BOWLED OVER INFO

INSPECTION CHECKLIST
Know before you go!

DIRECTIONS TO
SOUTH MEADOWS MIDDLE SCHOOL - pdf

Google Map to SMMS

SCOUTING RESOURCES

Oregon FTC Network - Untitled-8 site

TheDallesWahtonka HS Scouting Docs

Scouting Document #1
Scouting Document #2

IRST Consent and Release Form in English

FIRST Consent and Release Form in Spanish

Championship Update: Please bring consent form for any student or coach/mentor that did not submit one at a qualifying event.

Championship Roster
34 Teams - FINAL!

Championship Team Information Letter

• Directions to Venue
  Schedule
• Team Checkin
• What's different about the competition area
• FOOD Options (important to read)
• Scouting
• Who Advances to FTC World
  

PROMOTE AWARD -
Submission deadline ended Friday, February 17, 2012 at 5:00 pm

The submissions are great! Thank you to the 7 teams who produced a video.

SOUTH MEADOWS MS

use Brookwood entrance- south of TV Hwy

SOUTH MEADOWS MS

use Brookwood entrance- south of TV Hwy.

Championship Day
Judging/Inspection continued
Qualifying Rounds/Elimination Round
Awards Ceremony

LETTER TO COACH

AWARDS

Inspection: 6pm - 8pm

No Practice Field Availability on Friday eve.

Inspection: Noon - 2pm

No Practice Field availability on Saturday afternoon

Everg Space Museum
SAT- FEB 4

Overview Schedule

VENUE MAP

Edition Log:

Sept 8 - Sept 19 - Oct3 - Nov3 - Nov10 - Nov18 (QT INFO) - Dec1 - Dec8 - Dec21 - Jan3

ORTOP FTC Community!
This coming weekend kicks off our Oregon FTC Qualifying Tournament season.  My inbox is filling with questions. Let’s answer a few.

Who is my Qualifying Tournament Director (the adult overseeing the planning of the event)
January 28 and 29 at TIGARD HIGH SCHOOL – Steve Fulton - sfulton(at)ttsd(dot)k12(dot)or(dot)us – Tigard HS Robotics Program teacher/coach
February 4 at OMSI – Ted Krupicka - mtkrupicka(at)gmail(dot)com – coach of the Newberg Tiger Team
February 4 at Evergreen Space Museum –Craig Hudson -  craighudson150(at)gmail(dot)com – coach of Amity Robotics
February 11 at Oregon State University – Taj Morton - mortont(at)onid(dot)orst(dot)edu – OSU Robotics Club Event Manager for FTC QT
February 18 at McBride Elementary School, St. Helens, OR – Neil Ford - fordne(at)gmail(dot)com   
(PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF LOCATION. Event moved from St. Helens HS to McBride Elementary School)

WHAT TIME DO WE NEED TO BE THERE?
I’ve asked each QT Director to send me their schedule.  I will be posting them on the ORTOP website. HERE – not there yet but by noon, I promise.
For those of you attending the Tigard events this weekend -  check the schedule here
In general, planning to arrive at 7:30 am is in the ballpark for all events.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EVENT
The QT Directors will be sending you a detailed letter about your event.  I will post them as soon as I receive them.
ORTOP will post the same letter – HERE  - but without venue specific information so you can get a general idea what to expect.

BEST ADVICE FOR THE WEEK: Focus on what is going right. What are your strengths? How can you make the most of them.  What are the weaknesses? What can you do to correct them without losing focus on your strengths.  Try to avoid taking apart the whole robot unless the team really feels they need to do so. 
Run your robot through the Inspection List.  Know before you go! Hardware- Software – Field!  

We encourage sleep and a reminder to do homework.
And congratulations to winners of the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Award. I just received the list this morning. Looks like we have a number of outstanding young women involved with FIRST that have been selected. If someone on your team is a winner, please let me know.
Regards,
Cathy Swider

Tigard Schedule
0730-0830 Check in and pit set up
0830-0900 General admin/comments
0900-1100 Judging (sked in development)
0900-1100 Inspection (sked in development)(early access possible as well)
1100-1200 Lunch break (complete robot inspections) abt 1200 Opening ceremony
1215-1500 Qualifying Rounds
1500-1530 Alliance selections
1530-1630 Eliminations rounds
1630-1700 Award ceremony

January 3, 2012

Happy New Year Oregon and SW Washington FTC Teams!

Qualifying Tournament Assignments are now posted. YES! It was a difficult task this year but we've managed to assign every team to their one or two events as requested. No team is on a waiting list! Hoo-rah!

Almost every team received their 1st preference for Assignment "A" and almost every team was assigned to an event for which it was indicated they were available. We tried to rely on the preference list as much as possible but at times it was necessary to rely on the events available list. I don't think anyone was assignment to a an event with a declared conflict.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE 2012 FTC QT ASSIGNMENTS! Read carefully, mark them down on your calendar.
More info to come regarding your upcoming events. (Note: in column #1 - Reb Pos # - is your First Come, First Serve position based on the time stamp of your registration.)

FTC Teams adults and kids! - We need volunteers for the FLL Championships at Liberty High School on January 14 and 15. Some volunteer roles are only a few hours. We need Pit Runners and Judge Door Monitors. If you can volunteer - SIGN UP HERE!

I'll post the sign up for the Liberty HS scrimmage tomorrow.

----Cathy

BACK TO THE Oregon FTC Dashbord of Information!

December 21, 2011

FTC Qualifying Tournament Assigments -
Next year, I need a team to write a tournament scheduling program for me. :-) .....
I have everyone scheduled for a 1st event. Almost everyone got their first pick. Scheduling teams for a 2nd event is proving to be a bit more difficult. To achieve that, a bunch of teams need to attend one of two 1st weekend Tigard QTs - 48 slots. Our planning committee has decided that having teams play twice is more important than the order of their preferences. So, I'm going back through the list and relying on the preferences and the which events can't you attend (and adding the ones you can to your list of preferences) to assign teams to a second event. I won't assign teams to a conflicted date without consulting the team. Remember your second event may indeed occur before your 1st preference event. I'm hoping to have the schedule posted very, very soon. FYI, OMSI and OSU filled with 1st event preferences, so all 2nd event assigments need to be Tigard Sat, Tigard Sun, Evergreen or St. Helens.

Keeping up with FTC stuff - Please pay attention to FTC Team Blasts from FTC and other team resources. Having someone on your team follow the FTC twitter feed is also important. Lots of important stuff and (not so important stuff) gets communicated between team blasts.

In Other FTC news!
Congratulations to FTC Team #3531 - Short Circuits for winning the Inspire Award and Winning Alliance at the FIRSTWa (Washington) Mill Creek FTC Regional this past weekend.

A Message to Teams from E=mcSquirreled about their Scrimmage on Jan 7 at Evergreen Space Museum.
Is your team ready for a full competition?
Even if your robot isn't finished yet, practicing with other teams in a scrimmage can yield some very helpful information about the performance of your robot, and in the communication methods of your team members.

A scrimmage can help you answer questions like:

• Is the manipulator that you've spent so much time building able to handle the rough-and-tumble of a competition?
• Does your autonomous program work as expected when other robots are on the field at the same time?
• Do certain actions (i.e. bumping from other robots) cause your electronics to lose contact with your controllers?
• How well does your player-coach instruct your team's drivers during the heat of competition?
• Does your game strategy actually work, or is it easily defeated by the opposing alliance?

Every veteran team knows that having multiple competitions is the only way to work out the kinks. Attending a scrimmage can give your team the extra experience that it needs to be effective during the official competition events.

E=mcSquirreled is hosting a scrimmage at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville on January 7th.. There will be a hardware inspector to check your robot, and a referee to determine points as well as answer questions about game-play. In addition to the benefits of the experience your team gets by being in a scrimmage, the event is held in a very cool facility. There are airplanes and space artifacts all over the place! Plus, if your family and friends want to come watch the scrimmage, the cost of $5 per person will enable them to see the museum as well (a $20 value). A cafeteria menu - click! . If you are interested in participating in this scrimmage, sign up now by registering -click!

Teams registered so far for the Evergreen Scrimage

BACK TO THE Oregon FTC Dashbord of Information!

December 8, 2011

Today is FTC Qualifying Tournament Registration Day! 12/8/11 at 5:00 PM, ORTOP will send the LINK in an email to the ortopftc list. AND post it in the BRIGHT GREEN BOX at the TOP of this PAGE (scroll up) .
Please decide who is completing the application for your team. Please do not submit more that one application per team. If you have more than one team at your school, you must complete one application per team.
Please make sure you know which events your team members are available for and which ones they are not. MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE QT REGISTRATION HERE

Team Hosts
The OMSI FTC Qualifying Tournament will be hosted by FTC Team #4586 Newberg Tigers - Newberg HS. Thank you to all that offered.
The Liberty HS FTC Scrimmages on January 14 and 15, 2012 (FTC in a fish bowl, because we scrimmage at the FLL Championship) will be hosted by The Batteries in Black and Short Circuits.

A new Oregon FTC Online Tool --------Introducing Online Alliance Collaboration!
This is pretty slick..... FTC Team #3515 - Unitled-8 has developed an online FTC team information exchange and information page. It potentially can be much nerdier and helpful than what you can find on www.ortop.org/ftc . Here is the introduction to the page and their video intro from the team. This is all about coopertion.

Introducing Online Alliance Collaboration!

The rapidly growing popularity of (FIRST Tech Challenge) FTC Robotics has been reflected in the surge of Oregon statewide participation in recent years has resulted in needs to help complement and foster the growth of this fantastic academic sport.
Teams can create a team profile on the site, with only the information they want to release. The site also has tech tips, and teams can submit their own tips. It contains a forum for asking questions, posting team events, and has a section for trading/requesting parts. Teams can even request donations, or donate to other teams. This is designed by FTC teams for FTC teams, and caters to Oregon teams. All suggestions are welcome!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A link to the trailer
It's on youtube.com so if you can't access youtube.com, click here to go directly to the website

Thanks,

Sean and the
Untitled-8

December 1, 2011

Oregon FTC Community:

FTC TEAM BLAST 12-01-11: Team blast had a v4 of the Game Manual and there is an updated FCS

COMMENT ON STIMS -  Don’t know enough about this yet. I don't know what STIMS stands for yet. (read first sentence of update  :-) ) . I do know that team members can submit the FIRST Consent and Release paper forms this year if they prefer. All adults must submit the paper form. Online is not an option.  There isn’t a online option for the FIRST Consent and Release Form in Spanish…..only a paper one.

ATTN: VETERAN FTC TEAMS  - TOURNAMENT HOST WANTED – ORTOP is still looking for a veteran team (easier logistics for a team in the Portland metro area) to be the TOURNAMENT HOST for the OMSI February 4th Qualifying Tournament. This will be the smallest of the events, only 16 teams, less volunteers to recruit. If your team is interested in planning and implementing the event in exchange for a slot at the championship, please contact Cathy Swider.  More support provided than you might think.

NEXT UP: December 8 – ONLINE QT REGISTRATION OPENS! – Have you surveyed your team for date conflicts????

November 18, 2011

Oregon FTC Qualifying Tournament Schedule

FTC Qualifying & Championship Tournament Schedule 2012 followed by comments and instructions

ONLINE REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!! - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

COMMENTS ON THE QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
# of Slots
The ORTOP FTC Planning Committee anticipates about the same number of teams as last year. Currently we have 79 teams registered. (not all have paid). We are offering the same number of QTs but have increased the number of slots per event (in most cases). This will give every team 1 opportunity to attend a QT and 75% of teams a 2nd opportunity on a first come, first serve basis. This increases our capacity by 10% over last year. Last year only 6 teams were left on the waiting list for a 2nd opportunity.

______________________________________________
TEAM TOURNAMENT HOSTS- HOSTING OPPORTUNITY OPEN (update: Dec. 8 - Newberg Tigers will host the OMSI QT. Thank to everyone who applied.
Tigard HS and St. Helens HS Robotics Clubs have stepped up to be QT Tournament Hosts. They volunteered last spring. Their willingness to plan and implement the tournaments will guarentee one team/one slot per event they host for the Championship provided they meet the criteria set by the ORTOP FTC Planning Committee (as stated in Section 3.8 page 27 of Bowled Over Game Manual v2). Amity is strongly considering doing the same for the Evergreen Event. The OSU Robotics Club will host at OSU.
This leaves OMSI. ORTOP is looking for a veteran team to implement the event at OMSI. There is a specific list of requirements but in general the team is responsible for recruiting volunteers, load in/load out, set up/tear down, work under the direction of the Championship FTA (Field Technical Advisors), Judge Advisor, Head Referee and the FTC Affililate Partner to put together and execute a successful qualifying event for their fellow FTC teams. It is a HUGE inspiring leadership opportunity. Teams can utilize team parents and others in their community to help. If your veteran team is interested, please contact Cathy Swider at cathy_swider@ous.edu

QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT REGISTRATION
QT Registration is will open for all teams that are nationally registered and have PAID their $275 registration fee by December 15th (QT reg close date). Unpaid teams will not be registered for an event.

ONLINE REGISTRATION WILL OPEN ON DECEMBER 8th at 5:00 pm. CLICK LINK TO REGISTER . Teams will select their 3 top preferences. You should select your events in the preference order you wish to attend them, not necessarily the order in which the events occcurs. ONLINE REGISTRATION WILL CLOSE ON DECEMBER 15th at 5:00 pm. Teams nationally registered after December 15th will not be admitted to an OREGON FTC QUALIFYING EVENT. Those teams will be considered "development teams for 2012" and are invited to observe, volunteer at the QTs and attend any spring workshop/scrimmage events ORTOP offers.

PAYMENT INFORMATION: QUALIFYING TOURNAMENTS will cost $50 per event. Payment forms will be available. Check, Credit Card or PO. After the QT assignments are posted, teams can pay for the one or two tournaments depending on their assignments. When the FTC QT Assignments are posted and teams see if they are assigned to either one or two events, then they can send in a payment by credit card, check or purchase order. Specific instructions will be posted at that time.

ROUND ONE: ALL registered teams will be assigned to one event based on their preference order, based on the registration time stamp AND consideration if they have companion teams at the same school that want to travel and compete on the same day.

ROUND TWO: After all teams have been assigned to ONE tournament, we'll go back through the list and assign teams to a 2nd event if "2nd Event wanted" is checked. Think carefully on this. Teams will be assigned based on the registration time stamp only. Each team will be assigned independent of any other companion team.

CHANGES TO ASSIGNMENTS - The answer is NO. Choose your preferences carefully. Consult with your team members and parents to find out about potential conflicts: sporting events, SAT tests, college interviews, weddings, trips to foreign countries, school dances, choir performances, [fill in blank]. ORTOP will not change, switch, swap or alter the assignments once they are published. EXCEPTION: If a team advances to the championship and graciously vacates their slot for another team that did not advance, ORTOP will assign a team on the waiting list to a 2nd QT slot. Thank you in advance for your understanding on this policy.

____________________________________________________

IS YOUR TEAM OFFERING AN OPEN SCRIMMAGE LET US KNOW ABOUT IT!

BANKS BOT FEST on DECEMBER 3rd! Registration for 14 teams is NOW OPEN!

e=MC^squirelled is planning one for January 7th for 16 teams. They are close to announcing the location and opening registration. Are their any other teams that want to hold an open scrimmage for teams in their area? Let us know.

_________________________________________________________

FINAL NOTES

Are you following national FTC on Facebook or Twitter? or ORTOP: FIRST TECH Challenge on facebook?
Someone on your team should. The mothership posts a lot of really good tips and reminders.

FINALLY..... Are you having registration issues? Ordering parts issues? Questions you think are too silly to ask (they're not)?
ORTOP can help or find someone to help. We have a crack team of FTA's to help you. questions@ortop.org

Remember our motto is...."NO ROBOT LEFT BEHIND!"

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of our teams!

November 10, 2011

BENSON BOT FEST

At least 21 teams have registered for the Benson Bot Fest - November 19- Registration will close soon and we'll establish a waiting list. Next bot fest will be at Banks HS on December 3rd. You don't have to be a nationally registered team to participate as long as you intend to register really soon!

In addition to the workshops, bot building, shop talking and general awesome fun.... the Benson Bot Fest will feature MINI-BOT FEST CHALLENGES! Check it out. Don't have to do all of them, work on something and do the challenge. Prizes will be offered to teams doing the best.

YAHOO! OREGON IS UP TO 77 nationally registered teams. Many last year teams that we KNOW are planning to participate this year as not yet registered. What's up with that? Please register soon or let ORTOP know what's going on. Maybe we can help.

Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference- This week Portland is playing host to this important technical conference. I'm happy to announce that FLL alum Tesca Fitzgerald (formerly of e=mc(squirreled) and Savannah Loberger of FTC Hillsboro High School will be presenting with Cathy Swider on Friday, Nov. 11. Our topic is "Engaging Girls in Computing via LEGO® Robotics". If you are attending the conference stop in and hear our presentation starting at 2:45pm in F149.

November 3, 2011

REGISTER HERE FOR BENSON BOTFEST!

Registration is limted to the first 24 teams. (six teams already registered)

BENSON HIGH SCHOOL BOTFEST - SATURDAY, November 19, 2011 at 10:00 - 3:00pm
546 Northeast 12th Avenue Portland, OR 97232-2785

This is the big one folks!
1) The last Oregon FTC fest with formal workshops: programming - building - Samantha - Field Control System (FCS) - parts fabrication advice, engineering notebook and what to expect in judging and special workshop by Portland Community Media- how to produce an awesome one minute video. Build an ORTOP workshop bot for rookies will also be included. (December fest in Banks will be scrimmage and informal discussion groups but not formal workshops)

2) Every team gets a pit table and is encouraged to bring their robot in progress to continue to build, share ideas, get advice and talk shop with other teams.

3) Bowled Over Field will be setup for design time and for those ready to scrimmage, a little scrimmage time.

4) NEW! NEW! NEW! - The Autonomous Challenge - For teams with robots further along in the building and programming process, their will be the Benson BotFest Mini Challenge! We'll name a task for your robot to do autonomously based on the Bowled Over Game. Teams will have a chance to show they can do it. Stay tuned for a mini-challenge announcement on Monday, November 7th! Fun Prizes for teams that meet the challenge. Rookie team and Veteran Team Challenges.

5) ROOKIE COACH ROUND TABLE MEETING - New FTC Coaches can learn more about what they've gotten themselves into. Learn from veteran coaches and ORTOP key committee members.
Until then.....you might find this helpful. FTC Coach Guide

6) FTC QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE EVENT

_________________________________________________________________________

Not quite started yet???? Haven't registered? It's not too late!
Whether you are a rookie team or a veteran team you can still register in November and have a successful season. If you are a rookie team with questions, PLEASE contact cathy_swider@ous.edu or 503-725-2920. As your FTC Affiliate Partner in Oregon I can help you though the boondongle of registration and ordering your robot kits.
If you are a veteran team....no time like the present to get your team registration going. You can start your registration before paying the $275 to show ORTOP that you intend to have a team this season.
ORTOP is trying to plan for Qualifying Tournaments. It's helpful to know how many teams want to participate. Teams not nationally registered by end of qualifying tournament registration in December will not be permitted to participate in a qualifying tournament.

___________________________________________________________

VETERAN TEAMS ONLY - Interested in hosting a qualifying tournament at your school? send Cathy Swider an email expressing your interest in doing so. We'll discuss the responsibilities and requirements.

_________________________________________________________________________________

COMMON POWER PROBLEM ADVICE FROM OUR FIELD TECHNICAL ADVISOR

Your Friendly FTA here.  I wanted to stress a common power problem that I saw last year, and some new rules that are designed to help fix it.   One of main sources of trouble at our tournaments last year was loss of power to Samantha.  There are two main causes of this:  faulty battery connectors, and bad connections in the motor controller chain.

The first issue typically causes the robot to temporarily drop connection after a hard hit.  When it gets real bad, it can be seen even by a simple jiggle of the battery connector.   It can be seen in this video I recorded.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVAjSqUN5gk.
In the video you can see the battery connector be lightly wiggled by hand, and that causes the Samantha unit to power off, and then start its power on routine which is about 6 seconds long.  During that time the robot is completely unresponsive.

This problem is caused by strain on the battery connector due to repeated connecting and disconnecting.  This is because the robot side of the connector gets stretched out and only makes intermittent contact.  A temporarily fix is to lightly squeeze the metal 'C' of the connector down so that it will make better contact. One supplier of the connector is here:
http://www.batteryspace.com/connectoradaptorstandardfemaletamiyawith14awgsiliconwire150mm.aspx.

The other issue was the daisy chaining of motor controllers.  This introduced several screw terminals in the power chain, which also introduces additional points of failure in your Samantha power.  FIRST has supplied a *suggested* work around of using power distribution panels.  They have some good examples in their supplied documents

R5.c.26. Anderson 30 Amp PowerPole or similar Crimp style snap plug connectors and butt splice connectors for joining electrical wires are allowed. Power distribution panels may also be used (and is strongly recommended) to make wiring easier.
http://usfirst.org/sites/default/files/Anderson-Powerpole-Guide.pdf
http://ftcforum.usfirst.org/showthread.php?353-The-Robot-Electrical-Answers

The Q/A also suggest the PS-4 or PS-8 as a good premade solution.
(listed here: http://www.powerwerx.com/powerpole-power-distribution/)

I'll close with a note on the best mounting practices for Samantha:
http://usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Community/FTC/Team_Resources/Samantha_Mounting_Best_Practices.pdf

Hopefully this will enable a smoother competition season.  As always, feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Chris Flanagan
Oregon FTC Championship FTA

October 3, 2011

ORTOP FTC FEST Workshop - SATURDAY, OCT 8th at DALLAS HIGH SCHOOL in DALLAS, OR ( not Texas, because it's cooler to be in Oregon :-) )

1250 Southeast Holman Avenue, Dallas, OR 97338-2799

REGISTER HERE!!!!

WHAT WILL BE HAPPENING?
PIT Tables for your team to spread out and continue building their bot.
BOWLED OVER FIELD for figuring stuff out.
Ranger Bot build it for rookies
Robot C programming for rookies
Q& A on Engineering Notebooks
Briefing meeting for new coaches

AND.... plans are afoot to do this with the ranger bots and any team that wants to try it ..... http://ftc-iowa.blogspot.com/
No promises yet.... but we're trying to pull it together.

This message from the DALLAS FTC Teams!

Hello Fellow Roboteams!

I hope many of you will be able to make it to DHS on October 8th for the first post-kick off scrimmage of the year!  We are excited to host it.  We will have plenty of space for a field and for teams to set up pit tables.  I have also invited a lot of folks from the community to come by and check out the great work being done.

Just so you know, we will also be selling snacks (pop, chips, snowcones, etc) and there is plenty of great places to eat near the school. 

Hope to see you on Saturday!

GREAT FTC COACH GUIDE

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

FTC FUNDING
Oregon Department of Education FIRST Robotics SubGrant - DEADLINE IS SEPTEMBER 22, 2011. That's this coming FRIDAY!! INFORMATION AND GRANT APPLICATION!

The above is different from the ORTOP FTC scholarship. Information on ORTOP FTC Scholarship.

_______________________

FTC Workshop FESTS
Schedule is up and online registration links are live!
Next up: October 8th at the beautiful Dallas High School in Dallas, OR
followed by November 19th at the famous Benson Polytechnic High School in Portland, OR
followed by December 3 at bodacious Banks High School in Banks, OR (schedule and online link will be up soon)

Our thanks to TIGARD Technology Team at Tigard High School for hosting the FTC 2011 BOWLED OVER Kickoff! Thanks to everyone who came and participated.
______________

FIRST Showcase at OMSI on October 22nd
Instead of holding a traditional workshop fest for teams, this year Oregon FIRST Tech Challenge will have a community relations focus. We will put up a skills driving course to run the ranger bots. We need teams to volunteer in shifts to
1) keep the robots charged and running.
2) diagnosis FCS issues
3) help the OMSI guests use the joysticks to run the bots
4) keep a white board showing best times and handing out stickers for participating.
5) sit at the information table and talk to the public about FIRST Tech Challenge.
6) GREAT opportunity to contribute to the FTC Connect Award! hint, hint.
Interested? email Cathy Swider at cathy_swider@ous.edu

___________________

HINTS for ordering field stuff.

OFFICIAL "BOWLED OVER" BILL OF MATERIALS

The crates are Steralite 1695. I bought them on Amazon for cheap and no shipping cost. You can also find them at Walmart. Teams don't need the clear ones. I've heard they are out there for as cheap at $1 per crate.
Racquetballs. Teams don't need 100 of them for practicing. You can order them from AndyMark at $16.28 for 24.

Bowling Balls - check with your local bowling center (don't call it an alley - they don't like that) and tell them what you are doing and ask if they would sell you a used 6lb. ball OR ask if they could order one at the their cost for your team. If your team decides not to attempt the bowling ball ramp part of the challenge you can skip purchasing one.

You don't need the lights in the ball containers at the side of the field and teams really only need to build one ramp.

MDF board does makes a nice perimeter walls for cheap! But if you want to order a real field you have two options.
1) AndyMark or 2) IFI

SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

THE WAIT IS ALMOST OVER! THE 2011 FIRST ®TECH CHALLENGE GAME WILL BE REVEALED ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10^TH IN TIGARD HIGH SCHOOL CAFETERIA.

DOORS OPEN AT 9:00 AM – BIG REVEAL AT 10:00 AM

TIGARD HIGH SCHOOL
9000 SW Durham Rd.

Tigard, OR

____________________________

THE PUBLIC IS INVITED! REGISTERED TEAMS, NOT YET REGISTERED TEAMS AND THOSE JUST THINKING ABOUT MAYBE REGISTERING ARE INVITED TO ATTEND.

HERE ARE THE DETAILS/SCHEDULE/FUN AND EXCITEMENT/MAP TO GET THERE ……

http://www.ortop.org/ftc/ct.htm#FEST

What if you leave really far and cannot attend the Kick-off Event????
You can view the FTC GAME VIDEO AND DOCUMENTS at 12:00 PM (PT) on September 10th
http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc/2011-2012-game-info

and plan to attend an ORTOP FTC Workshop Fest in October at Dallas High School or November at Benson High School.
http://www.ortop.org/ftc/ct.htm#FEST