FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC)
"FIRST Tech Challenge started in 2005 as a prototyping tool for FRC. At the 2005 world championships, we ran a competition with the new kit, and found out that not only did teams want to prototype; they also wanted to compete."-Ken Johnson, the FTC Program Director
First there was FRC, then FLL, and now FTC! Started in 2005, this mid-level robotics competition offers all the experience of FIRST in a smaller, more manageable, and cheaper way. Much like FRC, Students and engineers work together in a student/mentor relationship, conquering the task in front of them. Then, teams go head-to-head in competition with other teams at regionals, all the time acting with gracious professionalism. "I really enjoy the simplicity of FTC, but still with all the good stuff inside!" For more info, visit FTC at FIRST's site.
Team 2805
From Stan Ferris, cofounder of Team 2449 and 2805
I started dreaming about doing a robotics team the summer before my first full year of teaching at JMPS, and started experimenting with the Parallax Boe-Bot. That year we had a modest group of middle school students who met after school a day or two each week. It was really fun, and I was hoping we could perhaps learn enough to advance up to a Vex level competition. Then out of the blue, late in the school year, we were contacted by Shea Ferring from Orbital who was interested in starting a joint-school FRC team that would include JMPS and Marcos students. Wow! After our first meeting with Shea and Jose, I knew this was way beyond what I was hoping to do, and that it was an incredible opportunity for us at JMPS! Cut to all of us sitting with the team in Atlanta last year at the FIRST world championship! There was talk about how to expand 2449 into the community. That's when I cranked up my courage and decided I would try to start an FTC team at our school. Hopefully we could get even more of our JMPS students interested in robotics by having a team right on our campus. They could then take their experiences on an FTC level and move up to the FRC 2449 team. So far, it seems to be working! We've got new young faces this year involved at the beginning level Robotics I, and on our new FTC team 2805. Plus we still have JMPS students and parents highly involved on the FRC 2449 team! At this writing, our 2805 team is about three weeks away from the Arizona competition. We're learning a lot every time we meet. The FTC platform allows for much prototyping and experimentation, and we are still refining some mechanical parts of an arm attachment. This is also our first try at programming in LabView! So I will be thrilled if we have a functioning bot that we can compete with this year. Most of all, I want our students to feel like 2805 is their team- with a student designed, built and programmed robot. No one has given up when things have been tough, and everyone is encouraging to others. We've had many challenges to overcome, and still the teamwork and positive spirit I see every week is incredible! Go 2805!!!
- Stan Ferris, founder of team 2805
See more photos at Mr. Ferris's site.
