Greetings Newsletter Subscribers and FTCNJ Coaches
Here is our weekly update on our “Freight Frenzy” Season. New information is shown in blue text.
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.
HEADLINE: Help FTCNJ Finish In-Person Meet Planning!
Thanks to all Team who have registered for their Meets.
Registration has been extended on ~ half of them so that latecomers have one last chance to register.
Each League has one Meet open in each of the three Periods (Early-, Mid-, and Late- Season)
If you’ve not requested events yet, please do so ASAP.
We need to finish collecting Meet preferences, headcount, etc … and finalize the competition planning.
Live events … Here we go!!!
ON THE HORIZON:
Wednesday, October 13th ADVANCED PGM’G SERIES (Trajectory Planning, Motion Profiling…)
Thursday, October 14th FTCNJ STEM Girls Initiative Launch (Tech Team)
Friday, October 15th Captains Caucus (Student Team Leaders)
Tuesday, October 19th FTCNJ STEM Girls Initiative Launch (Role Models/Guest Speakers)
More detail on all of the above (and links) appear later in this document.
Quick Links:
Remote Sessions / Training Videos
Team Registration Status
Currently, 169 teams have either registered their team with FIRST or have advised FTCNJ that they are definitely planning to re-register.
This number includes 32 that have yet to register. Hopefully, most of them will do so very soon.
Welcome 18 New Teams!!
FTCNJ would like to give a warm welcome to all of the new teams joining our FTC community.
This week’s new additions are shown in blue text, … from Jackson and Metuchen!
19476 JFI (Somerset)
19477 Bit by Bit (Tenafly)
19569 Robosapiens (Metuchen)
19719 RE-ENFORCERS (Egg Harbor Township)
19722 Panthers (Clifton)
19735 HRNT (Holmdel)
19747 KABHOOM (Edison)
19772 PSA Beta (Princeton Junction)
19784 Robotribe (Rahway)
19802 Team Wakanda (Newark)
19822 Firehex (Princeton Junction)
19823 Jolly Blue (Bloomfield)
19871 STEM Phoenix (South Orange)
19915 MAD Gadgets (Madison)
20204 Clearview Middle School 1 (Mullica Hill)
20205 Clearview Middle School 2 (Mullica Hill)
20244 Liberty Lions (Jackson)
20255 Falcon's Nest (Metuchen)
FTCNJ Season Fee
Each FTC New Jersey team is asked to pay $100 to support the cost of the events and associated materials.
Within ~1 week of registering a team with FIRST, the coach will be sent the $100 invoice, mail-to address, etc.
Unlike many other states, FTCNJ has never charged for any single-day competitions, with the exception of $200 for the State Championship.
This year, that $200 State Championship fee is being eliminated. Hopefully, all understand/support this shared-expense approach to the season.
League/Conference Assignments
Assignment to Conferences / Leagues are based on county of team registration. This information is posted on the FTCNJ website and shown in the attachment.
LEAGUE / SEASON OVERVIEW ….plus ULTIMATE GOAL SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
Under this heading, we have been providing a link to a recording from a Coaches Caucus that gave an Overview of the League Structure and Events.
By way update, we have replaced that link with this one, from the Sept 18th Kick Off. Skip the first 2 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2zLmO5uz8Q
The first ½ of the ~20 minute video reviews last season highlights; the last ½ is a more detailed update of this season’s event.
Event Registration Status
The percentage of teams registering for events has risen from 81% to 87% in the past week. This is a nice increase but we need to get closer to 100% quickly.
About half of the events are Closed but half have extended opening. Less choice but events still available.
Here is the direct link for Event Registration …. http://www.newjerseyftc.com/upcoming-events.html If your team has not yet registered, please do so at once.
Following registration, headcount information will be solicited as we assure that we are safely within venue caps
Coaches Caucus… (Oct 1st – Accomplished)
Coaches meet on the first Friday of the month to discuss topics of mutual interest, raise questions and share best practices.
The Coach Caucus focused on where everyone is with their team is at this point in the early season.
· How did you welcome folks back?, Communication with parents?
· Establishment of team leaders?, Has there been a general planning session regarding the season?
· How did you handle Kick Off/ Game Reveal Day
Thanks to School Team Coaches: Chris F, Louis D, Fr Lou and Community Team Coaches: Joe L, Deepak M for their Briefing/Remarks.
Slides & recording sent to participants. Available to other Coaches upon request.
Captains Caucus … (Oct 15th)
For those unacquainted, the monthly student-led meeting is an opportunity for student Team Leaders / Captains to meet and share best practices.
Breakout Groups are used and various leadership challenges and great ideas are discussed and documented.
The next Captains Caucus will be October 15th (3rd Friday of the Month) at 8pm. Coaches are strongly urged to send their leaders.
Breakout Group Topics to include: Programming, Mechanical Design/CAD, Judging Topics, Competitiveness.
Here’s the Registration Link (for Team Captains only): https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0vce2opj8rH9EYmnrDDKzbi-uya4wQl5dW
It is understood that all competitions are presently planned to be in-person events, but subject to change if pandemic conditions make it necessary.
We’ll keep everyone posted of any change, and all events will have a re-confirmation date 2 weeks prior to the event date.
The Season Calendar is updated on the FTCNJ Website to show event dates by League. http://www.newjerseyftc.com/season-calendar.html
FTCNJ will continue to work on Event Confirmations. There are now only two events that remain with confirmed venues. There are 31 of 33 confirmed!
(Note - FTCNJ is always interested in teams that would like to pursue hosting, now or in the future. We are counting on teams to help as hosts. )
The AM/PM Meet Approach will be utilized at certain of this season’s Meets as a way to reduce in-person headcount.
Half of the teams would complete their matches in the morning, then depart. The other half would compete their matches after lunch.
Elimination Matches are not required for Meets. Teams leave after accomplishing their 5-6 head-to-head official Matches.
Teams involved in an AM/PM event will be asked for their preference of morning or afternoon play.
It is also the intent of FTCNJ to “livestream” this year’s competitions to allow more people to spectate without being physically present.
These are just some of the measures being taken as we carefully embark on the season ahead.
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.
FIRST has announced that the World Championship will be held in Detroit: April 27 - April 30, 2022
League Tournament
All League Tournaments will take place in February and all fully registered teams are automatically invited to their League/Conference tournament.
The attachment shows the locations and dates for all Leagues/Conferences. All Venue Hosts are confirmed for the League Tournaments.
Late-Season Meets (8) – in January
There will be two Meet opportunities for each League in January. Teams have a choice of a Saturday Meet or Sunday Meet.
There are four of January (Saturday) Meets (one in each League) which will include “Practice Judging”, as a tune up for February’s official judging at League Tournaments.
The attachment shows the locations and dates of Late-Season Meets.
Newly Confirmed:
Jan 22nd……….Central West League/ Either Conference……………………… Delbarton School, 230 Mendham Road, Morristown, NJ
Mid-Season Meets (8) – in November / December
There will be two normal Meet opportunities in each League in the period of Nov 20 – Dec 19. Teams have a choice of a Saturday or Sunday Meet.
Four of our Nov/Dec (Sunday) Meets (one in each League) will include “Practice Judging”, as a tune up for February’s official judging at League Tournaments
The attachment shows the locations and dates of Mid-Season Meets.
Newly Confirmed:
Dec 12th………..Northeast Edge League / Either Conference…………….….. Scotch Plains-Fanwood HS, 667 Westfield Rd, Scotch Plains, NJ
Dec 19th………..Northern League / Either Conference………………………….. Kean University, 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, NJ
Still Pending Confirmation:
Nov 21st………..Central West League/ Either Conference………………….…..Venue not yet confirmed. Help welcome.
Early-Season/Holiday Meets (8) – 4 Early November Meets & 4 Holiday Meets (Halloween & Thanksgiving Weekend)
FTC NJ is continuing the tradition of offering each League one more special Meet opportunity. Many teams have taken advantage of this in past years.
The spooky Halloween Meets are always extra fun for those ready for the first competitions of the season. (October 30th / 31st)
The long four-day Thanksgiving weekend provides an opportunity for an additional official Meet on Saturday or Sunday.
The attachment shows the locations and dates of Early-Season/Holiday Meets.
Meet Cancellation:
Oct 31st ………..Northeast Edge League / Either Conference…………...…….. Due to extremely low registration.
Still Pending Confirmation:
Nov 14th………..Central-West League / Either Conference…………...…….. NoGo from Pending Host. Searching again!
PRACTICE DAYS
The FTCNJ tradition of October Practice Days continues. Teams can bring non-functional robots for tinkering and help.
At this time, the Practice Days on October 16th and October 23rd are full.
We appreciate our venues and host venues, mentoring teams, adult volunteers, and participants.
10/16/21 Practice Day 1 – Tinkering & Workshops; Raritan Valley Community College ß Host Team: Don’t Blink!
10/16/21 Practice Day 2 - Immaculate Conception High School, Montclair ß Co-Hosts : ICHS LIONS & Krypton Warriors
10/23/21 Practice Day 3 – Tinkering & Workshops; Toms River High School North ß Host Team: Iron Mariners
Advanced Programming – Odometry – Intro & Application” … (Oct 6th - Accomplished)
Terrific job by Team 14481 Don’t Blink continuing the exploration of odometry
“Creating a Solid Business Plan” … (Sept 30th – Accomplished)
Seasoned Coach (and Judge) Cassie R helped take us through this review of excellent Business Plan content.
Teams that graciously shared their plans and presented some of their background thoughts and best practices.
We saw great Plan content from Don’t Blink, Hive Voltage 2.0, The Short Circuits, Titanium Knights B, VA’s Hawks and Fatal Error.
Nice work and great discussions by all.
Upcoming (This Week):
Advanced Programming – “Trajectory Planning & Motion Profiling” … (October 13th)
The series of weekly “Advanced Programming Sessions”, brought back from last Fall, has only 2 of 8 sessions left.
The Titanium Knights A are guest presenting team for the 8pm Wednesday (10/13) Zoom and focus on “Trajectory Planning”.
· By Trajectory, we mean the movement of the robot across the field, as opposed to the trajectory of objects flung by the robot.
· Topics include …
• What's a trajectory?
• Planning and making a trajectory sequence in Road Runner
§ Lines, splines, and turns
§ Chaining together trajectories
• Following a trajectory on the robot
• Running code during a trajectory with temporal markers
FTA John McDonnell will supplement their information with a discussion of “Motion Profiling”
Here is the Registration Link to Wednesday’s 8pm Zoom. Please register asap to obtain your Zoom Access link.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkceGupzgjHNaj4hrXmJYx9kI2_xSzU0lg
Training Videos:
Freight Frenzy Officiating Training
Once again this year, FIRST has engaged our very own League Head Referee Julia Berry to create these training videos.
As you can see below, it is a three-part series that Julia narrates with excellent technical support by her husband, our FTA Rob Berry.
Julia’s description of the game elements, scoring and use of the scoring system is outstanding. Listen carefully; you’ll learn a lot.
FIRST has posted these videos on their YouTube Channel, but if you did not spot them there, here they are….
Super work by Julia and Rob Berry. Enjoy!
Video 1 - Field and Game Elements
Video 2 - Scoring Referee Training
Video 3 - Electric Scoring Tablets and Paper Scoring
STEM GIRLS – INITIATIVE TEAMS “LAUNCH ZOOMS”
On September 28th, Pat F and others provided an overview of STEM Girls, its four Initiative Areas, and preliminary plans for the coming season.
Attendees had a chance for a brief description of each of the four areas. The next step is to explore a bit further, the initiative(s) of most interest.
As you can see below, an 8pm Zoom Session (30-45 minutes) has been set for each topic. Here’s a chance for the girls to make their choice (or choices) and learn more.
Ladies can sign-up to attend one of these sessions with no strings attached, ask questions, dig a bit deeper, then decide which sub team(s) they may wish to join.
Here’s the selection…
(Gathering to exchange ideas, Pulling together the presenting valuable information)
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0oduqppzgoEtP-ar39JgalPYrcaAbCzysf
(Lunchtime Tech Talks at the Field, Training Videos, …)
Tuesday, October 19th (8pm) – STEM Girls Role Models & Guest Speakers
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYud-qsqjgrHNDPwlHCocwt3WnxSyYOr_Ec
(Interviewing Skills, Hosting Guest Speakers, Working with Bios…)
Thursday, October 21st (8pm) – STEM Girls Motivate & Alum Engagement
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYlceGprD4sGdNvn3VNnCkIWRWUE4eUDZ2U
(Recruiting New Members, Marketing, Engaging FTC Alum, …)
Four New Fields for FTC New Jersey!
We would like to thanks our generous sponsor R&J Control, Inc. for funding the purchase of four new Fields for FTCNJ.
As many know, we have using the old style IFI fields for well over ten years.
Moving to the Andy Mark fields will improve the compatibility between teams’ fields at home base, and FTCNJ, and Worlds!
They also look so much better than our faithful IFI fields. We thanks R&J Control, Inc. once again.
Photo Permission Waiver
Once again this year, FTCNJ is soliciting a state-level permission to allow person’s image to shown in FTC-related videos and stills.
If you are a student, or adult, whose image may be captured, FTC needs your permission to show/post it. This is particularly important for mentoring teams and our volunteer instructors.
Here is a link to the very simple “Video Permission Request”. It is a easy Google Form that simply captures the authorization. bit.ly/FTCNJrelease
Thanks to all of those who helped us with this last year. Coaches with engaged students, please encourage them to address this.
Note, persons under the age of 18 need to have their parent or guardian complete the form.
FIRST Tech Challenge Rookie Grants
For anyone thinking of starting a brand new FIRST Tech Challenge rookie team, $500 rookie grants available!
Teams that haven’t yet registered for the 2021-2022 and are located in North America are eligible! Learn more on FIRST’s grants webpage!
FIRST® Apps No Longer On Google Play
FIRST decided to remove all versions of the FIRST® Tech Challenge control system software from the Play Store. This decision is due to Google Play security requirement changes that are causing us to no longer distribute versions 6.1 and later of the FIRST Tech Challenge control system software through the Play Store. Teams must use the REV Robotics Hardware Client software to manage their software on the Robot Controller/Control Hub and Driver Station devices, including the new Driver Hub. For more information, please read FIRST’s blog post.
Hopefully, this Communique has provided a lot of good information regarding the coming season. (New in blue!)
Our next newsletter will be on October 19th.
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
Looking forward to seeing everyone soon.
More to come.
Thanks much, Vince Frascella
FIRST Tech Challenge New Jersey