Bonus Blog - Side Shields

A Public Service Announcement on Safety...

If you wear glasses and would prefer to wear side shields instead of safety glasses over your prescription glasses, they must meet ANSI standards for safety. Side shields approved for FIRST events must have a ANSI-Z87 classification. 

The flimsy plastic pieces are not enough for FIRST competitions. Protect those beautiful eyes of yours! Here's an Amazon site to purchase side shields.

Championship Information, Phoenix Results & Happy Holidays!

AZ & NM Championship Information!

Congrats to the teams that have qualified for the AZ & NM Championship so far! A couple of reminders for you:

• Remember that driver and coach meetings will be Friday evening 2/22 so we can start judging early. Remember that it can snow in Flagstaff in February, and please plan your travel accordingly. 
• Teams who qualify for the Championship MUST play in the other qualifiers they are registered for...think of this as bonus practice without the pressure of trying to qualify. 
• Payment for Championship is due by February 16. 
• Division assignments will be announced the week of Championship after the last qualifier, and will be assigned randomly. 

Team didn't qualify this year? Consider volunteering!

• We especially need judges, referees, robot inspectors, and qualified CSAs. 
• Inspection will begin Friday evening, along with judge and referee training. Please plan to be in Flagstaff Friday 2/22 if you plan to volunteer for any of these roles. 
• We need a good count of all our volunteers by February 10. We will not be able to accommodate any last-minute or walk-on volunteers because of the catering requirements for this event. All volunteers MUST register through their FIRST Dashboard. Contact Christine if you're interested in volunteering. 

Phoenix Event Results

Congrats to all the teams that competed in Phoenix, and thank you to FRC Team 2375 Dragon Robotics for putting on such an awesome event!

Inspire Award: 15430, ACE Robotics
Winning Alliance: 12901, Project: Cobra & 12767, Catholic Master Builders
Finalist Alliance: 10111, Herberger Javelinas & 13968, Herberger Howlers
Think Award: 10984, Beep Patrol
Connect Award: 12901, Project: Cobra
Rockwell Collins Innovate Award: 12767, Catholic Master Builders
Design Award: 13910, Voltage
Motivate Award: 10111, Herberger Javelinas
Control Award: 14886, Cobra Strike
Judges Award: 12604, Tiger Blue

Teams Advancing to the Championship: 
15430, ACE Robotics
13309, ISTA botCatz
13968, Herberger Howlers
12901, Project: Cobra


Apple Engineering Camp
Applications are now available for the Apple Engineering Camp! Please encourage your students to apply by December 28. Find out more information here.

And now: A Holiday Wish from the Arizona & New Mexico FIRST Tech Challenge Planning Committee...

Photo courtesy of cheezburger

Have a safe and relaxing Holiday! We'll see you for more exciting Rover Ruckus action in 2019!!

Safety Glasses, Deadlines & Tucson Results

Deadline to Register for Qualifying Tournaments - December 12 at Noon!
Looking for one more Rover Ruckus play this season? We have just a handful of spots left in New Mexico! 

Alamogordo: January 12 - 18 teams registered, 2 spots left
Albuquerque: January 26 - 18 teams registered, 6 spots left

The deadline for registering for any of these remaining spots is Tomorrow at Noon, NOT JANUARY 12 (sorry my mistake!) Trophies for all remaining qualifiers must be ordered on Wednesday. Albuquerque will played as a 1-field event if there are 20 teams or less by then. Teams will still be allowed to join wait lists for any full events. 

January Dean's List Deadline is FRIDAY!
Dean's List Nominations for all January tournaments is coming up on Friday, December 15 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. For many of you this is your last opportunity to nominate!!! It's also the last opportunity for New Mexico events! Teams competing in the Alamogordo, Queen Creek, Albuquerque, and Chandler qualifiers must submit their nominations by the deadline via your Dashboard. See the Dean's List resources to the right for more information. 

Reminder - Safety Glasses
Remember, teams are required to provide their own safety glasses for every student, coach, mentor and spectator that comes as a part of the team. Safety glasses are required on the field and in the pit at all times. While the tournament may have a small number of safety glasses available as a courtesy for spectators and other visitors not affiliated with a team, we do not have enough to loan out to teams who forget their own. 

Safety glasses may not be so dark or so tinted that your eyes are not visible through the lenses. Sunglasses and darkly tinted lenses are not allowed. Please review Rule T16 in Game Manual Part 1 for more information. 

Tucson Event Results

Congrats to all the teams that competed in Tucson, and thank you to Team 11980 Team Viper for putting on such an awesome event!

Inspire Award: 8499, RoboHawks
Winning Alliance: 3666, Hawks & 7840, Hawks
Finalist Alliance: 14584, Pioneer 327 & 2944, T-REX
Think Award: 12568 Vibrant Robotics
Connect Award: 10523, Dragons
Rockwell Collins Innovate Award: 14814, Midnight Cicadas 2
Design Award: 10246, Midnight Cicadas
Motivate Award: 14584, Pioneer 327
Control Award: 3666, Hawks
Judges Award: 15135, Lil Vipers

Teams Advancing to the Championship: 
8499, RoboHawks
12568, Vibrant Robotics
7840, Hawks

GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE TEAMS COMPETING IN PHOENIX THIS WEEKEND!!!

Tucson Live Stream

Good Luck to all the teams competing at the Tucson Qualifier this weekend!

Thank you to the CocoNuts FIRST Robotics Team for providing the live stream! Check out all the action on here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzYVR3se2B8

GO TEAMS!!!

Glendale Results; Deadline for Qualifiers & Dean's List

Not competing in Tucson? Volunteer for FIRST Lego League!
And now a message from long-time FIRST volunteer & coach Jessica Popham: "AZ friends! Looking for some more help for our 1st QC FLL tournament. This Saturday, December 8th 8-4 pm. Free lunch, free t-shirt. If you like any of the following; fun, free food, kids, robots, Legos, space, NASA... at Queen Creek High School. Let me know if interested."

Deadline to Register for Qualifying Tournaments
Looking for one more Rover Ruckus play this season? We have just a handful of spots left in New Mexico! Don't wait until your team has a blast at their first event and wants to play another...register now! 

Alamogordo: January 12 - 18 teams registered, 2 spots left
Albuquerque: January 26 - 17 teams registered, 7 spots left

The deadline for registering for any of these remaining spots is Wednesday December 12 at Noon. Teams will still be allowed to join wait lists for any full events. 

NOTE: Albuquerque is scheduled to be a 2-field event capped at 24 teams. If it is at 20 teams or less on Dec. 12, it will be played as a 1-field event. The difference between 20 teams and 21 teams at an event is the playoff alliances (2 vs 3 teams), which also impacts the trophies needed for an event. 

Control System Alert!!!

Teams,  this year’s game rule <RS02> says you must have version 4.0 or above for your Driver Station and Robot Controller Apps.  Instructions for downloading the latest versions from the Google Play store can be found here. 

If you are programming with OnBot Java or Blocks Programming, installing the latest version of the DS and RC apps will not impact your existing programs. They will still reside on your RC app after the installation. 

For Android Studio programmers, you will also need to download the latest version of the FTC SDK (ftc_app-master) on GitHub. Copy your robot programs into the new FTC SDK using the copy/paste function found on Android Studio’s “Project” panel.  

January Dean's List Deadline Coming Up!
You have a student on your team, who above all others, demonstrates leadership, has an entrepreneurial spirit, and is dedicated to increasing awareness of FIRST^®. FIRST^® Tech Challenge students are changing the world – help the change-maker on your team further their potential and nominate them for the Dean’s List Award.

Dean's List Nominations for all January tournaments is coming up on Friday, December 15 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. For many of you this is your last opportunity to nominate!!! It's also the last opportunity for New Mexico events!

Teams competing in the Alamogordo, Queen Creek, Albuquerque, and Chandler qualifiers must submit their nominations by the deadline via your Dashboard. See the Dean's List resources to the right for more information. 

Glendale Event Results

Congrats to all the teams that competed in Glendale, and thank you to Team 12901 Project: COBRA for putting on such an awesome event!

Inspire Award: 14436, Roaring Robotics
Winning Alliance: 2844, Valley X & 13604, Alumin-nati & 15058,Jaguar Robotics
Finalist Alliance: 14436, Roaring Robotics & 11666 Griffin Robotics & 12884, Bucephalus
Think Award: 12884, Bucephalus
Connect Award: 6174, Automatons
Rockwell Collins Innovate Award: 201, BroncoBotics
Design Award: 2844, Valley X
Motivate Award: 8995, Jaegers
Control Award: 15058 Jaguar Robotics
Judges Award: 15186, Lady Falcons

Teams Advancing to the Championship: 
14436, Roaring Robotics
13604, Alumin-nati
9743, Stingers
15058, Jaguar Robotics
8995, Jaegers

GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE TEAMS COMPETING IN TUCSON THIS WEEKEND!!!