Tuesday Newsday - January 25 ... (Sent via Google Group)
Vince Frascella
Greetings Newsletter Subscribers and FTCNJ Coaches
Here is our weekly update on our “Freight Frenzy” Season.
New information is shown in blue text. Hot items in Highlight!
Welcome to all of our new coaches/subscribers.
If you have any questions about you are reading, below, just drop us a line. Glad to explain.
HEADLINES:
· “Recovery Event Weekend” Accomplished
Kudos to our hosts, volunteers and teams. Three Meets were accomplished over the course of the weekend with concurrent events on Saturday.
Interested parties could visit the FTCNJ YouTube Channel on Jan 22nd to see simultaneous live robot action at Pingry School and Delbarton School.
On Sunday, Blair Academy did an terrific job of hosting the Jan 23rd teams and also teams from the canceled Liberty Science Center Meet of Jan 8th.
We really appreciate all of the extra effort by our amazing volunteers over the course of the two exciting days.
· Remote Practice Judging
Event #1 (focused on and Central-West and Northern Teams) completed on January 20th . Nice work by all of the participating teams.
Thanks again to our volunteers who trained during the previous week, then spent three nights on Zoom to conduct the Judging
Event #2 (focused on Northeast Edge and Southern Teams) is well underway and completes on January 26th.
· Dean’s List
Volunteer Training taking place on Jan 28th and 31st, then we begin virtually interviewing our 71 Dean’s List Semi-Finalists.
The Interview Schedule is being finalized and to be issued by week’s end. Most interviews are accomplished before February League Tournaments begin.
· STEM Girls January Happenings
January 27th is the next evening Get-Together … with a virtual Mixer at 7:30 and Guest Speakers at 8pm
January 31st at 8pm, the “Empower” team will be hold at Tech Talk on Active Intake Systems.
Links are provided in the STEM Girls section of this document.
ON THE HORIZON:
Thursday, January 27th
o STEM Girls Get-Together : The Guest Speakers will present information on Careers in Computer Science based on personal experience.
Friday, January 28th
o Captain’s Caucus: The monthly Zoom meeting of FTCNJ Team Leaders continues. Plenty of information and good ideas to exchange.
Saturday, January 29th and Sunday, January 30th
o Final In-Person Meets
§ Toms River North (also host of October’s Practice Day Scrimmage) will host the final Southern League Meet of the Season.
§ Emerson Jr./Sr. High School will host the final Northeast Edge League Meet of the Season
Monday, January 31st
o Tech Talk Presentation – Active Intakes Explored!
§ More information regarding this STEM Girls Zoom presentation, including Registration Links, is found later in this Newsletter.
More detail on all of the above (and links) appear later in this document.
Quick Links:
REGISTRATION STATUS
Team Status
Our final count will be 179 FIRST Tech Challenge New Jersey teams that have registered with FIRST. Welcome to 21 new teams this season.
o Northern League (40 Teams), Northeast Edge League (47 Teams), Central West League (45 Teams), Southern League (47 Teams)
COMMUNICATIONS CAUCUSES
Coaches Caucus
In light of League Tournaments, Remote Judging and Dean’s List activities, FTCNJ is postponing our February Coaches Caucus.
Our next Coaches Caucus will be the first Friday in March, rather than Feb 4th
Captains Caucus … (January 28th)
At this monthly student-led Zoom, student Team Leaders meet to share best practices.
Next Meeting’s Agenda: (A) Programming Topics, (B) Mechanical Topics, (C) Competition Topics, (D) Judging Topics and (E) Communication & Coordination.
The next Captains Caucus is 8pm (Friday, January 28th). Team Leaders can register for it and rank their topic of most interest.
Here’s the Link. Team Leaders should use it asap to help set the topics: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYlce6sqzoqGNBoydp5vZrqU5j0zhXm9SBr
DEAN’S LIST
Dean’s List Overview
In an effort to recognize the leadership and dedication of FIRST’s most outstanding secondary school students, the Kamen family sponsors an award
for selected 10th and 11th grade students known as the FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge Dean’s List. Prestigious colleges have
expressed great interest in meeting Dean’s List’s Award winners and FIRST hopes that each Team will take advantage of the opportunity to nominate
the most qualified students as FIRST Dean’s List Nominees!
Dean’s List Nominations & Interviews
Thanks again to the volunteers who assisted with DL orientations and our coaches who have submitted the 2022 nominations.
We are proud to report that 71 students have been nominated by their teams/coaches as “Dean’s List Semi-Finalists”. Congratulations to all.
The schedule of interviews to be issued by month’s end, at the latest. Interviews to be held in February.
REMOTE JUDGING
Practice Judging (Remote)
A huge Thank You to all of the generous Judge volunteers who have supported our two 3-night Judging Events.
It has provided some great experience for our young people and really helps them to prepare for the League Tournaments and their Remote Judging.
The coaches and teams who made the special effort to participate should be applauded. Our judges were greatly impressed by many.
This has been another one of those bright spots in another season that has been challenging in many ways.
League Tournament Judging (Remote)
As mentioned previously and announced last week, in the interest of COVID safety, League Tournaments will utilize Remote Judging again this season.
The diagram below shows the schedule. The timing aligns closely to that experienced at January’s Practice Judging events.
Note – While two Conferences undergo Remote Judging within the same period, the Judging Panels, Deliberations, and sets of Awards are totally separate!
COMPETITION NEWS
January 22nd Meet – Big thanks to Bob Bitler and the folks at The Delbarton School for hosting 1 of 2 Central-West Meets this weekend.
This first time host did a great job including setting up /pre-wiring of the Pits, providing separated eating areas for lunch, and much more.
January 22nd Meet – Jeff Jenkins and Pingry were understanding and supportive when their January 9th Central-West Meet was canceled.
They went out of their way to provide us with a good recovery date, later in the month, and provide all of the host help that was needed.
January 23rd Meet – Michael Garrant and first time host, Blair Academy, delivered a first class event including a variety of lunch options.
Their spacious facility not only fit their original Jan 23rd teams but also the teams displaced by the Liberty Science Center Meet cancellation (Jan 8th)
Google Group Queuing
More and more of our venues are utilizing Google Group to assist with Queuing and to send other important event messages to teams.
Look for the QR code that is pre-printed on your Team’s Pit Sign or ask the host about it. Use your smart phone and stay well informed!
Meet Results
While we are not having formal Closing Ceremonies at our Meets, a summary of results is available shortly after event completion.
Anyone can go to FTC Event Web : Home (firstinspires.org) to see as all event results from all regions.
Worlds Allocations for FTCNJ
FIRST has just advised us that New Jersey’s FTC region will receive three advancements to the FTC World Championship.
State Championship – Sunday, March 6th
The FTC New Jersey State Championship will be held at Morris Knolls High School, one week after our final League Tournament.
League Tournaments
Northeast Edge League
Thanks to the Bergen County Conference Teams who agreed to compete at the Northeast Conference League Tournament.
This will help us to balance the team count a bit and make both events more enjoyable and higher in quality.
The imbalance had been caused by an expected growth spurt in Bergen County … a good problem to have!
Northern League
This is a season of challenges; two challenges face the Northern League.
One, as mentioned previously, the (~12) Newark Teams are unable to compete. This severely impacts the South Essex Conference event.
Two, the planned venue of the February 20th Far North Conference event can no longer host it.
We believe that the best solution is to combine the two Conference events into one, occurring later in the month of February.
FTCNJ is currently pursing that approach and expects to confirm the new date/location very soon.
Late-Season Meets (8) – in January
Final Meets are being conducted at Toms River and Emerson, as described earlier.
Mid-Season Meets (8) – in November / December have completed, as of December 19th
Early-Season/Holiday Meets have completed, as of November 28th
FTCNJ STEM Girls
STEM GIRLS: Next Get-Together (Mixer & Guest Speaker Sessions) ß January 27th
The next “Get-Together” will take place on the 27th. It will be begin with a “Mixer” at 7:30, followed by two new Guest Speakers.
Based upon early feedback, the STEM Girls are engaging female Computer Science professionals as the January Guest Speakers.
All Opted-In STEM Girls are being invited. Want to join? See the link below!
STEM GIRLS: Tech Talk - “Active Intakes Explored” ß January 31st
The STEM Girls “Empowered Team” is hosting a Tech Talk called “Active Intakes Explored” on Monday, January 31st at 8pm ET.
Durometer, wheels, tubing, entrapment stars, best practices -– They’ll be covering all of that and more!
All FTC team members, mentors and coaches are welcome! … even the Guys!
Be sure to sign up for the Tech Talk with this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0vcemtrDIqG9dHmaJWyKO7EQlvaB-SoKzB
For any girls interested, it’s not too late to join the STEM Girls community!
Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfca5j11yjtAW6OJmRzbbwKyrSOrt8a5tty9SojZkwYLJLvCw/viewform
FTCNJ /FIRST News
SDK Version 7.1 (20211223-120805)has been released. here is what has been fixed:
· Fixes crash when calling isPwmEnabled() (issue #223)
· Fixes lint error (issue #4)
· Fixes Driver Station crash when attempting to use DualShock4 v1 gamepad with Advanced Gamepad Features enabled (issue #173)
· Fixes possible (but unlikely) Driver Station crash when connecting gamepads of any type
· Fixes bug where Driver Station would use generic 20% deadzone for Xbox360 and Logitech F310 gamepads when Advanced Gamepad Features was disabled
· Added SimpleOmniDrive sample OpMode
· Adds UVC white balance control API
· Fixes issue 259 Most blocks samples for TensorFlow can't be used for a different model
· Fixes issue 260 Blocks can't call java method that has a VuforiaLocalizer parameter
· Added a page to manage the TensorFlow Lite models in /sdcard/FIRST/tflitemodels. To get to the TFLite Models page:
· Fixes logspam when isBusy() is called on a motor not in RTP mode
· Hides the "RC Password" item on the inspection screen for phone-based Robot Controllers. (It is only applicable for Control Hubs)
· Adds channel 165 to Wi-Fi Direct channel selection menu in the settings screen. (165 was previously available through the web UI, but not locally in the app)
Here is the link to the SDK: https://github.com/FIRST-Tech-Challenge/FtcRobotController
Hopefully, this Communique has provided a lot of good information regarding the coming season. (New in blue! Hot in Yellow Highlight!)
Our next newsletter will be on February 1st
If you have any questions, comments, or needs as you read this newsletter, simply write back and I’ll be happy to assist.
Making that comment here, rather than embedding it throughout the long newsletter above.
Thanks again for the interest in FIRST Tech Challenge New Jersey and being part of our community
Thanks much, Vince Frascella
FIRST Tech Challenge New Jersey