**FIRST** FTC Registration System

[Mark McLeod]

Welcome to the 2007 season of the /FIRST/ Tech Challenge! We are very excited to begin another year!

The /FIRST/ Tech Challenge Registration System is now open to all teams. This system is different than last year, so please take the time to read through the system and answer all required fields. There are a few changes that were made that are explained fully below. Please read them carefully.


1. Assigning Contacts

Each FTC Team must list a Main Contact and an Alternate Contact. We also _*very strongly*_ encourage you to put in both primary and secondary information for both the Main and Alternate Contacts. The registration system will not allow you to proceed without completing the Main and Alternate Contact fields.

2. Temporary Team Numbers

The registration system will assign you a temporary team number that is several digits long. When /FIRST/ receives the registration fee for your team, a confirmation email will be sent to the Main Contact. This will include your permanent team number for the 2007 season.

3. 2007 Season Team Numbers

You may notice that there is no option to request your team number from last year, or your current /FIRST/ Robotics Competition or /FIRST/ LEGO League team number. When you register a team in our new registration system, you'll receive a temporary number; when your registration fee is paid, you'll receive your actual team number. Your team number will be good for this season, but will change year to year. You may not request certain team numbers.
We've made this change for a number of reasons. First, it helps the FTC program staff to simplify the logistics of tracking, identifying, and managing the high volume of teams that we expect to participate in this and upcoming years of the /FIRST/ Tech Challenge program. Second, it helps to keep your costs low. Much time and effort is needed to verify and assign each individual team number, and the additional workload would potentially cause the price of registration for the 2007 season to increase. The /FIRST/ Tech Challenge program seeks to offer an accessible and affordable opportunity for students to discover the excitement and rewards of science, technology, and engineering. Third, we've listened to your feedback. The numbering system in the past caused many teams to want the same team number from past FRC or FLL experience, as well as teams who participated in the former /FIRST/ Vex Challenge Pilot Program. In the interest of fairness to all of our teams, we've defaulted to this numbering system. We appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter.

4. Registration System Assistance

Should you get stuck or need assistance with the registration system at any time, please feel free to call /FIRST/ at (800) 871-8326. Follow the prompts, and help will be on the line shortly.


This year's registration system is available at: https://my.usfirst.org/ftc/tims.

Best of luck this season! GO TEAMS!

- /FIRST/ Tech Challenge Staff

[JohnBoucher]

Your team number will be good for this season, but will change year to year. You may not request certain team numbers.

New numbers every year?

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

New numbers every year?

I suspect they feel turnover will be high, as in FLL.

[Rich Kressly]

the registration system is essentially a direct mirror of the FRC system. Those of you familiar with TIMS will get around this one easily. As for the new numbers each year, I did speak with FTC staff and they assured me that, because of the potential growth and scale, it's more appropriate to go with this system (like FLL).

Also, I can tell you that the new game is due to be released in Mid-September and the FTC GDC believes it should be a lot of fun to play.

[skimoose]

Gus' Little Brother Mini G is now officially registered....

We're team #10

[Jeremiah Johnson]

Grrr... our team was hoping to register as #648.

I don't like the idea of this re-assignment year after year because it will raise the cost of teams to produce t-shirts with their number on them... they'll need new ones every year. As well as the fact that no one will remember that you did such a great job the year before... no name/number recognition.

My $.02.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Jeremiah Johnson

Grrr... our team was hoping to register as #648.

I don't like the idea of this re-assignment year after year because it will raise the cost of teams to produce t-shirts with their number on them... they'll need new ones every year. As well as the fact that no one will remember that you did such a great job the year before... no name/number recognition.

My $.02.

Perhaps some sort of record can be compiled, the What FVC/FTC Team Were You Before List. I imagine that FIRST has that data somewhere, though with this new system it'd take someone a bit of legwork (and that someone would not be in FIRST Place, obviously). Off-season project?

[skimoose]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Perhaps some sort of record can be compiled, the What FVC/FTC Team Were You Before List. I imagine that FIRST has that data somewhere, though with this new system it'd take someone a bit of legwork (and that someone would not be in FIRST Place, obviously). Off-season project?

Changing team numbers is one of the biggest problem with FTC.

The competition is NOT like FLL, but much closer to FRC. The competition is alliance vs. alliance, not a team against the clock. Teams need to make alliance selections, there are qualification rounds, and elimination rounds.

Team recognition, scouting, etc. all go into selecting alliance partners. Changing numbers every year just continues to muddy the water.

I don't see why this is being treated as a big problem.
FIRST's official answer is that it requires resources that they don't have. Ummm.... Just how much of my $275 would be needed to assign a requested team number? Why not just charge $300? It'd be a small price to pay for team recognition and branding. Assuming 600 FTC teams (probably more this year) times an additional $25 per team registration that's $15K. I think we can find a part timer to handle team number assignments for $15K!

I'm sure FIRST is worried about having too many transient teams like FLL, but if teams can request permanent numbers, don't you think they'll be in this for the long haul?

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by skimoose

Changing team numbers is one of the biggest problem with FTC.

The competition is NOT like FLL, but much closer to FRC. The competition is alliance vs. alliance, not a team against the clock. Teams need to make alliance selections, there are qualification rounds, and elimination rounds.

Team recognition, scouting, etc. all go into selecting alliance partners. Changing numbers every year just continues to muddy the water.

Good points. ("You must spread some Reputation ...")

I don't see why this is being treated as a big problem.
FIRST's official answer is that it requires resources that they don't have. Ummm.... Just how much of my $275 would be needed to assign a requested team number? Why not just charge $300? It'd be a small price to pay for team recognition and branding. Assuming 600 FTC teams (probably more this year) times an additional $25 per team registration that's $15K. I think we can find a part timer to handle team number assignments for $15K!

Art, is your concern more of having a continuing number? Or selecting a number to match your FRC team? The former probably isn't too difficult, and could be changed any time from now on. Remember, all previous FVC programs were officially pilots, so saying those numbers wouldn't be carried over isn't unreasonable. I think the hassle would be allowing teams to select numbers. Last year's number selection process was confusing to me (granted I wasn't participating, so I didn't bother to figure it all out), but it seemed like there was a potential conflict - a team could be asking for a FVC number to match their FRC team, and it might have already been assigned.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Last year's number selection process was confusing to me (granted I wasn't participating, so I didn't bother to figure it all out), but it seemed like there was a potential conflict - a team could be asking for a FVC number to match their FRC team, and it might have already been assigned.

For posterity, the system worked like this:

-If you had an FRC team number that competed as recently as 2006, you could claim that number in FVC. For example, 2005-2006 FVC pilot team 4 had ties to FRC team 1539, so they competed in the 2006-2007 season as FVC 1539. This wasn't a requirement, however; FRC team 180 fielded two teams, but opted to assign neither FVC 180.
-If you had an FVC team that competed in the 2005-2006 pilot (read: you played Half-Pipe Hustle), you could claim that number in the 2000s range. For example, Team Impulse competed in 2005-2006 as FVC team 160. In the 2006-2007 season, they competed as team 2160.
-If neither of the above applied to you (or if you declined to do so, such as with FRC 180), then your number was from the 3000s range. For example, Occam's Engineers, which formed this season, was assigned number 3053.

One interesting thing that didn't come up involved FRC teams who fielded FVC teams in the 2005-2006 pilot, such as FRC 1114. In 2006-2007, they competed as FVC 1114, but they competed the season before as FVC 268.

Perhaps more interesting would be 2005-2006 FVC team 1148, which had ties to FRC team 148. (A few FRC teams had their team numbers switched by FIRST by the time of the Championship, but 148 was already assigned to a team in South Carolina.) Whether they could or would get FVC team number 21148 (which would've been the only five-digit FVC team number) remains unknown.

[ManicMechanic]

Originally Posted by skimoose

I'm sure FIRST is worried about having too many transient teams like FLL, but if teams can request permanent numbers, don't you think they'll be in this for the long haul?

Not necessarily. Because of the cost and size of robots, FTC, like FLL, lends itself easily to the "5 kids and a mom/dad in a garage"-type teams. Unless the baton can be passed to another adult, these teams tend to last as long as kid of mom/dad is in the age bracket, and fold when aforesaid kid ages out or loses interest. In 2004 (the last year I received the Brandeis survey results), 57% of FLL teams were coached by a parent, and nearly half of all teams were rookie teams. With nearly half of all teams turning over annually, team numbers get gobbled up pretty quickly.

While recycling team numbers could be done, I sure wouldn't want the job! I can see lots of potential for frustration among teams that don't get their choice. Who gets precedence for a number like 38 (our number in the April 2005 FVC pilot) -- the FRC team with the number or the pioneer FVC team? If it's the team that registers and claims it first, what happens if the next year, another team claims first dibs on that number by registering first? And who gets the honor of being team 1337?

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by Jeremiah Johnson

Grrr... our team was hoping to register as #648.

I don't like the idea of this re-assignment year after year because it will raise the cost of teams to produce t-shirts with their number on them... they'll need new ones every year. As well as the fact that no one will remember that you did such a great job the year before... no name/number recognition.

My $.02.

I would say just don't put your number on your shirt. So make shirts that say "simbotics" vs "simbotics 1114"

that way every year you could use the same shirts if that was the concern

[KathieK]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

I would say just don't put your number on your shirt. So make shirts that say "simbotics" vs "simbotics 1114"

that way every year you could use the same shirts if that was the concern

In order to save money some teams which are part of an FRC team requested the same team number last year and were able to use the same t-shirts for both programs. I believe most FRC teams include their team number on their shirts. It's a team identity and branding issue. Hartford has been home to an FVC tournament the last two seasons (New England Regional Vex Event - NERVE - was held in March 2006 and Connecticut FIRST Vex Challenge Championship Tournament - ConnVex - was held in December 2006); this will be the third name change for the event in as many years. I'm hoping we can pick a name this season that will not change for several years to come (and ConnTech has been taken by several things in the state already ).

This year will see an increase in costs in a number of areas as items are converted from FVC to FTC such as website domains, judges' and volunteer shirts (and new artwork means additional setup fees all over again), event logos having to be redesigned, banners, paying to have new brochures printed, business cards, etc. I'm sure after the dust settles some of these program changes won't be as upsetting.