New FTC Platform

[wilsonmw04]

I hate dealing with semantics. The way read the FVC information 2 years ago was this way: We are going to try this out with the VEX kit and see how we like it. If we find value in this size of program we will continue it in some form in the future. If not, we tried.

[gblake]

Originally Posted by Bongle

IFI's involvement goes far beyond happening to be the supplier of the kits that FTC uses, doesn't it?. I thought there are IFI staff at each regional, making sure that all the custom stuff they supply (field elements like radios mainly) work smoothly. I know this is the case for FRC and I thought it was the case for FTC as well. If FIRST wanted that kind of support, they'd have to enter into some sort of contract with IFI, and apparently that's not in the cards.

So my impression is that without an official FIRST-IFI contract you could certainly have a competition with IFI things, but it wouldn't be as well supported. If something like the field breaks, nobody knows how to fix it (because nobody there would be paid to know such things, it all either volunteers or FIRST management).

....

My direct personal experience is this: In FTC tournaments this season, the types of support you describe above are so unimportant to the tournaments that they may be very safely called "irrelevant" in this discussion.

I do not have direct experience to back up this next assertion:
I strongly believe that if FIRST wanted to hire IFI to assist at Vex-based FTC tournaments, IFI would gladly supply that support to FIRST (just like they would supply it to any customer) at a price saimilar to or less than the prices they charge other customers.

From these lines of reasoning I conclude that the so-called "split" between IFI and FIRST does not create a strong motivation for FIRST to stop using the Vex product line in FTC tournaments. Hence my conclusions of "Red Herring" and "irrelevant".

Blake

[Mr. Lim]

New kit price is $900.

$450 grants for all returning teams.

250x $450 grants for new rookie teams.

[Bongle]

Originally Posted by SlimBoJones

New kit price is $900.

$450 grants for all returning teams.

250x $450 grants for new rookie teams.

Are you posting from the announcement meeting, or is there a web feed/web site that can be watched?

[basicxman]

Originally Posted by Bongle

Are you posting from the announcement meeting, or is there a web feed/web site that can be watched?

you just missed the web cast of Ken J saying this himself

the kit comes with 11 motors and 10 sensors!!!

[s_forbes]

Originally Posted by basicxman

you just missed the web cast of Ken J saying this himself

the kit comes with 11 motors and 10 sensors!!!

I guess they weren't kidding when they said a full kit! So returning teams can get all of that for just $450?!? FTC FTW!

Is there anywhere that those of us not in Atlanta can get more information on the new kit?

[basicxman]

hopefully they'll post this on their blog:
firsttechchallenge.blogspot

they said they'd put videos on the first site

[TheOtherGuy]

Well, I guess the question about pricing is over!

FIRST pulled through on this, if the pricing is right. I'm just awed at how much you get for $450 (returning team or possibly rookie)...

[vavex]

What do you mean by "250x $450"?

[basicxman]

there wil be 250 available rookie grants of $450 dollars

[Rick TYler]

I'm in Atlanta right now -- the information above is correct. I stopped by the demo field and and never saw a robot moving under remote control -- but the demo teams said they only had two weeks to build their 'bots so that's not a big surprise (at least to me). Overall, it's a lot of value for $450, and includes three SDKs in the box (Labview, RobotC, and something else -- the LegoNXT environment?). Got to run to dinner now...

[wilsonmw04]

anyone have a list of parts for the new kit?

[basicxman]

yes i would love a list of parts, like a checklist with quantities and everytihng

i only saw a slide of all the parts together for a splitsecond

[wilsonmw04]

watching the demo. One thing popped into my head: cool robots, funky game. I really hope this is just a demo and not the direction the games are going to be heading. It's not very game like is it?

[s_forbes]

Demo was cool, the new FTC platform looks rediculously capable (and cheap in price!). I can't wait to play with one.

From the video, it also looked like you can use legos on the FTC bots (the kit comes with lego motors, too). This rocks beyond belief! Vex parts are miserable for making precise little mechanisms; legos are the right size and have enough variety to build amazing mechanical components.

I really like where FTC is heading!