The registration guides linked below contain info on establishing a FIRST Account, setting up a team profile, inviting contacts, applying for screening, accessing the Storefront, etc. with screenshots.

• RETURNING TEAMS (veterans) – remember to register using your existing team number. MI Archive FTC Team List (tab 1 & 2 contain a historical list of team numbers).
  • Veteran Team Registration Guide – includes screenshots
  • Update team contacts – Remember to have matriculating team contacts invite their replacements before moving programs.
• NEW TEAMS (rookies) – Grants are available that covers 100% of a newly forming team’s season registration fee and reusable robot kit of parts!
  • Rookie Team Registration Guide – includes screenshots
    • Team Name is a mandatory field when setting up the Team Profile. If your team does not have a name yet, just fill in TBD. You can update this field at a later time once a team name is chosen.
  • Start the team registration process but DO NOT PAY for anything until applying for the FIRST FTC HQ Rookie Team Grant.
    • Apply for this grant using your temporary team number which starts with “2020”.
  • FIRST in Michigan FTC Rookie Team Grant is available to newly forming teams. Visit the GRANTS page on the FIRST in Michigan FTC website for details.
    • All past team numbers out of a given school district must be registered for the current season before a newly forming team is eligible for the grant.
    • Teams must apply for the FIRST HQ FTC Rookie Team Grant first.
    • A similar grant is available for newly forming FLL-Challenge teams too! Email michiganfll@gmail.com for details.

2020-21 FTC SEASON KICKOFF 

The 2020-21 FTC season kickoff will be on Saturday, Sept. 12, 12:00PM (noon) with the reveal of the season’s new game, ULTIMATE GOAL!

Game materials including the game animation and Game Manual 2 will be posted on the FIRST site at https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/ftc/game-and-season-info.

There will be kickoff events in various locations around the state. Visit the EVENTS site page for details on how to connect and gather (safely!) with our FIRST in Michigan (FiM) FTC community to launch this new season. Events are still being added so check the EVENTS site page for updates.

Teams can pre-order a half or full set of ULTIMATE GOAL game elements directly from AndyMark, an official FIRST vendor.

2020-21 FiM FTC EVENTS

The 2020-21 season will truly be one for “Game Changers”! It presents some unique challenges with social distancing and gathering restriction rules still in effect in many areas. But, it also presents opportunities to try new things and discover creative and innovative ways to meet the challenges that face us.

FIRST in Michigan FTC will start competition season (with advancement) in December and will expand it into January, February as needed. This adjustment should give teams the time to formulate ways to meet, build, and play that keep to the scenario and/or comfort zone they are in. We will plan for our usual spring events (mid May; no advancement) but the format of those events i.e. remote or traditional is unknown at this time.

FIRST in Michigan FTC will support two types of event rollouts for the 2020-21 season that will be adaptable to the conditions in a given area: traditional and/or remote events. We will begin the 2020-21 competition season in the remote event rollout utilizing the “hub” location concept.

For teams with FRC connections – as FRC is able to keep last year’s robot and is playing last year’s game, the FRC season encroachment shouldn’t be much of an imposition. From an event hosting perspective, FRC supported hubs (see more on hubs below) enables FRC team members/mentors to continue their FTC engagement and outreach especially if the hub is in a separate location from gathering size constrained general team meetings.

Traditional events can already scale from 36 to 12 teams. The remote event rollouts will enable teams to compete in even smaller groups or independently. Both rollouts will be able to utilize remote judging across the same awards as traditional events. Remote events will allow for transition to traditional events as social distancing restrictions are relaxed. Both formats can also be followed throughout the season with advancement to FIRST in Michigan FTC States and all the way to FIRST Championship.

Teams will sign up for remote events through a FIRST developed Remote Event Hub (REH) platform. FIRST will be sharing details on the REH platform with program delivery partners (FiM) i.e. how teams access the REH to sign up for a remote event, how volunteers sign up, etc. by the end of this month. More info on this topic soon!

HUB LOCATIONS:

More on the hub concept is outlined below. If you think that your location could serve as a hub, please fill out the linked Google form below. Hubs aren’t limited to FTC – we would love to find sites that could accommodate our full progression of programs!

FiM HUB LOCATION FORM (link)

• FTC Hub locations will be identified all around the state.
• FiM will either place an official game field at a hub location and/or utilize a hub host supplied official game field. Due to the limits on gathering size, we will need many more hub locations than previous traditional event locations in order to service our teams.
• Hub locations and on site personnel will follow sanitizing protocol and adhere to PPE usage, social distancing, and gathering limits per state/local/venue ordinances.
• Teams will make an appointment to access the game field and run official matches per the remote event rollout.
• Hub hosts will have volunteers on site trained to fill roles such as FTA/CSA/Inspector/Referee to assist teams. Depending on the gathering limits in play, a maximum of two volunteers might have to cover these roles.
• Hub venue ideas:
  • Traditional event venues can transition to hubs and possibly run multiple remote events at the same time as space/gathering size allows.
  • Venues that have been too small to host large scale traditional events can likely work as a hub.
  • As hub equipment needs are less with a rather small footprint, hubs can move physical locations as needed.
  • School/sponsor/community sites such as a indoor sports arena, large conference room, venue birthday party room, church hall, etc.
• The most limited remote event rollout scenario will be where a team competes independently or a team member operates independently to execute the team’s official robot matches with remote judging. Arrangements could be made for a team to borrow a sanitized field/game elements from an area hub/team for their robot runs. Team coach(es) or family members would fill the roles of FTA/CSA/Inspector/Referee.

MIDDLE SCHOOL FTC CURRICULUM – with FRC opportunity!

FIRST in Michigan is developing middle school applicable FTC curriculum that will be open source for all teams. It is on track to deliver in Sept.

WE NEED YOUR HELP! Curriculum development is ready for the feedback phase and we need reviewers willing to provide comments/suggestions especially from those who have a background in education.

To join the project, email Danielle Ohm at danielle.ohm@gmail.com and request to be added to the FTC curriculum Google Classroom. The curriculum includes the following topic areas:

• Introduction to Engineering
• Engineering Design Process
• Identifying the Problem
• Basic Chassis Build Documentation
• Basic Phone Set Up Documentation
• Basic Blocks Coding Documentation and Videos
• Additional Coding Resources
• Materials from the Manipulator in five days challenge when released

CALLING ALL FRC TEAMS –

The curriculum will include a section on manipulators that will feature content and innovations from our FIRST in Michigan FRC teams. After this season’s FTC Challenge is released, participating FIM FRC teams will have five days to establish a strategy and, using parts available in either the REV Robotics or TETRIX Start Kit, design a Manipulator for their strategy. Teams are asked to create a brief two minute video explaining their team’s suggested strategy and another video explaining how they designed their manipulator to be used to achieve their strategy

FRC teams interested in participating in this outreach project can sign up to receive information using the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeJQXyaEvANYFyGs9AncvTvjrCY-YX80ABeHdCOlecful4BSA/viewform?usp=sf_link.

Questions can be directed to Danielle Ohm at danielle.ohm@gmail.com.

TEAM MEETING IDEAS TO SHARE

Teams that have developed remote/virtual team meeting plans that they are willing to share with our FiM FTC community can upload them to the Google folder listed below or email them to tammy@firstinmichigan.org for uploading. These plans will create a virtual library of ideas and serve as a source of inspiration for teams looking to keep their teams connected, figure out how to design/build/test their robot, and continue with outreach in our currently constricted environments.

FTC Team Meeting Plans and Ideas Google folder (link)

This folder does provide “edit” access to allow uploading so please use care when uploading/accessing the documents.

MDE FIRST ROBOTICS GRANT UPDATE 

The MI Dept. of Education FIRST Robotics state grant is moving forward in the budget process as legislators across both parties believe that our state needs to encourage more students in the STEM direction. They realize the world needs more of our brand of problem solvers and innovators, especially in today’s environment!

REV FTC TEAM GRANTS AVAILABLE, DEADLINE SEPT. 16

For the 2020-2021 Ultimate Goal Season, REV Robotics is awarding $25,000 in total FTC Team Sponsorships! The sponsorships are intended for both rookie and veteran teams that excel on the playing field while being good stewards of their local FIRST community through sharing their knowledge with other teams. For more information on how to apply, follow this link: REV FTC TEAM GRANTS.

KICKOFF SWEEPSTAKES, DEADLINE SEPT. 10

Complete your 2020-2021 FIRST Tech Challenge team season registration before September 10, 2020 for a chance to win the 2020 Kickoff Sweepstakes. The sweepstakes prize package includes one (1) 2020-2021 FIRST Tech Challenge season ULTIMATE GOAL partial game set and scoring elements. Follow this link for more information: FTC KICKOFF SWEEPSTAKES INFO. If your team has already completed your season registration, you are already entered into the sweepstakes. Four winners will be chosen at random from all eligible entrants on Sept. 12 during the FIRST Tech Challenge Season Kickoff broadcast on FIRSTtv.

PRODUCT DISCOUNT CODES