I’m curious, what exactly is the OCCRA? How many teams are involved and how successful is it?
Hmm, i was kind of curious about the same thing… I think (not sure) that it is a competition like the CDI… who knows though…
I guess nobody knows 
Tom
I have ties to the OCCRA organization(I’m their programmer,) and I don’t know all the details, but here’s what I do know:
OCCRA is a competition similar to CDI, with a custom game developed, and the machines built by the students entirely. However, the season spans multiple events, with the rankings accumulating over the course of the season and finally determining a team’s placement into an elimination tournament at the county(OC=Oakland County) championships. Last year’s game was one-on-one, with I believe 17 teams participating at a total of 4 events. Last I heard, they were roughly going to double that number of teams, and that there were going to be 5 regionals, and then the all-county championships. This year’s game is still being worked out, which means I’m already hard at work on the new scoring stuff(at least as much as I can do, without knowing the game yet…)
That’s about all I can help you myself, maybe someone else can add some more to this?
OCCRA stands for the Oakland County Competitive Robotics Association, a group of 22 schools that formed a fall robotics league in 2000; this FIRST-type activity was designed to supplement the FIRST season with an educational and motivational team experience that takes place in traditional high school venues. The purpose is to raise an academic team to the same level of celebrity and recognition within the high school as sports teams. We give each team a kit of parts (drill motors, sprockets, chains, Innovation First Controllers…etc.) and 5 weeks to build a machine. (It sounds short, but the kit is a little simpler than a FIRST kit and teams keep their machines, so building can continue all season, which is about 9 weeks). We charge new teams $2,400 but returning teams only have to pay $200. The robots are all 100% student built, so they are not quite as elaborate as many FIRST robots, but they are just as exciting to watch! The competitions are held in local gyms and fieldhouses throughout the county, so gyms filled with cheering fans are not necessarily at an athletic event in Oakland County! We offer a “HOW-to” video and a series of workshops, so students are given a lot of guidance in their robot building; this is especially important as we expect to add some new teams this year as word of last year’s success has gotten out. I anticipate about 25 to 30 teams this year. You can write me at [email protected] for more info.