2016-2017 Email Blast #2
Louisiana FIRST Tech Challenge Coaches,
1. Outreach events next week
2. Kickoff follow-up
3. Qualifier dates
4. Registration update
5. Field set hints
1. Outreach events next week
There are two FTC demo/outreach events next week that we could use help with:
Demo 1) We will have an FTC field as one of the STEM exhibits at Journey to Mars at UNO event (http://www.uno.edu/journey-to-mars/). We can use teams during these times September 22-24:
Thursday: 10:00 – 4:30
Friday: 09:00 – 4:00
Saturday: 10:00 – 6:00
We particularly need someone for Saturday, but we also still want help Thursday-Friday. If you have a moving robot, all the better, but even if you can drop off a static robot display with or without your students, please let me know.
Demo 2) We will have an FTC field at the Girl Scouts BIG Event at Southeastern LA University on Saturday September 24 (http://www.gsle.org/en/events-repository/2016/the_big_event.html). We can use teams from 9:00-3:00 to show their robots and talk with the girls. There will be an FLL table as well.
2. Kickoff follow-up
Thanks to everyone who attended the inaugural Louisiana FIRST Tech Challenge Kickoff, and special thanks to Torbotics for hosting, to Redfish Robotics, Jesuit Robotics, and Team Pyrogen for leading discussions, and to our ref Michael Belanger. Michael will have some follow-up info for teams from his reading of the rules.
3. Qualifier dates
So as far as I know we’re okay to have our Regional Championship March 4, so we need to set dates for Qualifiers and look for venues. The dates I originally proposed for scrimmages were December 3 and January 21, but the Planning Committee needs to look at the schedule again. If you’re interested in hosting and you’re sure you have sufficient space (you can find the Tournament Planning Guide online or ask me), check your possible dates and we’ll solicit those in the next week or so.
4. Registration update
We have 16 teams registered today and a handful more on the way. Right now I’m anticipating we’ll register about 25 teams (yay!).
5. Field set hints
If you ordered the field set:
– If you want to have the exact paint for your field set center vortex base, there is an image of the label you can bring to Home Depot to make that easier: http://www.ftclouisiana.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/paint_label.jpg
– The plywood base can warp, at least if you only paint the top. To try to prevent it, paint both sides, and if it warped, wet the unpainted side and put heavy weights on it to straighten it out (that’s the advice I was given).
– To attach the beacons, you can drill/tap the top holes on the brackets and thread 1/4-20 by 5/8″ thumbscrews in instead of using the 10-32 screws/nuts.
Thanks and I hope you’re all having a great start to build season!