

Driving directions on the TNT web site:

http://www.roboticsboosters.com/tnt/areainfo.html

Michael Coleman

FTC Affiliate Partner for Florida

September 21, 2011

Hello Teams,

Topics covered in this email include:

1. Qualification Tournament Registration

2. Rookie Team Grant Opportunities

3. TETRIX Part Discount for FTC Teams

4. ROBOTC Training

5. LabVIEW Training

Attachments: Tournament Policy, Coaching Guidelines

------------

1. Qualification Tournament Registration

The key aspects of registering for Qualification Tournaments are listed below. They are followed by more detailed information.

- Registration will consist of several rounds.

- Teams can register for only one tournament per round.

- Round 1 registration opens on Wednesday, September 28th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

- Round 2 registration opens on Wednesday, October 5th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

- Round 3 registration opens on Wednesday, October 12th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

- The online registration system is located here: www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/Qualifying_Tournament_Registration.html

- It is a first come, first served registration system.

- Teams receive immediate registration confirmation.

- Read the Tournament Policies prior to registering: www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/Docs/TournamentPolicies.pdf.

- Read the Coaching Guidelines prior to registering: www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/Docs/CoachingGuidelines.pdf.

- A few competition slots at the tournaments held on January 28th and February 4th will be reserved for late registering rookie teams and teams that would like an additional shot at qualifying for the Florida Championship. During the early registration rounds, these tournament will show a team capacity lower than their actual 16-team capacity.

Additional details concerning registering for Qualification Tournaments are as follows:

Qualification Tournament Registration opens on Wednesday, September 28th at 8:00 p.m. Teams hosting officially sanctioned events may register during an early registration window prior to September 28th.

The registration start page contains a table listing the tournaments, date, participation fee, team capacity and number of teams registered. The registration form requests the following information:

- Team name

- Team number

- School or organization

- Number of boys on the team

- Number of girls on the team

- Number of Mentors

- Team contact name, email address, cell phone and mailing address

- Confirmation check boxes accepting the Coaches Guidelines and Tournament Policies documents

Prior to registering for a tournament, teams should have a strategy for selecting tournaments and have read the Coaching Guidelines and Tournament Policies in order to avoid delays in completing the registration form. Pay particular attention to the policy concerning team no-shows and withdrawals from tournaments. I feel strongly that teams should live up to commitments and withdrawing or not showing up for a tournament sets a poor example for students and is not in the spirit of Gracious Professionalism. Further, Tournament Hosts put a lot of time and effort into running tournaments. Team withdrawals and no-shows add unnecessary burdens on tournament organizers. Even if your robot isn't functioning, teams are expected to attend tournament they have registered for. If you need help, ask for help as soon as your team arrives at the tournament. Our technical volunteers and FTC team mentors form other teams will be happy to help you get your robot running and through inspection.

Tournament Hosts will contact teams directly concerning topics that may include additional registration information, instructions for paying the participation/registration fee, etc.

Tournament registration will be conducted in several rounds. Teams may register for exactly one tournament in each round. Failure to register during a round is a lost opportunity that can't be recovered. We have planned enough competition slots for teams to attend two tournaments so long as most of the tournament slots are filled at all events. We believe that we have additional team capacity so that some teams will have the opportunity to attend up to three tournaments. The exact number of extra slots will depend on the number of teams in total, the number of teams that choose to attend only one tournament, and the number of unused competition slots.

Teams that fail to register for a qualifying tournament in rounds 1 or 2 run the risk of not participating in a tournament this season. I recommend that teams register early and register often.

Feel free to send an email to Michael Coleman at michael.coleman@flfirst.org if you have questions about the tournament registration process.

------------

2. Rookie Team Grant Opportunities

Three grant opportunities are available for rookie FTC teams.

- Rockwell Collins Rookie Team Grant valued at approximately $1,000. This grant is restricted to FTC teams in Florida.

- FIRST Need Based Grant for Rookie Teams valued at approximately $689.

- FLL to FIRST Tech Challenge Pathway Grant for rookie FTC teams pays the FTC registration fee valued at $275. This grant is for rookie FTC teams that have one or more students that participated in the FLL program. This grant can be combined with either the Rockwell Collins or FIRST Need Based grants.

To be eligible for the Rockwell Collins and FIRST Need Based grants the team needs to be approved for the grant prior to ordering the FTC robot kit-of-parts.

Contact Michael.Coleman@flfirst.org if you are interested in applying for any of these grants.

------------

3. TETRIX Part Discount for FTC Teams

FTC teams can purchase most TETRIX parts at a 30% discount by shopping here: parts.ftcrobots.com

------------

4. ROBOTC Training

The Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Academy is offering a free ROBOTC training course for FTC teams. This course covers how to program a TETRIX robot and also highlight the new features found in ROBOTC 3.0 such as the Samantha Wireless System and 3rd party sensors. Register for the training course here: www.cs2n.org/partners/ftc/

------------

5. LabVIEW Training

LabVIEW training videos and other materials are located here: https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-17939

Michael Coleman

FTC Affiliate Partner for Florida

Web Site: www.flfirst.org

Forum: flftc.forumotion.com

FTC Twitter: twitter.com/FLFirst

Facebook: www.facebook.com/FloridaFTC

September 25, 2011

Hello Teams,

Topics covered in this email include:

1. Qualification Tournament Registration [Critical, Time Sensitive Topic]

2. Build-it Day at Middleton High School in Tampa

3. Judging

4. Florida FTC Workshop Presentation Downloads

5. FIRST in Florida Blog

Attachments: Tournament Policy, Coaching Guidelines

------------

1. Qualification Tournament Registration [Critical, Time Sensitive Topic]

The first round of registration for Florida Qualifying Tournaments opens Wednesday, September 28th at 8:00 p.m. Detailed instructions for the registration process are in the September 21, 2011 Florida FTC News email blast. Visit the email archive to review this email: www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/Email_Archive.html

Teams may register for a qualifying tournament before paying their $275 team registration fee to FIRST. The registration feel must be paid at least three weeks prior to attending a tournament.

Rookie teams that haven't paid their $275 registration fee to FIRST may use their temporary 7-digit team number (200xxxx) to register for a qualifying tournament.

Teams are encouraged to attend at least two qualifying tournaments. Select tournaments that are at least 3-weeks apart so that there is time between tournaments to upgrade your robot, update the video for judging, improve game strategy, add autonomous options, etc.

Assure your team's participation in two qualifying tournaments by registering during the first two registration rounds. Teams that fail to register for qualifying tournaments during the first two registration rounds are likely to have few or zero options for attending a qualifying tournament in Florida this season.

Quick links to qualifying tournament web pages:

- Qualification tournament registration start page: www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/Qualifying_Tournament_Registration.html

- Qualifying tournament dates and team capacity status: www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/TournamentQuery.php

------------

2. Build-it Day at Middleton High School in Tampa

Middleton High School will be hosting the 3rd annual Tampa Build-It Day on October 22, 2011 from 9am to 3pm. A full Bowled Over! field will be set-up in the Middleton cafeteria with plenty of tables and workspace for everyone to work on their robots. The Build-It Day event is an opportunity for FTC teams to have access to a practice field, exchange design ideas, help rookie teams with building their first robot, and attend workshops. Some of the workshop topics we are planning to include are: Using PTC Creo to Design Your Robot, Challenges of using Anderson PowerPole Connectors, Introduction to ROBOTC, and Programming Sensors with ROBOTC. Middleton High School is located at 4801 N. 22nd Street, Tampa, FL. If you have any questions or if you team plans on attending, please send an email to Hans Wolf (email redacted to avoid spam).

------------

3. Judging

The judging process and tournament rules are described each year in the FTC Game Manual. The standard judging process includes: a) a private team interview with 2-judges; b) review of the engineering notebook by judges; c) observation of teams during the tournament; and d) informal, discussions between teams and judges in the pit area. For the 2011 season, the Florida region is piloting a slightly different judging process. We will run qualification tournaments and the state championship as specified in the game manual, with one important change. The formal judge interview will not be conducted on tournament day.

We are adding two elements to the judging process for this pilot program. First, teams create videos that provide an overview of the team, their game strategy, robot design, community outreach, etc. The entire judging team will watch all of the team videos prior to tournament day. This enables all of the judges to learn about your team, not just the two judges that normally conduct the team interview on tournament day. Second, judges will use the time that was previously spent hidden away in interview rooms to spend extra time visiting with teams in the pit area. Therefore, it is important that teams keep several members of their team in the pit area at all times up until early afternoon when judging ends. The only time a team's pit area should be empty is when their robot is playing a match on the competition field. Teams should prepare marketing materials (posters, photos, flip charts, etc.) to show judges in the pit area during these informal visits. Don't be shy; show the judges what is special about your team, robot, mentors, etc.

Technical details for creating and submitting videos will be provided in a subsequent team email blast.

Teams should start planning and collecting media for their judging video early in the season so that there is sufficient video and photo content available to create a video that will wow the judges.

The following guidance for team videos was written by Steve Willingham, Judge Advisor (Head Judge) for the Florida Championship. Please share this valuable information with your team.

Since the team videos are an integral part of the judges understanding of team dynamics and considered carefully in the judges scoring process, it is in the best interest of the teams to understand the context in which the judges will be viewing their videos.

Each of the judged awards (Inspire, Innovate, Design, Connect, Motivate, Think) are considered based on the various criteria for each award as described in the game manual. The judges have four basic ways to learn about the teams, their challenges, achievements, approaches to solving problems, and overall dynamics. The four ways, or “channels”, are the Team Notebook, Discussions with team members, Observations, and the Team Video.

The Team Video is the team’s opportunity to create an impressive message to the judges about team challenges, achievements, approaches to solving problems, and overall dynamics that they feel might otherwise not be apparent in the notebook, discussions, or casual observations.

Since the video content is considered in each of the award scores (except the Think Award), a good strategy (but certainly not the only strategy) is for a team to demonstrate in the video how they achieve or excel in the merits of the awards. Below are some ideas about what a team might consider when producing their video. Since videos are limited to 3 minutes, its obvious that everything cannot be included, so teams need to think carefully about their approach and produce a video that corresponds with their goals and objectives.

VIDEO IDEAS

INNOVATE AWARD

- Show how the robot, or a sub-assembly of the robot, is elegant or unique in its design.

- Show how stable, maneuverable, or controllable the robot is.

DESIGN AWARD

- Show the judges how the robot differentiates itself from other robots.

- Show how the design gives the robot clean look, maybe even decorative in nature.

- Show how the robot expresses the creativity of the team.

CONNECT AWARD

- Show the judges how the team has reached out to the community.

- Show how the team has a relationship with the scientific or engineering community.

- Show the judges how the team plans to achieve it’s fund raising goals.

MOTIVATE AWARD

- Show the judges your team spirit extends beyond the tournaments and competitions.

- Demonstrate enthusiasm within the team and within the community!

- Show how well the members work together as a team.

THINK AWARD

- Think Award is focused on the Engineering Notebook and thus the team video is not considered a component of the Think Award score.

INSPIRE AWARD

- Provide candid scenes that demonstrate Gracious Professionalism.

- Show the judges how the team has reached out to the community.

- Demonstrate good communication and presentation skills

- Show how your robot effectively approaches the challenges of the game.

- Show how the team has provided help and inspired other teams by sharing their experiences, lessons learned and knowledge

------------

4. Florida FTC Workshop Presentation Downloads

The workshop presentations from the Florida Kickoff and Tempest N Tampa events are available for download from the helpful links page on the Florida FTC web site: www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/Helpful_Links.html

------------

5. FIRST in Florida Blog

Check out the new FIRST in Florida blog for news about FTC, FRC, FLL, Jr. FLL and related topics: firstinflorida.wordpress.com

Here are a few quick links to online FTC resources managed by FIRST:

- FTC Home Page – www.usfirst.org/ftc

- FTC Team Information Management System – https://my.usfirst.org/ftc/tims/

- Start a Team – http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc/start-a-team

- Game Info – http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc/2011-2012-game-info

- Team info/RSS – http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc/emailblastarchive.aspx

- 2011-2012 FTC Kit of Parts - http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc/2011-2012-ftc-kit-of-parts

- Ken’s Blog - http://firsttechchallenge.blogspot.com/

Michael Coleman

FTC Affiliate Partner for Florida

October 7, 2011

Hello Teams,

Topics covered in this email include:

1. Qualification Tournament Registration

2. Florida Competition Playing Fields

3. Qualification Tournament Advancement Criteria

4. "Compass" and "Promote" Awards

5. Build-it Day at Middleton High School in Tampa [Repeat Announcement]

Attachments: Ball Crate Photo, Off-Field Goal Photo

------------

1. Qualification Tournament Registration

The second qualification tournament registration round is open. Teams have until Wednesday, October 12th at 7:59 p.m. to register for a qualifying tournament during this registration round. If you don't register for a tournament by this time, there is a risk that there may be limited or no tournament openings shortly after we open round 3 registration on Wednesday, October 12, at 8:00 p.m. The qualifying tournament registration start page is located here: http://www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/Qualifying_Tournament_Registration.html

------------

2. Florida Competition Playing Fields

The two Bowled Over! competition playing fields used at all Florida qualifying tournaments and the Florida Championship have two minor modifications as described below. One possible exception is the competition field at the tournament hosted by Miami Coral Park Senior High School since they are providing the competition field for this tournament. Teams provide the practice fields at qualifying tournaments and they may or may not have these modifications. If your team participates in any out-of-state tournaments or the FTC World Championship, their fields will not have these modifications.

Off-Field Goal: The LEDs are mounted in a different location so that they are better protected from robot damage. Field damage may result in disqualification from the match per rule <SG8>. I feel that it is in the best interest of teams attending tournaments in Florida, to move the LEDs to a safer location. See the attached photo to view the location of the LEDs.

Ball Crate: 1/2" gaffers tape has been substituted for the 1" gaffers tape specified in the field construction documents. I am concerned that robots may damage the 1" gaffers tape where the tape isn't supported as it covers the round openings in the sides of the crate. Damage to the tape could be considered field damage and result in disqualification from a match. Even with this modification, I highly recommend that teams avoid using the bottom row of circular openings. A small portion of the 1/2" tape is still unsupported and it its likely that the Ball Crates on the team supplied practice fields will have the 1" gaffers tape. See the attached photo of the Ball Crate.

------------

3. Qualification Tournament Advancement Criteria

The advancement criteria for progressing from qualifying tournaments to the Florida Championship are described in section 3.8 of the Bowled Over! game manual. The Florida Championship has a capacity of 32-teams that will be filled with teams that earn invitations through their performance at qualifying tournaments. The nine qualifying tournament hosts receive automatic invitations to the Florida Championship. This leaves 23 competition slots for the top performing teams at qualifying tournaments. Tournament advancement slots will be allocated to tournaments based on the number of teams attending. Large tournaments will advance 3 teams, medium size tournaments will advance 2 or 3 and small tournaments will advance 1 or 2 teams to fill the 23 performance based invitations to the Florida Championship. Teams are still registering for tournaments so we can't yet determine the number of advancement slots for each tournament. The number of teams advancing from each tournament will be published prior to the start of our competition season on November 12th.

------------

4. "Compass" and "Promote" Awards

The FTC program added the "Compass" and "Promote" awards this season. These awards are listed as optional in the Bowled Over! game manual and they will NOT be awarded at Florida qualifying tournaments and the Florida Championship.

------------

5. Build-it Day at Middleton High School in Tampa [Repeat Announcement]

Michael Coleman

FTC Affiliate Partner for Florida

October 13, 2011

Hello Teams,

Topics covered in this email include:

1. Build-it Day at Middleton High School in Tampa [Updated Announcement]

2. Qualification Tournament Registration

3. Free Online ROBOTC Training

Attachments: Build-it Day Flyer

------------

1. Build-it Day at Middleton High School in Tampa [Updated Announcement]

Middleton High School Robotics Club will host the 3rd annual Tampa Build-It Day on October 22, 2011. A full Bowled Over! field will be setup in the cafeteria with plenty of tables and workspace for everyone to work on their robots. The Build-It Day is an opportunity for FTC teams to have access to a practice field, exchange design ideas, help rookie teams with building their first robot, and attend workshops. Teams are encouraged to bring their robots or even their unopened kit-of-parts to the Build-it Day, however, teams are welcome to only attend the workshops.

RSVP to Hans Wolf at (email redacted to avoid spam).

Schedule:

9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Work on robots

10:00 a.m. - Introduction to ROBOTC

11:00 a.m. - Using Sensors in ROBOTC

1:00 p.m. - Robot Design with PTC Creo

2:00 p.m. - Anderson PowerPole Connections

Location:

Middleton High School

4801 N. 22nd Street

Tampa, FL

------------

2. Qualification Tournament Registration

Five competition slots at each of the final two qualifying tournaments for the season are reserved for rookie teams that registered late in the season. If any of these competition slots are available the week of December 12th, they will be offered to teams in the following priority order:

1. Veteran teams that haven't registered for a tournament.

2. Any team that registered for only one tournament.

3. Any team that registered for two tournaments.

4. Any team that registered for three tournaments.

------------

3. Free Online ROBOTC Training

The Robotics Academy is offering online classes through their new Computer Science Student Network (http://www.cs2n.org/partners/ftc/). These courses are designed to get competition teams up and running. This year’s classes will be diving into more advanced topics such as 3rd party sensors, debugging techniques and creating efficient code using functions and variables for using the FTC competition. The training site also provides resources on other topics such as FIRST LEGO League and using our new Virtual Worlds software. FTC teams can sign up for a free account at cs2n.org to access all of the training materials at no cost!

Michael Coleman

FTC Affiliate Partner for Florida

October 19, 2011

Hello Teams,

Topics covered in this email include:

1. Build-it Day at Middleton High School in Tampa [Repeat Announcement]

2. Qualification Tournament Registration

3. Team Created Video

Attachments: Award Video Tips, Team Video Advice from Florida's Judge Advisor

------------

1. Build-it Day at Middleton High School in Tampa [Repeat Announcement]

RSVP to Hans Wolf at (email redacted to avoid spam).

Schedule:

9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Work on robots

10:00 a.m. - Introduction to ROBOTC

11:00 a.m. - Using Sensors in ROBOTC

1:00 p.m. - Robot Design with PTC Creo

2:00 p.m. - Anderson PowerPole Connections

Location:

Middleton High School

4801 N. 22nd Street

Tampa, FL

------------

2. Qualification Tournament Registration

Competition slots are available at the following two tournaments:

November 12, 2011 - Middleton High School in Tampa

November 19, 2011 - Milwee Middle School in Longwood (near Orlando), hosted by the Lyman High School FTC teams.

All teams are eligible to register for these tournaments. Signup online, the slots will be assigned on a first come, first served basis. http://www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/Qualifying_Tournament_Registration.php

------------

3. Team Created Video

Teams attending Florida FTC Qualifying Tournaments and the State Championship are required to submit a team video for judges to view prior to competition day. Team videos are NOT optional. The content of the video will have a major impact on the judge's evaluation of the team.

There will be no scheduled judge interview at competitions; Judges will conduct informal team interviews in the pit area. Therefore, it is important for teams to have at least one student and their robot in the pit area to talk with judges. Judges will conduct pit interviews starting at around 8:00 a.m. and ending around 2:00 p.m. The majority of the judge visits will occur in the morning and it is unlikely that there will be judge visits during the lunch break. Teams are not expected to have students in their pit area while the team's robot is participating in a match.

Helpful Resources:

- Read the attached document containing team video advice from Florida Championship's Judge Advisor

- Read the attached Award Video Tips document.

Video Submittal:

- Video submission instructions will be provided in a future email blast.

- The submission due date will be approximately 10-days prior to tournament day.

- The system we used last season for submitting videos took a lot of my time to assemble and distribute to judges. For this season, I am investigating several options that will reduce my workload, move the video submission deadline closer to tournament day, and allow teams to update their video at will. It is very likely that the team videos will be viewable by anyone with the link to the video submission system. Keep this in mind when creating your video. Elements of your robot design that are "top secret" shouldn't be included in the video. There will be ample opportunities on tournament day for teams to show-off their "top secret" designs to the judges.

Video Format:

- Length: Not more than 3-minutes long and no shorter than 1-minute long.

- Aspect: 16:9 or 4:3 are acceptable

- Include a clean mono or stereo audio track free of copyright restrictions, including music.

- Include team name and FTC team number in the video's Opening Title Screen

Video may consist of:

- Videotape footage

- Voice over/music over still photographs

- Animated presentation

- PowerPoint converted to movie file format

Sound:

- Should be clear of pops and hisses

- If using copyrighted music must have written permission.

- If using Creative Commons Music (CCM) on line, the music must be used in accordance with the appropriate license and properly attributed.

- Music may not contain obscene or suggestive language.

Royalty Free Music Resources:

- Incompetech: incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/

- Open Source Music: www.opensourcemusic.com/

-More here: creativecommons.org/legalmusicforvideos with information about how to use and identify CC music.
-Teams can also make their own music online with resources like Soundation: www.soundation.com/

Content Guidelines:

- Please do not identify non-team minors by name or specific location. Use only first names, no locations. Important Note: If you include full names or if you include any name and the location of a minor (e.g., a student at Kennedy High School in Melbourne, FL), you will need to supply releases from the minor’s parents. Providing the FIRST Consent and Release Form to Michael.Coleman@flfirst.org satisfies this requirement.

Videos with the following qualities are the most helpful to judges:

- Contains information about the robot, prototyping, design methodology, game strategy, etc.

- Highlights how the team meets the requirements for the award(s) described in the Bowled Over! game manual.

- Showed what is special about the team.

- Entertaining videos are appreciated.

- Very brief team member introductions, or no dedicated introduction segment.

- Video footage of robots performing specific tasks should be accompanied by voice over descriptions of what the robot is doing and why it is important to the team's game strategy.

End Credits:

- Include end credits to satisfy copyright obligations.

- Remember to list and thank your sponsors.

Michael Coleman

FTC Affiliate Partner for Florida

November 2, 2011

Hello Teams,

Topics covered in this email include:

1. Submitting the Team Created Video for Judging

2. FIRST Consent and Release Form

3. Robot Electrical System Recommendation

4. Team Names

Attachments: FIRST Consent and Release Form

------------

1. Submitting the Team Created Video for Judging

FTC teams in Florida are required to submit a video for judging. The deadline for submitting team videos is 11:59 p.m. Friday, 7-days prior to tournament day. The video submission deadline for teams participating in the tournament on November 12, 2011 is Friday, November 4, 2011 at 11:59 p.m.

Visit the Florida FTC email archive to review the guidelines for the team created videos. Team videos are explained in the emails dated September 25th and October 19th. The email archive is located here: http://www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/Email_Archive.html

The Florida FTC video tracking system start page is located here: http://www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/FTC_Video_Tracking_System.html Visit the video tracking system web page today and review the video submission instructions. This system is the only way videos will be distributed to judges.

Teams can update their video and submit it to the tracking system at any time. Once the submission deadline has passed for a tournament, there is no guarantee that the judges will see an updated video. See the video tracking system start page for additional details.

------------

2. FIRST Consent and Release Form

Students, coaches and mentors attending an FTC tournament are required to turn-in completed FIRST Consent and Release forms. Participants are only required to turn in a form at their first tournament of the season. Once a form is turned in at a tournament, no additional forms are required at the remainder of the events for the 2011-2012 season. A copy of this form is attached. Forms are turned in when teams check-in on tournament day.

------------

3. Robot Electrical System Recommendation

FIRST highly recommends a new electrical wiring system for this season. The new system replaces the daisy chained power distribution system used in previous seasons, with Anderson Powerpole connectors and a power splitter. When used correctly, they will significantly reduce the number of robot communication failures caused by loose wires. The Anderson Powerpole products are available at ham radio stores on at many online stores. I have purchased items from these sources:

15 Amp Powerpole Connector - http://www.powerwerx.com/anderson-powerpoles/powerpole-sets/15-amp-red-black-anderson-powerpole-sets.html

Powerpole Splitter - http://www.powerwerx.com/powerpole-power-distribution/ps-8-inline-8-way.html

Powerpole Crimp Tool - http://www.westmountainradio.com/product_info.php?products_id=PWRcrimp

The FIRST web site contains an instruction manual for using the Anderson Powerpole connectors. I highly recommend replacing the power harness described in this manual with the Powerpole splitter referenced above. This simplifies the wiring and saves the team a lot of fabrication time. The FIRST Powerpole instruction manual is located here: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc/samantha-resources Select the link titled "Using Anderson Powerpole for Power Management."

------------

4. Team Names

The team names entered into the qualifying tournament registration system will be used at tournaments for printed materials and the scoring display system. Teams that change their name should send their new name to the Tournament Host and Michael Coleman (michael.coleman@flfirst.org).

Michael Coleman

FTC Affiliate Partner for Florida

November 10, 2011

Hello Teams,

Topics covered in this email include:

1. Qualifying Tournament Information

2. Game Rule <SG15> - 15-ball Limit

Attachments: None

------------

1. Qualifying Tournament Information

- Our goal is to run 6 qualifying matches per team for a total of 24 qualifying matches at a 16-team tournament. The number of matches will be reduced if we are not able to start the Opening Ceremony on time due to team caused issues. Teams should arrive at the tournament on time, with a robot that has already passed a self-inspection.

- The Florida Championship has a limit of 32-teams due to FIRST guidelines. We are running 9 qualifying tournaments this season and each qualifying tournament advances one Tournament Host team. This leaves us with 23 remaining competition slots. This yields an average of 2.5 teams advancing from each tournament plus the host team. I received permission from FIRST to increase the size of the Florida Championship to 34 teams so that we can have a rational advancement plan. Smaller tournaments will advance 2-teams [plus the host team] and the 16-team tournaments will advance 3-teams [plus the host team]. The first two tournaments of the season will each advance 2-teams due to their small size and the remaining 7 tournaments will advance 3 teams each.

------------

2. Game Rule <SG15> - 15-ball Limit

Rule <SG15> restricts a robot's ball holding capacity to 15-balls. The Bowled Over! Q&A forum contains many posts addressing this and other important topics. Two of the posts about rule <SG15> are shown below for easy review. Teams should read the entire Q&A forum so that their robot and game strategy doesn't violate the Bowled Over! rules. Visit the forum at least weekly since it is updated daily, Sunday through noon on Thursday. The Q&A forum us located here: http://ftcforum.usfirst.org/forum.php

Post #1

From the GDC: There have been many questions about the 15 Ball limit including asking if a certain design is legal or not, so let's try to put it simply. Robots that have the ability to hold more than 15 racquetballs in their Ball travel paths and storage areas will NOT pass inspection. Balls stored in Ball Crates and Balls that are NOT "held captive" with the robot powered off will NOT count towards the 15 ball limit.

Robot inspectors will observe while teams fill all of the Ball travel paths (intake, conveyor systems, etc.) and storage areas to their maximum capacity with the robot powered off. The robot can be powered on if needed to fill a conveyor system and then powered off while determining the ball capacity. Ball Crates will not be present during this test. Areas that hold Balls "captive" in a travel path or storage area will be counted towards the 15 Ball limit. Areas that always "shed" Balls due to gravity when the robot is in a powered off state will NOT count towards the 15 Ball limit. Examples of areas that shed balls are sloped PVC pipe, ramps, etc. that do not have a mechanism to block ball travel. If a robot has a mechanism for blocking ball travel, the robot will be tested with the mechanism in both the open and closed position. The state (opened or closed) that enables the robot to hold the most balls will be used to determine the ball holding capacity.

Tip from the Game Design Committee: This rule is in to disallow teams from hoarding balls. Rule violations that will disallow a robot to pass inspection is a very good indication that the GDC doesn't want teams to do this.

Post #2

Q: Our robot currently has a ball lift in which it is possible for a person to manually stuff 12 racquetballs, and we can store 5 in a separate area. However, in reality it would be impossible to collect such amounts. To get the twelve balls in our lift the way it is, we would have to drive over a straight row of three balls, four rows deep (12 balls in a perfectly spaced grid). Practically speaking, we can really only hold about 4 or 5 balls in our lift at a time. Also, we have no intent of breaking the 15 ball holding limit, as we only plan on collecting 3 or 4 in a match.

For all practical purposes our robot is not capable of collecting and holding 15 balls, but might the inspection group judge otherwise?

Thanks

A: Robots that have the capability to hold more than 15 racquetballs will not pass inspection. The robot described in the post would need to be modified or the mechanism disabled in order to pass inspection.

Michael Coleman

FTC Affiliate Partner for Florida

November 27, 2011

Hello Teams,

Topics covered in this email include:

1. Team Arrival Time at Tournaments

2. FIRST Consent and Release Form

3. FTC Team in Australia

Attachments: None

------------

1. Team Arrival Time at Tournaments

FTC tournaments squeeze a lot of activity into one, very long day. In order for us to accomplish everything needed to start the opening ceremony at 10:00 a.m., we ask teams to arrive at 7:00 a.m. Unloading robots, tools, spare parts, etc. and setting up the pit needs to be accomplished before the start of robot inspection at 7:45 a.m.

We close team check-in at 8:00 a.m. in order to generate the qualification match schedule. Teams that haven't checked in by this time will likely be removed from the tournament. It is important to arrive on time because we will not add teams back into the tournament once the qualification match schedule has been created by the scoring system.

If you find yourself running late on tournament day, call the Tournament Host with your arrival status. We may keep a late arriving team on the competition list if we can determine that the team will arrive in time to complete inspection prior to the start of the opening ceremony.

Most qualifying tournaments open their venue to teams Friday evening for setup and robot inspection. Teams that participate in the Friday evening activities will have a more relaxed morning on tournament day.

------------

2. FIRST Consent and Release Form

FIRST has opened their STIMS (Student Team Information Management System) for FTC teams. During this transition season, teams participating in tournaments held in Florida may use STIMS or submit a paper copy of the FIRST Consent and Release form for every student.

Team mentors/coaches initiate the STIMS process by inviting student team members to upload their consent and release form directly to STIMS. Coaches can print out a report in STIMS showing which team members have approved consent forms on file with FIRST and turn it in at every tournament. Students that are not marked as approved on this form are required to turn in a paper copy of the form.

STIMS is only for students; paper forms must be submitted for coaches and event volunteers.

I encourage every team to use STIMS so that we can eliminate a lot of paperwork and save a few trees.

Detailed instructions for using STIMS are on the FIRST web site: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc/stims

------------

3. FTC Team in Australia

An FTC team in Australia would like to linkup with other FTC teams. This is the first year for FTC in Australia, and Mr. Lockett's team is just one of 8 in the entire country. "We would love some advice on ‘what works’ in FTC," Mr. Lockett has told us. If you'd like to share lessons learned, please drop him a line. We're sure he'd enjoy hearing from teams in the Sunshine State!

The coach's contact information is as follows:

Mark Lockett

www.tss.qld.edu.au

(email address redacted to avoid spam)

Thanks,

Michael Coleman

FTC Affiliate Partner for Florida

December 7, 2011

Hello Teams,

Topics covered in this email include:

1. Qualification Tournament Registration

2. Discounted Hotel Rooms for the Florida Championship

Attachments: None

------------

1. Qualification Tournament Registration

A few competition slots at the final two qualifying tournaments of the season were held back for late registering rookie teams and teams that haven't qualified for the Florida Championship. Teams that haven't registered for a tournament received a reminder email on November 27th and the registration system was opened for them to select a tournament. The registration system will remain open for these teams through Saturday, December 10, 2011.

The qualification tournament registration system will re-open on Wednesday, December 14th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time for teams that haven't qualified for the Florida Championship, and haven't registered for an event or have registered for only one tournament. Registration will be first come, first served. The tournament registration web page is located here: www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/Qualifying_Tournament_Registration.php

Competition slots that haven't been claimed by 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, December 15th may be claimed by any FTC team on a first come, first served basis.

------------

2. Discounted Hotel Rooms for the Florida Championship

FTC 2845, Team Duct Tape arranged for a group rate at the El Caribe Resort & Conference Center. The nightly room rate is $79 plus tax. Each room will have two queen-sized beds, a kitchen and an ocean front view. One person per team should call (386) 252-1558 to reserve a block of rooms for the entire team. Ask for the “FTC Florida Championship” group rate. Visit their web site for more information www.elcaribe.com.

Thanks,

Michael Coleman

FTC Affiliate Partner for Florida

December 13, 2011

Hello Teams,

Topics covered in this email include:

1. Qualification Tournament Registration

2. Jr. FLL Expo in Tampa

3. Discounted Hotel Rooms for the Florida Championship

Attachments: Daytona Beach Holiday Inn LPGA Flyer

------------

1. Qualification Tournament Registration

Qualification Tournament registration opens this Wednesday evening for teams that have registered for no more than one tournament and haven't yet qualified to attend the Florida Championship. Tournament competition slots are available at the following events:

1/21/2012 - Seminole High School Tech-Tacular Tournament at Seminole High School in Seminole, FL

1/28/2012 - Siberian Showdown Tournament at Hagerty High School in Oviedo, FL

2/4/2012 - RoboBattle hosted by USF Polytechnic in Lakeland, FL

Teams may register for these events starting at approximately 8:00 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, December 14, 2011. The competition slots will be assigned first come, first served. The tournament registration page is located here: http://www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/Qualifying_Tournament_Registration.php

Any team may register for competition slots that are still available at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday, December 15, 2011.

------------

2. Jr. FLL Expo in Tampa

A Jr. FLL Expo will be at the Museum of Science & Industry in Tampa, FL on Sunday, January 8, 2012 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. They would like to have one or two FTC teams show off their robots at this event. Please contact Bill Shaw at (email address redacted to avoid spam) if your team is interested in participating in the Jr. FLL Expo.

------------

3. Discounted Hotel Rooms for the Florida Championship

The newest hotel in Daytona Beach, Holiday Inn LPGA, is offering an $89 plus tax per night group rate for FTC teams and volunteers attending the Florida Championship. Every room has a mini-fridge, microwave and free WiFi. The hotel is located off I-95 at exit 265, 10-minutes from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Ask for the "FIRST Tech Challenge" preferred rate when making reservations. Download the Hotel flyer for additional details (HolidayInnLPGA.pdf). The hotel's web site address is: www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/daytona-beach/dabhi/hoteldetail

Michael Coleman

FTC Affiliate Partner for Florida

January 8, 2012

Hello Teams,

Topics covered in this email include:

1. Polk State College Bowled Over Build, Bake and Broil Scrimmage

2. Lockheed Martin Global Training and Logistics Engineers Week Celebration

3. TETRIX Getting Started Materials Survey

4. Invoice for the Florida Championship Registration Fee

5. Volunteer at the Florida Championship

Attachments: Polk State College Bowled Over Build, Bake and Broil Scrimmage Flyer

------------

1. Polk State College Bowled Over Build, Bake and Broil Scrimmage

FTC teams 5232 (Decepticons) and 2868 (Smoke and Mirrors) are hosting an FTC scrimmage at Polk State College in Winter Haven on Saturday, January 14th. The event will include a Workshop on Powerpole wiring, practice time on a Bowled Over! field, casual matches, and help with robot design. Pre-registration is required. Send an email with contact information, team name, and team number to (email address redacted to avoid spam). See the attached flyer for complete details.

We are looking for a few additional mentors to assist teams with technical questions. Send an email to (email address redacted to avoid spam) if you would like to volunteer.

------------

2. Lockheed Martin Global Training and Logistics Engineers Week Celebration

Lockheed Martin-Global Training and Logistics (LM-GTL) will be holding its annual Engineers Week (E-Week) celebration the week of February 20th – 24th 2012. As in the past, LM-GTL would like to extend an invitation to a group of 10 FTC teams to participate in the E-Week festivities and to showcase their efforts and creations of this past year. Teams will be asked to bring their robots and participate in demonstration matches (a Bowled Over! field will be provided). Teams will also be asked to informally talk with LM-GTL employees about their experiences and their machines. Lunch will be provided as well as a tour of some of the LM-GTL products and simulators manufactured at that site. The date for this event is Wednesday, Feb 22nd from 9AM to 2PM. Please note that this is the week directly following the Florida Championship, so please plan accordingly.

For security and staffing reasons, we must limit the number of people per team to a maximum of 5 (would like to have at least one mentor and two students). Further, all participants must be a US citizen. If your team is interested in participating in this event, please send an email to Michael Nicolai at (email address redacted to avoid spam) for additional information. Again, slots are limited, so please respond promptly.

------------

3. TETRIX Getting Started Materials Survey

Please visit the FIRST Tech Challenge Blog (Ken's Blog) and answer the 3-question survey about the TETRIX Getting Started materials. The survey is located in the upper right corner of the web page. http://firsttechchallenge.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-did-this-work.html

------------

4. Invoice for the Florida Championship Registration Fee

Invoices for the Florida Championship registration fee were emailed on December 20th to teams that have qualified to attend the Florida Championship. Send an email to michael.coleman@flfirst.org if your team has qualified for the Florida Championship and didn't receive an invoice. Teams that qualify at an upcoming tournament will receive their invoices the week following the tournament where they qualified. Visit the Florida Championship information web page for general information about the event. http://www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/Florida_Championship.html

------------

5. Volunteer at the Florida Championship

What is more fun than watching the Bowled Over! game from the stands at the Florida Championship? Volunteering at the Florida Championship! Visit the volunteer information page on the Florida FTC web site to learn about volunteer opportunities and to access the online registration form. Most volunteer assignments last for the entire tournament day. There are a few assignments that end prior to the start of the Opening Ceremony, leaving time to watch all of the Bowled Over! matches. These assignments include Robot Hardware Inspection, Robot Software Inspection and the Check-in desk. We also need volunteers for these roles Friday evening. The volunteer web page is located here: http://www.flfirst.org/Florida_First_Tech_Challenge/Volunteer.html

Michael Coleman

FTC Affiliate Partner for Florida