2010 NYC FIRST Robotics Competition

March 12-14, 2010

Jacob Javits Convention Center

Get details about our big event HERE!

Sixty-four teams are registered for this event!  For a list of the teams click HERE.  The event is free and open to the public.  Youth under 15 years old need to be accompanied by an adult.

To learn more about this year’s game, Breakaway, click HERE.

If you would like to volunteer at this event please register by going HERE and completing the necessary information.  The schedule for the event is as follows:

• March 12th, Friday 
  • 7:45 am – Doors open for 3 team members to uncrate the robot
  • 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm - Lunch
  • 8:30 am to 4:30 pm – Practice Matches
• March 13th, Saturday 
  • 9:00 am – 9:30 am - Opening Ceremony
  • 9:30 am - 12:30 pm - Seeding Matches
  • 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm - Lunch
  • 1:30 pm - 5:30 pm - Seeding Matches
  • 5:45 pm - 6:15 pm - Awards Ceremony
• March 14th, Sunday 
  • 9:00 am to 9:30 am – Opening Ceremony
  • 9:30 am - 12:15 pm - Seeding Matches
  • 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm - Lunch
  • 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm - Final Rounds
  • 4:45 pm - 5:30 pm - Awards Ceremony

For directions on locating the Jacob Javits Center use the map located HERE, or utilize a GPS device to locate 655 West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001.

For public transportation info click HERE.

For questions or concerns, please contact Cherrie Fleisher-Strauss, the NYC Regional Planning Committee Chair at [email protected].

NYC Roving Mentors and Opportunities for New Mentors

As a means for assisting more FIRST Robotics Competition teams in NYC a few Mentors have joined forces to visit multiple teams instead of working with a single team for the entire season.  If your team needs special assistance contact Senior Mentor Kristian Breton via [email protected]. Please specify the days and hours your team meets and describe the challenge(s) your team is facing.  Mentors are prepared to help teams with electrical, mechanical, or programming problems.  If the nature of the problem is programming please include in your email the language your team has chosen to utilize.

In addition, volunteers are still needed to support teams. If you are mechanically inclined or have programming skills (Java, C++, or Labview) we need your expertise!  Teams are also using Autodesk 3D to create animation presentations.  If this is your first time experiencing FIRST we will pair you with a team that has Mentors to show you the ropes.   Contact Kristian Breton at the aforementioned email address to inquire further.

Liberty Science Center Eweek Exhibition 2010

Where: Chalsty Center (ground floor), Liberty Science Center, 222 Jersey City Boulevard, Jersey City, NJ

When: Monday, February 15, 2010 (10:00 - 15:00)

The FIRST LEGO League (FLL) team Landroids #109 is hosting the 3^rd annual Liberty Science Center (LSC) FLL exhibition during Engineers Week on Monday February 15, 2010 (President’s Day). Each year, the top New Jersey FIRST LEGO League teams are invited to gather as volunteers for a day of robot demonstration and research project presentation to 3,500 to 4,000 visitors.

This year, the event will also include the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) and the Jr. FIRST LEGO League (Jr. FLL), forming a link between all three divisions, spanning from kindergarten to the high school level. More than 80 students and coaches from all over New Jersey will be volunteering in this event.  Separate programming presentations offered by Storming Robots and LEGO models will also be on display. It will be a fun robotics day!

This LSC exhibition is a non-competitive, networking opportunity for the NJ teams. It is also a wonderful opportunity for parents and children who are interested in getting involved to see the robots up-close, and be able to chat with the teams and the coaches for more information.

For the attending team list, see  2010 LSC FLL team flyer

To see the past event photos, click HERE.

2010 NJ FIRST Robotics Competition

The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) New Jersey Regional is coming to the Sun National Bank Center on March 5, 6 & 7 presented by Johnson and Johnson.  We look forward to having you join in the celebration.  It seems we will have teams coming from everywhere this year – New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, Texas, Puerto Rico, and Brazil!  WOW!  It is shaping up to be a great weekend and planning committee is everything it can to bring you a 9 match event this year.

This year’s game is FIRST Breakway,  an exciting game that combines soccer and pinball involving two alliances of three robots each.  The video explaining the game can be found HERE.

Location

• Sun National Bank Center (Formerly Sovereign Bank Arena)
  81 Hamilton Avenue
  Trenton NJ 08609
• Venue Website can be found HERE
• Directions can be found HERE

Dates and Times

• March 5th, Friday - Practice Day
  • 7:45 am - Doors open for 3 Team members only to uncrate the robot
  • 8:30 am to 5:30 pm - Practice Matches
• March 6th, Saturday - Qualification Matches
  • 8:30 am - Drivers Meeting
  • 8:30 am to 5:30 pm - Qualification Matches
• March 7th, Sunday - Qualification and Elimination Matches
  • 8:30 am to 5:30 pm - Qualification and Elimination Matches

More details will be posted posted as the schedule is finalized.

Special Events

The NJ Regional Committee in cooperation with a number of local FRC teams have special events planned during the competition.  Please go HERE to see what is planned and how to be involved.

Lunch Pre-order

For those participating FIRST teams which wish to do so, the Pre-Order Lunch form can be found HERE. This offer is for registered teams only.

Safety

As always, safety will be a priority.  Please make sure that everyone on your team has safety glasses.  You will need to bring extras for your invited guests.  Each team MUST bring 10 pairs of glasses for other guests or to replace lost glasses.  These are to be dropped off at Pit Admin when you sign-in your Team.

The carrying of heavy items down the stairs to the arena floor will not be allowed.  Only small, lightweight items should be carried this way.  All other items must use the freight elevator to get to the pit area.

Gloves must be worn by anyone handling the robot.  Please make sure that your drive team/pit crew members are properly equipped.
All children under the age of 13 MUST be escorted by an adult while in the pit area.  No strollers will be allowed in the pit area and we ask any parents using back-pack style carriers to have the baby in the front, not the back.  Any person wearing Open-toed, Open /sling Back, Flip-flops, Crocs, etc. will not permitted in the “Pits”

Volunteering

As always, we need lots of help to bring you the best regional around. We are asking each team to provide 2 volunteers for Saturday and Sunday to help from 8 AM to 5 PM or 4 volunteers to work half-day shifts.  Remember, without the generous help of our volunteers, we would not be able to bring you the high quality experience that you enjoy.  By February 18th, please send the volunteers’ names and email addresses to the NJ FRC Volunteer Coordinator, Daryl Reisfeld (VC.NJFIRST [at] yahoo.com), and have the volunteers register in VIMS which can be reached HERE.

Other information

• The Teams particpating can be found on FIRST’s website HERE, or Sorted by Town HERE
  
• During and After the Event, visit this page for:
  • Click HERE for Standing
  • Click HERE for Match Results
  • Click HERE for Awards

Don’t forget to apply for FIRST Scholarships!!!  See HERE for information on over $12 Million in scholarship available to students on FIRST teams.

Keep watching this page for more information as it becomes available!

Visit Team 694’s Website to Connect FIRST Alumni

FIRSTConnects.us started out as Team 694’s response to Dean Kamen’s 2009 FIRST Robotics homework assignment. FIRSTConnects.Us is, first and foremost, a database of everyone involved in FIRST Robotics: FRC/FTC/FLL members, coaches, volunteers, sponsors, everyone! You can use this site to find a member’s contact info, a new mentor, or someone you met at a regional. On our newly updated site, you can also create your own groups based on location or interest, write blog posts, or start referring friends to rack up user points and bring our database to our goal of 1000 registered FIRST participants by the start of regional competitions. The possibilities are endless. Join today, and connect everyone else in FIRST to you!

Haitian FIRST Students Affected by Tragedy in Haiti

Several teams in the NYC Metropolitan area have Haitian members in their midst.  We visited the  It Takes A Village Academy for Math , Science and Technology (ITAVA) FIRST Tech Challenge team  this past Saturday to learn more about how the team is coping with the tragic events, one that affects teachers and students alike at this predominantly Haitian and Haitian/American school.

ITAVA is based within the Tilden Educational Campus, located in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn. It opened its doors in 2007. Some of IVAVA’s  members reported were relieved to have heard from their families. Relief, rather than “happiness” though, as peers in the team and school are still waiting and praying to hear from their loved ones. They are all holding tight by actively working with the ITAVA Student Council, encouraging donations of medicine, clothing and funding to help the victims in Port-au-Prince.  We were impressed by the maturity and strength of these youngsters.  Haitians are strong; they said – they have been made strong by their history. Haiti will overcome this tragedy, and we are all helping to do that…”  The team asked me to encourage the NYC FIRST Community to donate to their charity of choice for the Haitian cause.

Team Coaches Mr. Morin and Mr Howell would like to afford their youngsters an experience of success through FTC this season. “Success is an empowering experience,” Coach Gordon Howell said; “more than ever, our youngsters need to experience positive achievements.”

The team welcomes engineers /programmers who can give them a hand through the upcoming weeks.  If you can provide technical help to the ITAVA FTC Team please contact Regional Director Ana Martinez ([email protected]) or call the NYC FIRST Desk at 718 260 3383.

NYC FIRST Robotics Competition Mid-season Java Control System Workshop

CONTROL SYSTEM WORKSHOP: intended to guide your teams control systems preparation and get a basic JAVA control program downloaded into your bots!

Where: Polytechnic Institute of NYU
Six Metrotech Center
JAB 473
Brooklyn, NY 11201

When: Saturday, January 23, 2010 (10:00 - 4:00)

Register HERE, there is room for four team members from each team

For more information please go to this site

NJ FIRST LEGO League 2009 State Championship Results

After three months of robot design and project research, 46 FIRST LEGO League (FLL) teams out of 141 teams in NJ were selected from nine qualifying events throughout the State. They had gathered on December 12^th, 2009 at the Mt. Olive High School in Flanders, NJ to compete for the New Jersey State Champion title. The Champion’s Award winner received an invitation to the FLL World Festival which is to be held in April, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia to compete with 84 teams from 35 countries.

The FIRST LEGO League is an annual international science and robotics competition for students age 9 to 14. Each year, a different real-life but open-ended challenge topic and robot missions are announced globally in the beginning of September. Students have to determine their own project topic, interview experts, conduct research, and share their findings and innovative solutions with the community. In addition, each team has to design an autonomous robot using only LEGO parts to perform a set of predetermined missions in 2-1/2 minutes.

This year’s “Smart Move” challenge is about transportation. Each team has to identified a problem and proposed improvements in safety and efficiency of transportation in their community. Students are encouraged to explore science, technology, engineering and math in this volunteer/ mentor-based competition, while learning valuable life skills such as teamwork, problem solving, time management and public speaking.

As visitors and participants entered the Mt. Olive High School, the lobby area was filled with opportunities to enjoy! After registration, teams had the opportunity to decorate their pit areas and participated in robot practice rounds. Teams were invited in raffle drawings, purchase FIRST memorabilia and T-shirts, and demo the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) robots.

In the morning of the tournament, there were three 15-minute back-to-back closed door judging sessions for teams to meet with different panels of judges. Over 40 judges challenged the students in various skills. These judges were from the Jersey City Board Of Education, the NJ FLL prime sponsor Sanofi-Aventis, adult mentors from numerous FRC teams, and many local business executives to compile this group of scoring experts.

Teams were to present their research projects in a creative way, go through the technical interview about their robot designs, and solve a teamwork challenge in a cooperative manner. Throughout the morning, there were also robot practice and many last minute fine tunings of the robot programming at the pit areas. Many teams chose to take this opportunity to get a closer look at each other’s robot design and the project boards, took pictures and socialize, while the coaches exchanged ideas and experiences.

The FLL opening ceremony started shortly after lunch to initiate the robot performance rounds in a sport arena type of setting. The Mt. Olive High School Principal, Mr. Kevin Stansberry and School Superintendent Dr. Larrie Reynolds, as well as Mount Olive Robotics Team (MORT) welcomed all participants and spectators.

The robot performance competition was the most exciting and nerve racking part of the competition by far. Each team had 3 chances to compete head-to-head in pairs to complete a set of pre-assigned missions in the autonomous mode in 2.5 minutes. This was where practice and good design plus luck would prevail to achieve the perfect 400 points. Cheering, music, and thumping from the spectator bleachers can be heard throughout the afternoon. Many people were taking photos and videos up close to catch all the actions of their favorite teams. Limited two robot handlers were allowed at the competition table during any given time each round; and these students must be able to operate the robot, make on the spot strategy decisions, verified the scores, and identify the problem areas to make corrections or adjustments before the next round.

After hours of fast-pace and intense competitions, the winners of this year’s project research, robot design, teamwork, and robot performance were announced, along with the mentor award, judges and team spirit awards were given out. This year’s 1^st place robot performance winner, HMS Platinum from Hillsborough, NJ achieved two rounds of perfect 400 points. The 2^nd place Robot Performance winner and also the 2^nd place Champion’s Award recipient, NanoGurus #6831, was a 4^th-year neighborhood team from Parsippany, NJ. After being two consecutive years as the NJ State Champion and the FLL ambassador, in their 3^rd and final FLL season, team Landroids #109 pass the torch the new 1^st place Champion’s Award winner, The Atoms Family #4832. Even though the Atoms Family has ranked #5 in the robot performance score, the Champion’s Award was given to a team who, in the big picture, was the strongest in all of the four categories combined: Research, Robot Design, Robot Performance, and Teamwork. By receiving this most prestigious award in FLL, this 4^th year neighborhood team from Roxbury, NJ will be representing New Jersey at the FLL World Festival in Atlanta, GA.

Also coinciding with the FLL State Championship is the New Jersey Junior FIRST LEGO League (Jr.FLL) Expo held at the high school library. Jr.FLL is a non-competitive robotics program for student ages six to nine. Students were asked to work on a “Smart Move” project by learning about how people, animals, and things are moved from one place to another. Students need to hunt for answers and create a poster to demonstrate their findings. They also need to use LEGO bricks with an option to use a LEGO robotics kit to build their models. Eight Jr.FLL teams from around the State participated in the event. Each team received a trophy and each child received a certificate for their participation.

This concluded the New Jersey FLL and Jr.FLL 2009 “Smart Move” season. See below for a complete list of 2009 NJ FIRST LEGO League State tournament winners. For the Daily Record news video coverage of this tournament, click HERE.

FTC Robotics Workshop Truman HS 1/23/10

Time: 9AM - 3PM
Place: 750 Baycheter Ave, Bronx, NY
(service road of I95 north)
Activities: Build, code, practice with competition field setup
Contact: Janet Jacobson
646-228-1484/[email protected]
Directions: http://jacobsonmathworld.com/directions.doc

Tragedy in Haiti

We are all aware of the catastrophic events affecting Haiti. Our hearts go to the metropolitan New York City Haitian community and particularly to all Haitian students who are part of  FIRST teams. We share your suffering for what your Motherland is going through, and pray for good news from your loved ones.

Several teams in the NYC Metropolitan area have Haitian members in their midst.  We visited the  It Takes A Village Academy for Math , Science and Technology (ITAVA) FIRST Tech Challenge team  this past Saturday to learn more about how the team is coping with the tragic events, one that affects teachers and students alike at this predominantly Haitian and Haitian/American school.

ITAVA is based within the Tilden Educational Campus, located in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn. It opened its doors in 2007. Some of IVAVA’s  members reported were relieved to have heard from their families. Relief, rather than “happiness” though, as peers in the team and school are still waiting and praying to hear from their loved ones. They are all holding tight by actively working with the ITAVA Student Council, encouraging donations of medicine, clothing and funding to help the victims in Port-au-Prince.  We were impressed by the maturity and strength of these youngsters.  Haitians are strong; they said – they have been made strong by their history. Haiti will overcome this tragedy, and we are all helping to do that…”  The team asked me to encourage the NYC FIRST Community to donate to their charity of choice for the Haitian cause.

Team Coaches Mr. Morin and Mr Howell would like to afford their youngsters an experience of success through FTC this season. “Success is an empowering experience,” Coach Gordon Howell said; “more than ever, our youngsters need to experience positive achievements.”

The team welcomes engineers /programmers who can give them a hand through the upcoming weeks.  If you can provide technical help to the ITAVA FTC Team please contact Regional Director Ana Martinez ([email protected]) or call the NYC FIRST Desk at 718 260 3383.