Our Goals

As an FTC team we strive to learn and do our best. In any situation we show Gracious Professionalism® to our fellow teams and teammates. To set reasonable goals for our team is key to a fun and eventful challenge.

To learn more about outreach see our Outreach page!

Outreach

Team Plan:

Despite various challenges, we have worked well as a team to brainstorm solutions and implement them
We made strong goals and milestones for us to achieve, and have strived to meet them
We especially wanted to keep up on due dates and milestones, because we have gotten behind in past years and are working to fix that.
Now, if we miss a milestone, we have extra meetings until we are caught up!

Our Design Process

Brainstorm ideas- We think about what kind of design we want to achieve the most points per second.
Check Design Requirements- We check our ideas with our requirements. Then we critique our ideas to fit within our time and money constraints.
Use pros and cons for deliberation- After we have narrowed down our list

of ideas, we list all the pros and cons of each design. Then we vote for a design(s) to move forward with.
4. Prototype- We prototype our design(s) with CAD, seeing if we have the necessary parts and whether or not the parts will fit together.
5. Assemble- We purchase the necessary parts and use CAD as instructions for the assembly.

FTC Awards

Inspire Award – This Team is a top contender for many other judged awards and is a gracious competitor. The Inspire Award winner is an inspiration to other Teams, acting with Gracious Professionalism® both on and off the playing field.
Required criteria for the Inspire Award:

Team shows respect and Gracious Professionalism® to everyone they meet at a FIRST Tech Challenge event.
Team is a strong contender for several other judged awards. The Inspire Award celebrates the strongest qualities of all the judged awards.
The Team is an ambassador for FIRST programs. They demonstrate and document their work in their community.
Team is positive and inclusive, and each team member contributes to the success of the Team.
Team must submit an engineering notebook. The engineering notebook must include engineering content, team information and a team plan. The entire engineering notebook must be high quality, thoughtful, thorough, detailed and well-organized.
Robot design is creative and innovative, and the Robot performs reliably on the field. The Team communicates clearly about their Robot design and strategy to the judges.
Team presentation is professional and engaging.

Think Award - Removing engineering obstacles through creative thinking.
Required criteria for the Think Award:

Team shows respect and Gracious Professionalism® to everyone they meet at a FIRST Tech Challenge event.
Team must submit an engineering notebook. The engineering notebook must include engineering content that includes entries describing underlying science, mathematics, and game strategies.
The engineering notebook must show that the Team has a clear understanding of the

engineering design process, with pictures or drawings and details documenting all stages of Robot design.

Notebook must recount the Team’s journey, experience and lessons learned throughout the season.
Engineering notebook must be organized and should include a summary page. Note: Teams should review the engineering notebook resources published in the Team Management section of the FIRST website.

Strongly suggested criteria for the Think Award:

Teams should tab or flag 6 to 8 pages of the Engineering Notebook(s) to support entries on the summary page.

Connect Award - Connecting the dots between community, FIRST, and the diversity of the engineering world.
Required criteria for the Connect Award:

Team shows respect and Gracious Professionalism® to everyone they meet at a FIRST Tech Challenge event.
Team must submit an engineering notebook. The engineering notebook must include Team plan that identifies their future goals and the steps they will take to reach those goals. Examples of what the plan could include are fund-raising goals, sustainability goals, timelines, outreach, and community service goals.
Team provides clear examples of developing in person or virtual connections with individuals in the engineering, science, or technology community.
Team actively engages with the engineering community to help them understand FIRST, the FIRST Tech Challenge, and the team itself.

Collins Aerospace Innovate Award - Bringing great ideas from concept to reality.
Required criteria for the Collins Aerospace Innovate Award:

Team shows respect and Gracious Professionalism® to everyone they meet at a FIRST Tech Challenge event.
Team must submit an engineering notebook. The engineering notebook must include engineering content that documents the design process and how the Team arrived at their design solution.
Robot or robot sub-assembly must be creative, elegant and unique in its design.
Creative component must be stable, robust, and work reliably.
Robot design is effective and consistent with Team plan and strategy.

Design Award - Industrial design at its best.
Required criteria for the Design Award:

Team shows respect and Gracious Professionalism® to everyone they meet at a FIRST Tech Challenge event.
Team must submit an engineering notebook with an engineering content that includes CAD images or detailed robot design drawings.
Team demonstrates industrial design principles, striking a balance between form, function, and aesthetics.
Robot distinguishes itself from others by its aesthetic and functional design.
Basis for the design is well considered (that is inspiration, function, etc.).

Motivate Award - Sparking others to embrace the culture of FIRST!
Required criteria for the Motivate Award:

Team shows respect and Gracious Professionalism® to everyone they meet at a FIRST Tech Challenge event.
Team must submit an engineering notebook. The engineering notebook must include a Team plan, which could describe their future goals and the steps they will take to reach those goals. Examples of what the plan could include are fund-raising goals, sustainability goals, timelines, outreach, and community service goals.
The Team is an ambassador for FIRST programs.
Team can clearly show the successful recruitment of new Teams, mentors, coaches and volunteers who were not already active within the STEM community.
Team can explain the individual contributions of each team member, and how these apply to the overall success of the team.

Control Award, sponsored by Arm Inc. - Mastering robot intelligence.
Required criteria for the Control Award, sponsored by Arm, Inc.:

Team shows respect and Gracious Professionalism® to everyone they meet at a FIRST Tech Challenge event.
Team must apply for the Control Award by filling out the Control Award Content Sheet, located in Appendix E.
The team must submit an engineering notebook. The engineering notebook must include engineering content that documents the control components.
Control components must enhance the functionality of the Robot on the playing field. Strongly suggested criteria for the Control Award, sponsored by Arm, Inc.:
Advanced software techniques and algorithms are encouraged.
Control components should work reliably.

Promote Award (Optional) –
Required criteria for the Promote Award:

Video must meet the following criteria:
- Video must follow FIRST branding and design standards.
- Video cannot be longer than 60 seconds.
- Video must be of a high quality, as submissions may be used later to promote FIRST.
- Team must have rights to music used in the video.
- Music and permissions must be listed in video credits
- Video must have strong production value.
- Video must be submitted by the deadline given by the Tournament Director.
Team must present a thoughtful and impactful video which appeals to the public.
Creativity in interpreting the yearly theme is required.
Follow video award submission guidelines.

Compass Award (Optional) - A beacon and leader in the journey of the FIRST Tech Challenge.
Required criteria for the Compass Award:

Video must meet the following criteria:
- Video must follow FIRST branding and design standards.
- Video cannot be longer than 60 seconds.
- Video must be of a high quality, as submissions may be used later to promote FIRST.
- Team must have permission from the copyright owners for music used in the video.
- Music and permissions must be listed in video credits.
- Video must be submitted by the deadline given by the Tournament Director.
Video highlights the mentor’s contribution to the Team and demonstrates what sets the mentor apart.
Follow video award submission guidelines

Judges’ Award - This award is optional and may not be given at all tournaments. Your Judge Advisor will have information about the judging for this award

Winning Alliance Award - This award will be given to the winning Alliance represented in the final Match

Finalist Alliance Award - This award will be given to the finalist Alliance represented in the final Match