News
Shared from the FTC Blog https://bit.ly/2PchqqD
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Info on Wi-Fi Disconnects for Motorola E4, G5, and G5 Plus Android Phones Posted: 29 Nov 2018 01:27 PM PST The Motorola E4 phone is approved for use in the FIRST Tech Challenge. In fall 2018, teams reported seemingly random disconnects between the Driver Station and Robot Controller devices when the E4 phones were used. Note that although this issue was first reported with the Motorola E4 phone, it also occurs with the Motorola G5 and G5 Plus phones.
The disconnects can occur when the Motorola E4 phone is acting as the Driver Station, and an op mode has been selected and initialized, but not started. In this situation, if the Robot Controller waits for a start command from the Driver Station, the phones might momentarily disconnect and cause the op mode run to stop before the start command is received.
There is a solution to this problem. It involves rewriting your op mode so that the Robot Controller sends telemetry messages to the Driver Station while it is waiting for the start command. Doing this seems to prevent the devices from momentarily disconnecting.
Details on how to diagnose and workaround this problem can be found at the following web link: Workaround for Motorola E4 Wi-Fi Disconnects.
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The FTC Newport News Qualifier team pre-order lunch form is now available here. A link will also be available on the Qualifer webpage later today.
Pre-orders are due by noon on December 6th, 2018.
Team 8095 is hosting a scrimmage for FTC teams at Norfolk Academy (Norfolk, VA) on December 1st from 9AM to 12PM.
For additional details or to sign up please contact Robert Call at rcall@norfolkacademy.org by Wednesday, November 28th.
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
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/
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Team sign up here https://goo.gl/forms/
Deadline: December 1st
Payment by check preferred, day of event
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.
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. Paypal link is paypal.me/LCBirdRB .
- 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
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