1. The FTC Tournament Experience Presented by: Team Unlimited, FTC 0001

2. The FTC Tournament Experience Outline  Registration  Team setup – pit area  Robot inspection  Practice rounds  Judging interviews  Opening Ceremonies  Qualifying matches  Scouting  Alliance selection  Elimination rounds  Awards  Closing Ceremonies Questions?

3. The FTC Tournament Experience Different Types of Tournaments  Scrimmage – for practice, often informal  Qualifier – to qualify for the Regional Championship  Regional Championship – to qualifying for World  World Championship – in St. Louis, invitational  Post-Season – just for fun!

4. The FTC Tournament Experience Team arrives at tournament  Registration  Coach supplies release forms for team  Receives info packet

5. The FTC Tournament Experience Team arrives at tournament  Team setup – pit area  Setup on assigned table  Displays, tools, give-aways  All need safety glasses  Always exhibit “Gracious Professionalism”

6. The FTC Tournament Experience “Gracious Professionalism” – core values  Gracious Professionalism is a Guiding Mantra in FIRST  Call it Good Sportsmanship, Coopetition, the Golden Rule...  Always been loosely defined by FIRST  But... we know it when we see it!

7. The FTC Tournament Experience Volunteers run the tournaments!  Organizers put it together  Queuers and registrars keep the flow going  Inspectors confirm the robots are ready and qualified  Field Controller operators & Scorers run the field tech  Referees run the game  Field Tech Advisors deal with the inevitable problems  MCs and DJs keep the energy high  Judges interview & observe teams & decide on awards  And many others labor tirelessly behind the scenes to help make the day a success!

8. The FTC Tournament Experience Morning activities  Robot inspection  Box – fit within 18” cube, unrestrained  Parts and materials restrictions  Bill of materials  Re-inspection needed for significant design changes  Level playing field – each team conforms to the same rules!

9. The FTC Tournament Experience Morning activities  Practice rounds  Access to informal practice field(s) to test robot operation  Scheduled round(s), same as qualifying rounds but they don’t count  Up to 2 drivers and 1 field coach (who never touches the controls)

10. The FTC Tournament Experience Morning activities  Judging interviews, 10-15 minute session  Present your most significant points & answer questions  Engineering notebook represents you to ALL judging panels

11. The FTC Tournament Experience Morning activities  Teams Meeting  Field Officials address the teams  Mandatory for at least one team representative

12. The FTC Tournament Experience Morning activities  Opening Ceremonies  Formal start – speeches and dignitaries  Mandatory attendance

13. The FTC Tournament Experience Morning activities  Qualifying matches  Scheduled matches – red vs. blue alliance  Random assignment of alliances  QP (qualifying points) and RP (ranking points)  Referees run the field!

14. The FTC Tournament Experience Morning activities  Scouting  Interview teams (especially potential alliances)  Observe field matches, keep notes  Have a system – note capabilities, reliability, flexibility, offense/defense tactics  Critical info for alliance selection!

15. The FTC Tournament Experience Afternoon activities  Qualifying matches continue  Scores rank the teams for alliance selection  Scouting continues – deciding which teams would be a good match

16. The FTC Tournament Experience Afternoon activities  Alliance selection  Top 4 seeded teams are called to choose  In order of their ranks, #1 goes first  If one top seed chooses another, 2 nd team can accept or choose their own alliance partners  Lower ranks fill in vacancies – #5 becomes #4  If chosen team not in top four refuses, they cannot be chosen by another team  Each alliance consists of 3 teams  Only 2 teams in small tournaments  In second round of teams chosen, #1 team first again  “Our team graciously accepts”

17. The FTC Tournament Experience Afternoon activities Alliance selection

18. The FTC Tournament Experience Afternoon activities  Elimination rounds  Seeding pyramid (1v4, 2v3), best 2 of 3 matches  All 3 teams in alliance must play in the round’s first 2 matches  Finals determine the over-all winners

19. The FTC Tournament Experience Closing activities  Awards & Closing Ceremonies  PTC Design Award – esthetic design elements  Rockwell Collins Innovate Award – most innovative design, notebook  Connect Award – community outreach, fundraising  Promote Award – video to promote STEM  Compass Award – coach or mentor recognition  Motivate Award – spirit & enthusiasm  Think Award – engineering process, notebook  Finalist & Winning Alliances Awards  Inspire Award – Top award, aspects of all, notebook

20. The FTC Tournament Experience Closing activities

21. The FTC Tournament Experience Questions?unlimited.syraweb.org