Ftc World Championship

[JohnFogarty]

Originally Posted by Foster

[budget discussions]
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[/budget]

I think we all agree that the FIRST programs are not the low cost budget programs.

And FIRST event budgets have been beat to death in other places. (There should really be a FAQ post about how the money flows with registration, KoP, District fees, who really pays for DCMP and Regionals, etc.)

What's missing is Kate7351's point is that the FTC roboteers work hard and that when the get to Worlds they don't feel special. FIRST pushes hard on FLL to make it the premier program for younger roboteers. There isn't a roboteer family or a want to be roboteer that does not know about FLL.

Likewise for FRC. FIRST markets this program and we all love FRC even though it's expensive. They have been marketing FTC as a low cost way to "do FIRST robotics" and it's all kissy kissy. But at Worlds not so much love according to Kate7351.

Kate7351 is trying to raise awareness so that at 1/2 Champs 2017 FIRST raises the visibility of FTC. Kate7351 doesn't want a 1/2 baked effort in 2016 to be 1/2 baked next year. (And for you fractions fans that will be 1/4 baked).

So it's not about budgets and "dollars per roboteers inspired". It's about celebrating the roboteers you have now. These roboteers are FRC's pipeline.

Kate7351 has given the heads up. Pay attention, or I'll be hanging out with Kate7351 at the 2018 VEX worlds.

Well said indeed. The program that I was a part of when I was a student in high school that competed in FTC as of today is completely gone.

Replaced by Vex teams for a lot of the reasons voiced here.

[MARS_James]

Something I kind of just realized and I am aware that this is a derailment of thread so sue me, I don't know who won FTC worlds this year. I honestly haven't seen it mentioned anywhere........

[JesseK]

FWIW, FRC pit crew and drivers have just a little time for conferences as FTC pit crew and drivers. The conferences are "right there upstairs", and yet often there's not quite enough time in between matches for the critical people to go to the ones they want.

Also, "Back in the day", a Championship-competitive FTC robot budget was about $6k for the robot across the season. This included spare motors, controllers, and extra metal to cut. The one I coached in Division finals at worlds (FTC 1885, 2010) had a BOM of $4500, and the one which won the Championship (FTC 354, 2012) had a BOM of $3200.

[JohnFogarty]

Originally Posted by JesseK

Also, "Back in the day", a Championship-competitive FTC robot budget was about $6k for the robot across the season. This included spare motors, controllers, and extra metal to cut. The one I coached in Division finals at worlds (FTC 1885, 2010) had a BOM of $4500, and the one which won the Championship (FTC 354, 2012) had a BOM of $3200.

Telll me, how much of that 4500 was those blown Tetrix motors. 3864's 2010 world championship winning robot barely cost $2000

[Jalerre]

Personally I recommend Vex over FTC. It's cheaper and a better competition experience. The Vex World Championship feels like a similar experience to FRC because the only other Vex program is Vex IQ. Also I just prefer the Vex build kit over Tetrix or Matrix.

[FTC5110]

Originally Posted by Jalerre

Personally I recommend Vex over FTC. It's cheaper and a better competition experience. The Vex World Championship feels like a similar experience to FRC because the only other Vex program is Vex IQ. Also I just prefer the Vex build kit over Tetrix or Matrix.

I think this highlights the disconnect between FRC program participants and others. Perhaps if FTC wasn't tucked away out of sight these past 2 years you'd have seen where the program actually is today. Yes the new control system has been a little bumpy however most of the core issues have been ironed out somewhat.

Teams can now use any building set they like or even just raw materials. The diversity in FTC robots these days is very high. Some teams are laser cutting and many 3D printing to supplement pre-manufactured kit parts. This season our team actually ended up using mostly VEX parts for a number of good reasons.

Here in NZ we're starting new teams off with a kit made primarily of Actobotics parts. This is compatible with Tetrix and VEX EDR too.

As said earlier the FTC finals matches should be played out alongside FRC finals. Hopefully with the split champs this will be feasible. VEX worlds does have an edge over the FTC worlds in some respects but not all.

[JohnFogarty]

I'm pretty sure today's FTC teams are significantly more advanced than FTC teams during my time competing in FTC. I'm pretty sure you have to have the skill of an FRC team to be competitive at the world level in FTC now because of the allowed materials usage and 3D printing availability.

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by MARS_James

Something I kind of just realized and I am aware that this is a derailment of thread so sue me, I don't know who won FTC worlds this year. I honestly haven't seen it mentioned anywhere........

http://www.firstinspires.org/about/f...cs-competition

We are very proud of the winning FTC alliance which featured 2 teams from Maryland. Winners – Edison Division: Team 5916, BoBots, Earleville, MD; Team 8221, CUBIX^3, Hampstead, MD; Team 6022, TBD – To Be Determined, Aurora, OH. -