FTCNJ Tuesday Newsday - Sept 27 2022 ... (Sent via Google Group)
Vince Frascella
Greetings Newsletter Subscribers and FTCNJ Coaches
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HEADLINES:
Workshops (Sept 24th) ß Terrific event. Highlights include 6 newly-built jersey bots competing in alliances with 6 newly-programmed jersey-bots. Kudos to instructors and primo students!
Raritan Valley Science & Technology Showcase ß Good luck to our 21 teams that are coming out to support the Oct 1st / Oct 2nd Outreach Event.
Practice Day Events ß Period #1 Meets are Oct 29th … Nov 6th! Come to an October Practice Day and make sure that your robot is ready to compete! Help available!
SDK 8.0 Release ß Fixes and New Features
Quick Links:
LEAGUES & CONFERENCES, TEAMS & HUBS
MEET REGISTRATION and SEASON EVENT PLAN
FIRST NEWS
FTCNJ NEWS – STEM Girls, Control Hub Plan
OFF-SEASON ACTIVITIES
Workshops (Sept 24th at Moorestown Friends School)
Well over 130 people attended the 8-Track Workshops at MFS last Saturday. Big Thanks to Mike O, MFS Team #237, and school for a great job of hosting!
Saluting our volunteers and teams…
Track #1 – Kathy Rogers and team members of Princeton STEM Academy reprised their role of honcho’ing Basic Robotics Hardware and Build-a-Bot. Nice job!
Track #2 – In addition to presenting teams, the Advanced Hardware Track was co-led by Bala K (League Lead Head Ref) and Randy G (FTCNJ Lead Skpr)
Track #3 – Chris Kunkel (League Lead FTA) once again led the Basic Java Track, with troubleshooting assistance: Sujay K (Princeton STEM) and Joshua H (Cruise Control Alum)
Track #4 - In addition to presenting teams, the Advanced Programming Track was again led by John M (League Lead FTA) with assistance from Sunil M (Dynabytes)
Track #5 – Our MFS Venue Host Mike O, Pat F (NJ Pgm Delivery Partner) and Deepak M (Coach Outer Galaxy) led the discussion of assorted topics in the Coaches and Team Leaders Track.
Track #6 – Jim Carr honcho’d the new Blended Topics Track, which included an introduction to CAD presentation by the STEM Girls.
Track #7 – Kyle T and Ray L (and a cast of Enforcers) once again took ownership and led this new “3D Printing and Specialty Parts/Materials Track”
Track #8 – Michael P (Cruise Control) did an amazing job of leading the day-long Onshape hands-on workshop, ably assisted by STEM Girls, Shreya and Tanya.
THANKS so much to all who made the September 24th Workshops a huge success, also including our many presenting teams!
And special thanks to SO many who returned to volunteer after assisting at the August 20th Workshops. This is what makes a great FTCNJ community!!!
Raritan Valley Science & Technology Showcase (October 1st/2nd)
FTCNJ has been invited to provide a full FTC Outreach area for this event at the Bridgewater Common Mall.
Interested mall-patrons are invited/directed to the areas of interest. This is a great Outreach opportunity for all FTCNJ teams!
We have received a terrific showing of support and are now all set! The following teams have stepped up to support the big event:
Saturday
3774 (Hive Voltage) - Bayonne
4890 (AArcHive) - Bayonne
7040 (Cyber Falcons) - Hillsborough
7350 (Watt NXT) - Edison
8812 (Cyber Raptors) - Hillsborough
8902 (Cosmic Goose) - Glen Rock
9889 (Cruise Control) - Flanders
11697 (TECH-tonic) - East Brunswick
16102 (Short Circuits) - Princeton Junction
16557 (Honey K-Ohm) - Bayonne
19823 (Jolly Blue) - Bloomfield
Sunday
6037 (W.A.G.S.) - Cherry Hill
6934 (Transisters) - Farmingdale
7026 (Jdroids) - Wayne
9848 (Mechanical Pioneers) - Mulica Hill
9853 (Chatham Cougars) - Chatham
11248 (// Cougars) - Chatham
12441 (GearView) - Mulica Hill
12636 (IHA Blue Eagles) - Twp of Washington
16367 (Krypton Warriors) - Parsippany
17670 (Raider Robotics) - Scotch Plains
Practice Days (October 2022)
Making progress on your PowerPlay Robot? Need help? Need time on an official PowerPlay Field? Practice Days can help with all of this!!!
Similar to Outreach Scrimmages, these are unofficial events at which students can “compete” in the afternoon and tinker on bots in a stress-free environment in the morning.
The event will feature an official PowerPlay field and teams wll shaking out the new year’s “PowerPlay” robots. Bring that robot, no matter what shape it is in.
· Registration is NOW OPEN for all three October Practice Days. They are geographically spread, but sign up for the one that works best for you.
· Coaches can register via the FTCNJ website “Upcoming Events” page, … or here’s a direct link to the form (below):
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd98FKnY-3OpWcnbw3SNl4iKA9Ax4l-OwG_Sk5JfKe8BJaZeA/viewform
o “Central NJ Practice Day” – Sunday October 23rd. Co-hosted by Highland Park OWLS and Princeton STEM Academy Teams at Highland Park High School.
o “Southern NJ Practice Day” – Sunday, October 16th. Co-hosted by Toms River FTC Teams at Toms River High School North.
o “Northern NJ Practice Day” – Saturday, October 15th. Payne Tech, 498 West Market St, Newark, NJ
LEAGUES & CONFERENCES, TEAMS & HUBS
Season Plan – Conferences
Once again there will be 4 Leagues in FTCNJ with each comprised of 2 Conferences of 20-25 teams, organized by county.
Remember, all teams in a League may compete at any Meet within that League, regardless of Conference.
Coaches! – Check the county cross-reference below and take care to register for Meets in the correct League/Conference. Mistakes cause costly delays.
Only in February’s League Tournaments must teams play only at their Conferences season-ending tournament.
FTC NJ League / Conference Structure ß The FTCNJ Team “Pin Map” can be found at: Team Map - FIRST Tech Challenge - New Jersey (newjerseyftc.com)
It shows locations of currently registered teams in 4 Leagues, superimposed on the map of New Jersey.
North East Edge League
· North East Conference: Hudson, Union, North Essex (Caldwell, Livingston, Montclair, Nutley)
· South Essex Conference: Bloomfield, Maplewood, Millburn, Newark, South Orange, West Orange)
Northern League
· Far North Conference: Warren, Sussex, Passaic, West Bergen (Glen Rock, Ramsey, Ridgewood, Saddle River, Township of Washington)
· East Bergen Conference: (Cliffside Park, Cresskill, Demarest, East Rutherford, Emerson, Englewood, Hackensack, Lodi, Oradell, Paramus, Park Ridge, Rutherford, Tenafly)
Upper Central League
· Central Conference: Hunterdon, Somerset, Middlesex
· Morris County Conference: Morris (All)
Southern League
· Upper South Conference: Mercer, Monmouth, Ocean
· Deep South Conference: Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Gloucester, Cumberland, Salem
POWERPLAY Season Team Registration OPEN
136 of the 140 are fully registered; while four registrations are pending.
127 of the 136 are returning teams … and 9 fully registered rookies.
As of this moment, 179 FTCNJ Teams have registered or confirmed their intent to do so for the upcoming season.
WELCOME Rookie Teams!
· A big WELCOME to all of our brand new teams, below.
· And, ….there are four more teams with Temporary #’s and pending registrations.
o 22062 (Cyber-Tigers) - Tenafly
o 22050 (Pirate Robotics) – Egg Harbor City
o 21995 (Aquinas Trojans) - Edison
o 21807 (Incinerators) – Edison
o 21767 (Quadra) - Edison
o 21630 (Argonauts) - Somerset
o 21505 (HHS Robotics FTC Raiders) - Hillsborough
o 21480 (C3 Loco-Motors) - Elmer
o 21226 (RoboRaiders) - Hillsborough
Expansion Hubs for our Rookie Teams!
· Super kudos to the veteran teams who’ve stepped up to loan Expansion Hubs…
o 11241(Blue Steel)
o 7149…(Enforcers)
o 16367(Krypton Warriors)
o 14481…(Princeton STEM)
o 7040…(Cyber Falcons/Raptors)
o 17009 (Steel Magnolias)
o 13302 (MKA Robotics)
· Thanks Mount Kimberly Academy for joining the list of generous veteran loaners!
· We are expecting a few more rookies. Can your team loan a spare?
COMPETITION NEWS
World Championship Allocations
In case you have not heard, New Jersey has been allocated three advancements to the World Championships in April (Houston)
State Championship – March 12, 2023
The FTC New Jersey State Championship will be held on Sunday, March 12th
In-Person Judging is anticipated at the State Championship, as well as at League Tournaments.
It is also our goal to have “Practice Judging” at four of the Period #3 Meets; one for each League.
Meet Registration & Season Event Plan
Have you submitted your Meet Request yet? Now is the time to pick your primary event in each of 3 competition timeframes. Don’t forget your Bonus Event requests.
Remember that you CAN submit your requested events EVEN IF your team is not yet fully registered and paid. Don’t get left out. Submit your events asap.
Events are filling quickly. Here is the Registration link that coaches can use. : Event Registration and Acceptance Criteria - FIRST Tech Challenge - New Jersey (newjerseyftc.com)
·
The attached “Executive Summary” shows the sites and locations of the events. The attachment replaces the long list that appeared in previous Newsletters.
FTCNJ is again holding six Meet choices per League (3 Saturdays, 3 Sunday). Teams can pick three plus apply for bonus Meets.
There is only one unconfirmed event site at this point. Thanks very much to all of our returning hosts and our many new hosts!
Note – The Executive Summary shows two Meets have been moved from Middle Schools to High Schools (i.e., Clearview and Cliffside Park)
The vast majority of Meets have a 24-team capacity; a handful will be AM/PM configuration in order to achieve 24-teams, if needed.
Capacity Information is being added to the FTCNJ website along with potential AM/PM events. Update to be completed by Oct 4th, latest.
FIRST NEWS!
SDK 8.0 Release
Programmers: The new FTC SDK version 8.0 has been released! This is the minimum version allowed for competition this season.
Get it here: https://github.com/FIRST-Tech-Challenge/FtcRobotController
Do read the Release Notes. You may have to change the way you initialize I2C devices.
There's also a warning about broken compatibility with the popular EasyOpenCV and FTC Dashboard libraries.
FTC SIM Grant
This opportunity was brought to our attention by our FIRST Senior Mentor, Chris N.
Rookie FTC teams who leverage the FTC SIM tool, developed in Canada, may want to check this out! https://www.firstroboticscanada.org/ftc/sim/grants/
Participants need to use the FTC SIM tool to do the exercises in this block-based (or Java) programming that's relevant to FTC, and earn "lightning bolts" that go towards the grant eligibility.
There are a limited number (140) of these $1000 grants available, so teams should act soon if they want to be a recipient.
Note: Has any team pursued this opportunity? Are any of our teams using FTC SIM (either the Canada or Illinois version).
FTCNJ would like to know the level of use and level of interest out there. Please let us know if you are a user, and believe that this topic should get more visibility.
FIRST TECH CHALLENGE New Jersey News
Coaches Caucus Returns (Oct 7th)
The Coach Caucus has come off of hiatus and resumed on Sept 2nd. The voluntary Zoom occurs on 1st Fridays of the month.
New and veteran coaches met at 8pm to discuss Kick Off, Workshops, and other topics of mutual interest.
Thanks to all of the Coaches who attended and participated on September 2nd.
The next Coaches Caucus is October 7th. https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvcOGorD4oH9dFMuNZqDZqfuuyune3TTzr
Captains Caucus Returns (Oct 21st)
The Captains Caucus has come off of hiatus and resumed on Sept 16th. The voluntary Zoom occurs on 3rd Fridays of the month. Coaches should really encourage their student leaders to attend.
Captains and Team Leaders met at 8pm last Friday to discuss: Season Start-Up Topics, Mechanical Design and Outreaches for Recruiting Sponsors, Mentors & Members.
Thanks to our Breakout Room Co-Leads: Eldrin B (Reboot), Michael D (FIRE), Vincent F (Clearview), Shruti M (Outer Galaxy), Kyle T (Enforcers) and Chase W (FIRE).
The next Captains Caucus is October 21st. https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMoc-qqqz8tHN0KDjMWCgyVDCg9_Xyh1x1K
Control Hub Shortage – FTCNJ Community Support Plan
FIRST has issued a call for veteran teams to graciously “share a spare” and advise their PDP (i.e., FTCNJ) if they are able to loan their spare.
Beyond that FTCNJ is creating a pool of spare Expansion Hubs that can be loaned to a rookie, or a Donor/Loaner veteran team overnight, in a pinch.
Details: 5-Point Plan
1. FTCNJ is compiling a list of teams that are willing to be Donor/Loaners. (That means lending your spare Expansion Module into our pool for rookie teams.)
2. FTCNJ will match the need of the rookies with the maintenance of the pool. Responding veteran teams (based on date stamp) will be asked so send in their Hub, as the need is determined.
3. Any team which is officially requested to loan their Hub, and does so, will receive 50% off of next year’s FTCNJ Season Fee.
4. If a team that has loaned its spare Expansion Hub suddenly finds themselves in urgent need of one, FTCNJ will ship an emergency replacement.
5. At season’s end, or when the Controller Hub situation is resolved, Expansion Hubs will be sent back to all teams who graciously loaned one.
We are keeping pace, but just barely.
If your team has a spare Expansion Hub and is interested in getting onto the Donor/Loaner List, please write back to vfras...@aol.com
VOLUNTEERS – “FTCNJ Tech Crew” Initiative
Thanks to the folks who attended the FTA Tech Crew Zoom on September 22nd
Attendees included representatives from: Princeton STEM Academy, Pope John, Dynabytes, Jdroids, and Cruise Control. Thanks for stepping up to help!
We look forward to additional fruitful meetings and to having the extra assistance at the Practice Days and coming Meets.
Once the FTA initiative is rolling, we will follow up with those interested in the student FTAA roles.
Field Construction Tip
Have you experienced difficult in pressing the black rubber stopper into the yellow pipe, or haven’t attempted it yet?
Kathy R (PSA) and FTCNJ used a piece of ½ inch schedule 40 PVC pipe and a mallet to “encourage” the stopper in.
FTCNJ reported the similar use of a PVC pipe but was able to use a drill press to push the stopper into the shorter pipes.
John G (Officiating) has suggested using an appropriate size socket wrench piece in lieu of the PVC.
Note – When PVC is used both PSA and FTCNJ marked the PVC to show how deeply recessed the stopper needed to be.
Just passing along the information in hopes of helping. Take your time. With some patience, it is not too bad.
STEM GIRLS News!
STEM Girls Supporting Workshops
The STEM Girls not only presented Tech Talks at the Aug 20th Workshops in Kean, they have committed to come back again to help out at the Sept 24th Southern NJ Workshops!
STEM Girls Shreya and Tanya did a Tech Talk during the Blended Topics Track, helped kick off the Onshape Track at day’s start, and served as instructor assistants throughout the day!
STEM Girls Supporting Kick Off Events
Beyond Workshops, with the help of WAGS and the Jdroids, STEM Girls Tables were staffed at both the Hightstown and Livingston Kick Off events.
If you are one of the folks who visited the STEM Girls at either Kick Off, you can opt in via the link below or send an inquiry to this address.
STEM Girls New Season – Opt In
In addition to welcoming all of the girls who have opted-in following the Sept 10th Kick Off, it is time for returning STEM Girls to opt-in for the new season.
Unless you have opted-in since the closure of the Freight Frenzy season (e.g., April 30th), you should opt-in now to continue your connection with the STEM Girls organization.
Otherwise, per FIRST policy, the email addresses of STEM Girls participants during our previous season will be deleted (“forgotten”) within the next week.
Don’t get disconnected if your interest continues. We’d hate to lose someone that way.
Simply use the link below to “opt-in” and receive the periodic notices of STEM Girl Happenings!. You can “opt-out” at any time!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfca5j11yjtAW6OJmRzbbwKyrSOrt8a5tty9SojZkwYLJLvCw/viewform
Our next newsletter will be on October 4, 2022.
If you have any questions, comments, or needs as you read this newsletter, simply write back and we’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