Forgive me if I’m being redundant, but I hear a lot about OCCRA and I am still not entirely what it is, and as you guys also question, when it is. Anybody wanna give a confused FIRSTer a really good description? - Genia
OCCRA stands for the Oakland County Competitive Robotics Association, started I believe it is now… 4 (?) years back with the purpose of continuing the FIRST spirit through the fall. Although FIRST teams do attend off-season competitions, OCCRA is somewhat different than those competitions, in a few aspects.
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The OCCRA games are different from the FIRST games. Both may share a lot of similarities, however. For example, last year in OCCRA, we had goals that very much resembled the goals in this year’s FIRST game. We had a 2v2 format for a 2 minute game, with human players as well.
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Like FIRST, teams compete in multiple competitions (those are held at local high schools). But unlike FIRST, all teams have the opportunity to participate in the county championships.
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In OCCRA, the robots are completely student-built. We’re limited to hand tools. No machine-shopping for the most part
We have… ohh… about the same time constraints as FIRST. -
A team needs not be in FIRST to participate in OCCRA. In fact, I believe that a few teams have joined FIRST because they’ve so enjoyed their experience in OCCRA.
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After the county championships, an all-women’s tournament is held. The game is modified, and the girls on the teams are given approximately one week to make changes to the robot that would best fit the modifications. An example of a change is a decrease in ball size.
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Competitions last one school night, with the exception of the county championships and the all-women’s tournament, which last a whole Saturday.
That’s all I can come up with for now… Maybe more to come later. All in all, OCCRA is pretty similar to FIRST, even the robots have about the same constraints (volume and weight, materials used). And like FIRST, it’s loads of fun!
As a side note to Lisa’s post, it’s a thing that goes on in Southeastern Michigan (for those who have no clue where Oakland County is).
yeah… lots and lots of filing… things dont quite fit too well together when you cut everything with a hacksaw…espescially when you’re tired and already bleeding in several places from getting snagged on ‘not filed enuf’ corners…
like us!!
yes its fun!! and one VERY important difference… duct tape is legal!!! yay!!! one VERY important building material missing from FIRST… 
What else to add…well, we have a kickoff, just like FIRST where the game is revealed. We get kits of parts our rookie year, but the veterans only get select things like new drill motors and stuff. The idea is to reuse all the old motors (similar to FIRST, a little smaller for the most part…seat, wiper, and small drill motors) electronics (all IFI, same as FIRST), and pneumatics (similar to FIRST, same pump, smaller hose diameter) from previous years. You do get a replacement budget (I forget how much) so that you can buy new parts if you need. After paying registration and everything, you could build a robot for under $100 because you must use what you get in the kit. You can’t buy more pneumatics, electronics, etc. There’s a list of things that you can buy.
The robots are 120 lbs, four(?) feet high, 30" by 36" base, same as FIRST.
One thing is that we don’t have to ship the robots. We have a six week build period and then we have the first competition, but then we can take the robot back and improve it.
I posted some pictures of the 2003 field in the image gallery awhile ago, check them out.
An interesting fact, our team’s best two years in FIRST…2001 (won 2 regionals, national finalists) and 2004 (won 2 regionals) were also the two years we had OCCRA teams. You get a lot of practice when you drive at five or so competitions!
Any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask! 
Everyone above made some really great points about what OCCRA is and why we do it. I’ve been a part of the game design commitee the last couple years and I’ve also been playing the music at the competitions for at least 3 years now. It’s a great program to get involved in, and really fun to see what all of the students come up with design-wise. The kickoff that was mentioned is in September (the 9th this year) and the competitions are in October and November with the finals in late November (the 20th this year). Then the women’s competition is in early December. I would definately recommend that anyone check it out who hasn’t already, a Thursday or Friday night well spent.