News

 

WRIC 8 "Dozens of High Schools Battle in Robot Competition" [video]

 

WUSA 9 "Robots Take Over Alexandria Competition" [video]

 

Richmond Times-Dispatch "Richmond area High Schools Competing in Robotics Competition This Weekend" [article]

 

WTKR  "High School Robotics Teams to Compete for Technological Superiority" [article]

 

The Virginian-Pilot "Local teens battle for glory at regional robotics competition in Portsmouth" [article]

 

WAVY TV  "Teams Across the State Compete at FIRST Chesapeake Robotics Competition" [video]  

 

 

The Bart Kamen Memorial FIRST Scholarship Fund provides funding to undergraduate students pursuing biomedical engineering or pre-medical degrees. 

Deadline: February 1st

For more information and a link to the application go to: https://www.firstinspires.org/scholarships/blog/dr-bart-kamen-scholarship

From FIRST Tech Challenge firstinspires.org

 

  1. TensorFlow Machine Learning is now Available
  2. Dean’s List Deadlines
  3. Why Are You Playing With Robots?
  4. Rookie Grants Team Thank Yous
  5. Software Release Correction
 
TensorFlow Machine Learning is now Available
Teams participating in the FIRST® Tech Challenge can now use Google’s TensorFlow Machine Learning technology to detect and track Gold and Silver game elements. Teams can access Google’s TensorFlow technology through Blocks or Java programming. TensorFlow can identify Gold and Silver game elements using either the built in camera on an Android device or through an externally connected camera. For more information check out our latest blog post!
 
Dean’s List Deadlines
Do you have an outstanding student on your team that embodies leadership, entrepreneurship, technical expertise and a passion to spread the word about FIRST®? Make sure to nominate them for the Dean’s List Award! November 15, 2018 at 11:59 PM ET will be the final time teams in West Virginia, Montana, Washington, Alaska, and Australia can make their nominations. Make sure to read the Dean’s List Nomination Guide and submit your nomination today!
 
Why Are You Playing With Robots?
Ken Johnson, Director of FIRST Tech Challenge, dives into why FIRST Tech Challenge is awesome, and why it’s important to help people understand what we’re all about.
 
“FIRST Tech Challenge is one of the only teams you can start where every single participant can ‘go pro’ at competitive salaries – all while making the world a better place. That’s what I’d tell them”. – Read more on our blog!
 
Rookie Grant Thank You
If your team received a grant this season, we want to hear from you! We hope the FIRST Tech Challenge Rookie Grant helped your team get a head start for our ROVER RUCKUS Presented by Qualcomm season! This grant wouldn’t be possible without the generous donations from our sponsors. This grant was funded by the DEKA Foundation and our season presenting sponsor, Qualcomm.
 
As part of accepting the funds for our Rookie Team Grant, we ask that you send a thank you note to your sponsors. Letters, cards, notes, pictures (and whatever else you can think of) can be sent to the following address:
 
FIRST®
Attn: FIRST® Tech Challenge Team Grants
200 Bedford Street
Manchester, NH 03101
 
You can also email us, send us a snail mail thank you, thank your sponsors on Facebook and Twitter (please remember to tag FIRST Tech Challenge and use the hashtag #SponsorThanks). Thank you in advance for sharing your season and thanks with our sponsors. We wouldn’t be here without their generous support.
 
Software Release Correction
Correction: The FIRST Tech Challenge Robot Controller and Driver Station software versions 4.3 have been released, not 4.2. The updated software development kit (SDK) is available at the following GitHub repository: https://github.com/ftctechnh/ftc_app
 

The "friendly" FIRST Tech Challenge scrimmage event (originally to be held at the new Peninsula STEM Gym) on Nov 14th from 6:30-8:30 PM is being moved to Hines Middle School at 561 McLawhorne Dr. in Newport News due to an enthusiastic turn-out of teams.

Team sign up here https://goo.gl/forms/9zn97R8pt5Lkjp8F3 

Deadline: December 1st

Payment by check preferred, day of event

Location: George Mason High School- 7124 Leesburg Pike Falls Church, VA 22043

Due to a last minute notification of closures by City of Richmond for the streets surrounding the VCU campus, we have made the difficult decision to relocate the Meet the Field at VCU event this Saturday. This decision is due in no small part to the realization that no vehicle or food delivery would be able to get within 2 blocks of the campus on Saturday. At times the street will even be closed to pedestrian traffic. We feel that this would create an environment that is potentially unsafe, as well as being inconvenient, for both our teams and presenters. 
 
Please reconfirm you can come and join us for the FTC Meet the Field Event sponsored by InSource Solutions and hosted by ECPI University on November 10th from 8:30-1:00 PM. We hope this will be a day filled with excitement, anticipation, and learning for your team! The address is: 4305 Cox Rd, Glen Allen, VA 23060 
 
For any additional questions please contact Kristin Clemons directly at 804-239-2228 or by email. 

Check the event pages frequently for new information. Here are some recent updates:

 

Lunch Pre-Orders

- FTC Orange Qualifier team lunch pre-order deadline is being extended to Sunday, NOVEMBER 11th . Get those orders in ASAP!  http://bit.ly/ocftcpizza

- FTC Greater Richmond Qualifier team lunch pre-order form due Nov. 27th

- FTC Christiansburg Qualifier- pre-order due Dec. 1st

 

Venue Change

- FTC Christiansburg Qualifier will now be held at the Auburn Middle School- 4163 Riner Road, Riner, VA 24149  

 

 

 

Due to a last minute notification of road closures by City of Richmond surrounding the VCU campus, we have made the difficult decision to reschedule the FRC Workshops at VCU to coincide with FRC Kickoff on Jan 5th.This decision is due in no small part to the realization that no vehicle or food delivery would be able to get within 2 blocks of the campus on Saturday. At times the street will even be closed to pedestrian traffic. We feel that this would create an environment that is potentially unsafe, as well as being inconvenient, for both our teams and presenters. 
 
Please plan to plan to join us on Jan 5th from 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM for a day filled with excitement, anticipation, and learning! It is our goal to continue to offer as many of the planned sessions as possible. The opportunity to host the workshops on kickoff day affords us the ability to add additional sessions on game manual dissection and game analysis, as well as something special for the rookie teams. 
  1. Women in STEM Scholarship Sponsored by LMI
  2. FIRST Tech Challenge Christiansburg Qualifier Hotel Deals
  3. Rumble in the Roads Will Be Webcast Nov. 3rd
  4. FIRST Tech Challenge Teams Offering Outreach Opportunity this Saturday

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