I coach an FLL team of 6th-7th graders who have learned quickly in the last couple of years, and we are thinking about trying out FTC next year with some of the kids to keep their interest and keep them advancing in their knowledge. They can bridge to an high school that has FTC and FRC in another year or two, and I’d like to give them a leg up on that as well.
I was thinking about getting a Tetrix kit for us to play with the next few months, as well as some CAD software and RobotC and/or Labview for NXT licenses. I see that:
There is free CAD software available to current teams, but otherwise it is pretty expensive
There may be FLL-to-FTC grants available around summertime that cover much of the cost, but otherwise it will be $600 or so for a Tetrix kit
RobotC seems to be undiscounted, but at least it is affordable ($80).
So, it sounds like if I wait to start until we register (which is when?) then we can possibly get all of these goodies for next to nothing thanks to the generosity of these fine companies, or we can try to get stuff now but it will have a very high price tag (mostly unaffordable without significant fundraising).
Is my interpretation correct? Or are there other options available?
Also, how does one get on to ftcforums, as that seems like the main place that FTC discussion occurs? I tried to register there, but apparently you must be on a registered team to join, so it isn’t much use for learning about the program.
Thanks, though that’s actually where I did start. Registering for this year is not really helpful to our situation, though. Someone else PMed me some useful contact info, so I will start there, but if anyone else has some pointers on how you started a team in the FTC offseason on-the-cheap I happily take all good advice.
I recommend downloading a 30 day trial version of RobotC and reprogramming your FLL missions. Most FTC teams that I have met use RobotC, and this would be a great way to learn it. You can configure RobotC for the NXT platform or the NXT/Tetrix platform.
You might also purchase a Logitech controller from parts.ftcrobots.com to start learning remote control operations. RobotC installs some excellent programming templates.
Also if there are any local FRC teams around. You might want to ask if they still have there FTC kit that they received for the 2011 season. I’m sure if they are not using it that they would be willing to give it to an FTC team.
What area is your team in? As noted above, the best option would be to borrow some stuff from a veteran team.
It definitely gets you a nice discount to wait until our team is registered.
If you did want to get started early, you could get just a Mindstorms kit. Having two of those is nice, because it lets your programmers mess with that while the brick is tied up on the robot. FYI, after next year FTC will switch over to the new EV3 brick (though NXT will presumably remain legal), so there’s a disadvantage to putting resources into an extra NXT Mindstorms kit.
Yes, we have some NXTs, and even have the FLL bot still intact (the suggestion I made to take it apart was met with much resistance, LOL - they get very attached to the robot), so the RobotC suggestion is something we can do. I didn’t realize that registration is just around the corner, so we can wait and see what happens with that, and if the grant funds will be available again this year that will help
I’ll also check with an FRC team I know, and the local FTC partner, as suggested in a PM, so between those things perhaps we can build a drive train and at least practice some basics over the summer.
If you want to do a little more learning, and have the ability, maybe try not just building a drive base, but build a robot that can play last seasons game?
Your local FTC team probably still has the game elements for testing.
Another learning tool that is out there from RobotC is the Robot Virtual Worlds. They have the current FTC game in there for you to program a bot and play the game virtually. http://www.robotc.net/download/rvw/
I also HIGHLY recommend reading this book from cover to cover (over and over):
