[Dprglist] Robotics Judges Needed

[Karim Virani]

At least three DPRG members coach teams that will be competing in the FTC
Regional Championship in 8 days. To give you an idea of what this year's
game looks like, here's a video of Patrick's team, Technical Difficulties,
completely trouncing my and my wife's team, Iron Reign, in their world
record score a month back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFxCVCEKUnM
​

At the tournament you'll see some pretty cool robots with autonomous
programs that incorporate odometry, IMUs, machine vision using Vuforia and
OpenCV for target tracking and absolute field positioning and a host of
other sensors. You'll see teleoperated phases that include autonomous
behaviors to simplify controls for the drive teams. All controlled by
Android phones and all developed by high school teams. If you judge, you
will see these robots close up and will learn the details of their
development.

And who better to help judge the merits of all North Texas teams than DPRG
members? You'll recommend which teams get to advance to the 12 State South
Super Regional Competition.

Patrick stepped up and became the tournament director. The event has grown
to support 48 teams, so more judges, inspectors and other volunteers are
needed than ever. If you can help out, see the full info below.

Best,

Karim


We are looking for volunteers for the North Texas FIRST Tech Challenge
(FTC) Regional Championship.  The Regional Championship will be held on
Saturday February 25th at Ford Middle School in Allen.  Forty eight (48!)
of the top teams in North Texas will compete to determine regional winners
and opportunities to advance to the next level of competition.

We’re planning this to be a showcase event for the year, and we’re looking
for volunteers to help with the event in all areas.  Due to the expanded
size of this event we need more judges, referees, and inspectors than in
previous qualifier or league events.  Of course there are many other roles
that we will be filling, including scorekeepers, runners, queuers,
announcers, and the like. Don’t worry if you haven’t done this before or
feel like you might not be qualified… training is available and we have
experts to help guide you.  And if you’re looking at coaching or mentoring
a FTC team in future competitions, then volunteering (e.g. as a judge) is
an outstanding way to see what the top teams are doing and understand how
things work "behind the scenes".

Judging is an all-day commitment consisting of panel interviews and
observations of teams and robots in action.  Ideally, judging panels are
comprised of people with a technical background along with those with
skills in communication and outreach. No one will judge alone.

Referees observe team matches to observe rule violations and “call” them.
They also keep track of which elements have been scored and record these
items on scoresheets.  There is online training to become a referee and a
certification exam (which usually isn’t very hard). Refereeing also gives
you “the best seats in the house” for watching the matches take place.  :)

Inspectors meet with teams in the morning to check robot designs for safety
and compliance with build rules and restrictions.  This involves going
through a short checklist of items for each robot, informing teams of any
infractions that will prevent the robot from competing or certifying the
robots as being compliant with the game requirements.  This also has
training materials and a short certification exam for the role.

To learn more about FIRST Tech Challenge, check out
http://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc .

Registering as an event volunteer is a two-step process.  First go to the
Volunteer Registration System site,
https://my.usfirst.org/FIRSTPortal/Login/VIMS_Login.aspx .  It can be a bit
confusing, so here is a video about how to create a new VIMS account:
http://www.screencast.com/t/pTL7rCsb   If you already have a VIMS account
from volunteering in a previous event or season, you should use that
account.

Then select “Apply for an event” tab, select “FTC” as the program, select
“Texas” as the state/province, and enter “North Texas” in the “Search event
by name” field.  You can also search by ZIP code by entering “75002” as the
ZIP code. You can then select the event and add any event roles you would
like to have.   We’re always happy to have “Assign Me as Needed”
volunteers, but we also encourage you to indicate your preference for any
other roles you would like to have at the event.  We will want an array of
volunteers: concessions, referees, judges, inspection, load in, load out,
queuers, etc… so please feel free to forward this information to any
friends or colleagues who may be interested in helping.

Please contact Patrick Michaud at <patrick.michaud at utdallas.edu> if you
have any questions.  Thank you so much and we hope to see you soon.

Pm

=====

Patrick R. Michaud, PhD

Asst Director for Robotics

Science and Engineering Education Center University of Texas at Dallas

800 W. Campbell Rd, FN 2.002

Mailstop FA 31
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