Monday, November 28, 2011

FTC Team Blast #5: Updated Game Manual | Important Qualifier Information | Payment for Qualifier Registration

Hello Teams & Coaches!
We hope you and your team members had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! FTC-Iowa is very thankful for the time and commitment from all of the wonderful coaches, mentors and volunteers. Thank you!!

  1. Updated Game Manual (rev. 3)
  2. FTC-Iowa Qualification Tournament Information
    1. Tournament Schedule
    2. Online Consent Forms
    3. Event Cancellation Policy
    4. Engineering Notebook Sample
    5. Listing of Awards
    6. Advancement Criteria
  3. Payments for Qualifier Registration
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1. Updated Game Manual (rev. 3)
An updated "Bowled Over" Game Manual was published last week. Your team is responsible for all of the information in the updated Manual.
You can view it http://usfirst.org/sites/default/files/uploadedImages/FIRST_Tech_Challenge/Bowled-Over-Game-Manua_Rev%283%29.pdf

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2. FTC-Iowa Qualification Tournament Information
Qualification Tournaments are well underway! We had a fantastic tournament at Linn-Mar High School on Nov. 19th and are looking forward to the upcoming events.

2-1) Tournament Schedule
FTC Tournaments are exciting events. However, the days are very full. In order to get the required elements completed, we do ask for teams to arrive at the venue early. What does this mean? Team check-in times range from 7:00-7:45am (teams registered for a specific event will be notified as to what time to be at the venue.) Yes, teams will NEED to check-in early.
**One thing to keep in mind: many of the volunteers arrive 90 minutes before teams check-in, so PLEASE be considerate.**

2-2) Online Consent Form: STIMS
As indicated through an ftcteams email blast last week, there is a new Online Consent form (STIMS) is now available for students under 18 to electronically submit their consent & release forms. Please visit the STIMS website for more information. Coaches will bring a printed copy of the roster to the events. If students turned in a paper copy, we are asking that they resubmit the information online. Thank you!

2-3) Event Cancellation Policy
We are, very quickly, entering winter. We ask that you please review the FTC-Iowa Event Cancellation Policy
http://drupal.engineering.uiowa.edu/ftc-iowa-event-cancellation-policy

2-4) Engineering Notebook Sample
Need guidance for your engineering notebook? Is your team documenting things properly?  If you have questions, or would like to see a *great* engineering notebook, check out the FTC Engineering Notebook website
A few things to keep in mind:
  • Notebooks are used to help determine many of the awards
  • Each notebook must have biographies of the team members
  • Notebooks must be organized and legible.
  • Notebooks should include items the team did beyond the robot (outreach, fundraising, etc.)
2-5) Listing of Awards
Is your team unfamiliar with what awards are distributed at a qualifier? Or, is your team wondering what the criteria of each award it?  If you have questions about the awards, please view the awards website.


Check out the presentation from the senior mentor call at:
http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc/senior_mentor_call_schedule

2-6) Advancement Criteria
With the implementation of qualifiers, many teams want to know the advancement to the next level. From each qualifier, four teams will advance to the next level of competition, which is FTC-Iowa Championship in Feb. 2012 Are you curious as to which teams advance and how they are selected? Check out the advancement criteria website on the FTC home
FTC-Iowa follows the criteria put forth by FTC.

A listing of teams who advance is published at: http://k-12.engineering.uiowa.edu/
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3. Payments for Qualifier Registration

We ask for teams, who have not submitted payment for the qualifier tournaments, to please submit payment as soon as possible. We understand some school boards may need to be involved, and that takes time, but let us know an approximate timeframe. Also, if you need us to resubmit an invoice, we can do that as well.


Thanks and keep up the good work!!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Linn-Mar Qualifier Summary (11-19-2011)

This past weekend, FTC-Iowa hosted the first qualifier of the season! Wow! We were very impressed! Thank you, teams #4150 & #4324 for hosting this WONDERFUL event!
 

Award Winners
Think Award: Team #4144, Engineer Imagineer from Ottumwa, Iowa
Rockwell Collins Innovate Award: Team #4150, Outrageous Finger Socks from Marion, Iowa
PTC Design Award: Team #3738, Robohawktagons from Ankeny, Iowa
Connect Award: Team #3549, Classified from Mount Vernon, Iowa
Motivate Award: Team #458, Activate Go Initiative! from Mount Vernon, Iowa
Judges Award: Team #4175, Geek Squad, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Inspire Award: Team #4324, Super Ninjas from Marion, Iowa

Teams Who Advance

Host team: Team #4150, Outrageous Finger Socks from Marion, Iowa
Inspire Award Winner: Team #4324, Super Ninjas from Marion, Iowa
Captain of the Winning Alliance: Team #3738, Robohawktagons from Ankeny, Iowa
2nd Place Inspire Award: Team #3549, Classified from Mount Vernon, Iowa

Congratulations to all of the teams!
Fun facts:
  • Highest score of a match: 106-41
  • Five matches with scores above 100
  • One match ended in a tie
  • One of the closest matches was the second match of the finals, which was a score of 52-55, with the blue alliance winning.
  • 16 teams competed, all teams had passed software and hardware inspection prior to opening ceremonies
  • Each team competed in 6 matches.
  • Average match turnaround time was 7.9565 minutes
  • 45 volunteers, including high school students, college students, recent college graduates, professionals, and retirees. Thank you!!!
Thank you to all of the wonderful volunteers, mentors, coaches and teams. For the first qualifier, this event went tremendously smooth!

We look forward to the Dec. 3rd event at Stilwell Jr. High in West Des Moines!