Since this is our rookie year doing FTC we did not know what to expect when we went to our first competition. This made it confusing and overwhelming.

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The following information is for people who want to start a team or for rookie teams who want to know what to expect.

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When you first walk in the door you want to make sure all of the team members, parents, and coaches have safety glasses because you can not enter the pits until you have proper safety eye wear. When you find your table, set up your sign if you have one.

 

Then start your scouting.  Scouting is where you go around to the different teams and see what they say their robot can do and what missions they can do. Using this information makes it easier to choose an alliance for the semi-finals if you have to. We have a short questionnaire already made so we just have to go walk around and ask questions.  We also have a little flier to hand out to the other teams about our robot. Try to get as much done before your judging time.  Make sure you complete your robot and field inspection otherwise you can’t compete.

 

During judging, we suggest making a presentation where each of the team members has a part that they memorize.  Be sure to include what you did for outreach, your sponsors and how they contributed to your team, what you use to program and build your robot and especially GRACIOUS PROFESSIONALISM. Have lots of energy, shake their hands, make eye contact and give them something to help them remember your team.

 

After the opening ceremony, robot runs start.  Each team gets 5 robot runs. Talk to your alliance before your run to come up with a game plan.  Wish your opponents good luck!

 

If you have a larger team make sure that everyone has a job.  Someone should always be in the pits because the judges will come and ask additional questions. (No one ever told us this at our first competition and the other teams were surprised that we didn’t have anyone there.  We were cheering for our team.) So, either have them watch the robot run and hurry back to the pits or have them stay there permanently.

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Most teams make one Engineering Notebook, but we made two so there can be one on our table for the other teams to see.  The official one has all of the receipts and drawing of our robot. The other one just has all of the simple stuff like the day to day log.
 
Make sure to be watching all of the other team's robot runs, looking for team that can do the harder, higher scoring tasks.  Also look at the leader board (some parts of it we still don’t understand) to see the standings of the different teams.  Hopefully, you will be chosen to be in one of the top 4 Alliances or choose someone to be in your alliance. Select someone who compliments what your robot does.
 
We hope this has helped you! Good Luck!!