SAN DIEGO FIRST TECH CHALLENGE
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Sophomores and juniors are eligible for FTC Dean's list award

9/16/2016

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"Each FIRST Tech Challenge Team is invited to select up to 2 students who are in the 10th or 11th grade (sophomores or juniors) as FIRST Dean's List Semi-Finalists." Nominations can be made by each teams' coaches/mentors. Semi-Finalists may be selected to be their State or Region's Finalist, and then 10 Finalists will be selected as Dean's List Winners at the World Championship. See this link for coach guidelines and further information.
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Actobotics, an alternative to Tetrix, and ServoCity discounts and freebies

9/16/2016

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Picturedifferent hole spacing of Actobotics vs. Tetrix
The same way Pitsco makes the Tetrix brand of robot parts, ServoCity makes the Actobotics brand of robot parts. Actobotics uses a different hole spacing and pattern in its aluminum channels than Tetrix so it's probably preferable to stay with one system or the other. In order to attract more FTC teams to the Actobotics system, ServoCity offers free parts, a 25% discount, and even sponsors a number of FTC teams for $1000 worth of Actobotics parts. Even if you don't use the Actobotics system, the discount can be used for servos and other robot components so every team should consider signing up for some or all of the offers below.

ServoCity FIRST Hub - sign up for their FTC Newsletter and get free parts
  • FIRST Team discounts 25% off
  • FTC Team Sponsorships $1000 of Actobotics parts
  • ​Actobotics weekly product giveaway on Twitter
  • ​ServoCity.com newsletter and get entered to win a $100 gift certificate​

Brainstormers (FTC8644) from Lexington, MA has a couple of videos on using Actobotics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8IWWAi2ruo

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Syndicate (FTC9441) releases App to view velocity vortex field as a 3D model

9/12/2016

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Syndicate (FTC9441) has created the FTC Velocity Vortex 3D Field app for this year's challenge.
"Our app allows teams to view this year's field as a 3D model within the app. Our goal was to provide a quick and easy view of the field, which would be more effective than looking at a basic 2D image. We think this app is a great utility for all FTC teams. Our app is currently on Google Play, and we are in the process of releasing it on iOS."

​FTC Velocity Vortex 3D Field app on Google Play

​We'll also put the link on the  Resources page. If you try it out, let us know what you think!
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discuss the velocity vortex challenge with teams around the world Monday Sep 12 at 4:30pm Pacific

9/11/2016

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Picture
The FTC TEC (Team Engineering Collaborative) Network has been joining teams together over Google Hangout videoconferences. Their next event for discussing the just released "Velocity Vortex" challenge is tomorrow afternoon Sep 12 at 4:30-5:30pm Pacific. Rookies and veterans are all welcome; you can just watch and listen, or you can discuss to your heart's content.

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Build a Velocity Vortex robot in 1 weekend?!

9/11/2016

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Yes, there are groups of people who attempt this every year right after the FTC challenge is revealed! Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fail, but it's always a great source of ideas. Check out the links on the Resources page.
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Almost 50 teams at Kickoff for "Velocity Vortex"

9/11/2016

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The San Diego region kicked off the 2016-2017 FTC season yesterday Sep 10 at the Fleet Science Center with almost 50 teams in attendance including about 9 rookie teams! Colin Nilsen, Captain of Rise of Hephaestus (FTC4216), was the Master of Ceremonies introducing the speakers. Dr. Steven Snyder, CEO of the Fleet Science Center, led the morning by saying how happy he was to host FTC and speaking of the Fleet's mission to reach out to the community and connect with scientists and engineers wherever they live, work, and play. Our next speaker was Charles Bergan, VP of Engineering, Qualcomm Corporate R&D, and he spoke about how the Qualcomm engineers design and build drones that could double crop yields worldwide in a scalable manner. This allows their employees to "save the world" and make a very good living at the same time -- similar futures await hard-working FTC graduates.

John Brooks, San Diego FTC Affiliate Partner, then got up to describe the new League structure in San Diego. We will have 5 leagues, each with 12-16 teams. Teams will compete in their league's Meet #1, then be mixed with teams from other leagues in  Meet #2 and Meet #3, playing 6 matches at each meet with no judging. Then each league will have a League Tournament with judging  among just the teams in their league. Each team will carry forward their 10 best match scores (QP and RP) into the League Tournament. Top winners at each League Tournament will advance to the San Diego Regional Championship. Team coaches should have received this information by email. See the Calendar for dates of the Meets, Tournaments, and Championship. 

 John then brought up Isabelle Ho, Captain of RoBowties (FTC6137), to introduce the new San Diego region FTC website sdftc.org, and she asked everyone for suggestions and feedback. After the game reveal for "Velocity Vortex" and teams viewing the actual field components, Rob Colatutto, coach of Green.Griffins (FTC10092), reviewed the game rules and handled Q&A. Also, John Brooks passed out a "swag bag" to each team (containing a red and blue whiffle ball, a large cap ball, and a pump to inflate it) so if your team didn't receive one, contact John.

​Finally, we need a set of 5 names for our 5 leagues - again, send your suggestions to John Brooks.

​Good luck to all teams!

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SDFTC.org website is now live

9/7/2016

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The San Diego FTC region now has its own website!
​

Send us your team picture so we can include it on the Teams page slideshow. We're trying to make the website work for cellphones and laptops.  Also, send us your team's preferred social media links - open platforms (email, websites, Twitter, etc)  are preferred over closed (Facebook, etc) so people without specific accounts can access and communicate with you. Let us know how we can make it more useful for you, and help us correct any errors and omissions!
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Kickoff at Fleet Science Center

9/1/2016

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The kickoff will be hosted by Rise of Hephaestus (FTC4216) and Robotics Inspiring Science and Engineering (R.I.S.E.) with a generous sponsorship from Qualcomm!

Please RSVP with an approximate number of attendees by sending an email to [email protected].

  • When: 
    September 10, 2016  8:00am – 10:30am. Doors will open at 8:00am with presentations and activities starting at 8:30am before the live broadcast of the kick off!
  • Where: 
    Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and Theater
    1875 El Prado, Balboa Park
    San Diego, CA 92101
    Google map
  • What:  
    FIRST FTC Kickoff 2016-2017 followed by rules interpretation by
    Green.Griffins (FTC10092) ​mentors Robert Colatutto and Daniel Glenn.  Teams in attendance will also receive free game elements for this year’s game (i.e., balls, blocks, pucks, batons, or whatever it is the robots will have to manipulate).  Other potential activities are still being developed! 

​We look forward to seeing you!
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  • Home
  • 2025-26 Regional Information
  • 2025-26 Judging Guidelines
  • 2025-26 Season Info
    • 2025-26 Meet #1 Nov 22-23 at Francis Parker
    • 2025-26 Meet #2 Dec 20-21 at Crawford High School
    • 2025-26 Meet #3 Jan 10-11 at Sage Creek HS
    • 2025-26 League Championships Feb 7-8 at Sage Creek HS
  • Volunteer!
    • AB506
  • Blog & News
  • About SDFTC
    • Region Committee
    • History