FTC Startup Guide
Introduction to this Guide
Who is FRC862 Lightning Robotics?
Our team is made up of students from Salem, Canton, and Plymouth High Schools, in Canton, Michigan and competes annually in the FIRST Robotics Competition.
Our team started in 1999, and has become very well-established, both in our school and in our community. Originally numbered Team 465 with so few students you could count them on your fingers, Team 862 has grown to include over 100 students, 30 mentors, and several great sponsors including Jabil, Robert Bosch LLC, and Amazon. In addition to numerous robotics demonstrations throughout Plymouth and Canton, we raise funds for cancer research at Relay for Life and host our Robots in the Park event that includes STEM activities and a chance to drive our robots for all visitors.
Why did we build this guide?
Each season, we host several FTC teams in our meeting spaces and provide them with student and adult mentors from our team, access to our machine shop, and general guidance about whatever will help them.
The goal of this document is to provide a reference for new teams -- or new leaders of existing teams -- about FIRST Tech Challenge overall, and specific information about what it takes to start and manage an FTC team.
What do I do if I have questions that are not answered in this guide?
Ask us! We would like this document to expand and evolve over time. We want to hear from you about whatever else would be helpful to you. We have some ideas about what to add, but the best items will probably come from you as you establish and grow your team.
How do I get in touch with Lightning Robotics?
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LightningRobotics
Website: www.lightningrobotics.com
Introduction to FIRST and FTC
What is FIRST?
FIRST is the organizing body that created and supports four programs (ages are based on FIRST in Michigan):
FLL Discover (FIRST LEGO League Discover) teams (up to 30 students, preschool-first grade) build a solution to the challenge using LEGO elements.
FLL Explore (FIRST LEGO League Explore) is designed to introduce STEM concepts to kids in grades 2-4 while exciting them through a brand they know and love − LEGO®.
FLL Challenge (FIRST LEGO League Challenge) teams (up to 10 members, grades 4-8) research a real-world problem such as food safety, recycling, energy, etc., and are challenged to develop a solution. They also must design, build, and program a robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS®, then compete on a table-top playing field.
MINDSTORMS® EV3 has been retired, but is still allowed for FLL Challenge as well as MINDSTORMS® SPIKE Prime
NOTE: In Michigan, USA, FLL is for elementary school only.
FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) teams (up to 15 members, grades 7-12) are challenged to design, build, program, and operate robots to compete in a head-to-head challenge in an alliance format.
NOTE: In Michigan, USA, FTC is for middle school only.
FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) teams (no membership limit, grades 9-12), under strict rules, limited resources, and an intense six-week time limit, are challenged to raise funds, design a team "brand," hone teamwork skills, and build and program industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game against like-minded competitors. It’s as close to real-world engineering as a student can get. Volunteer professional mentors lend their time and talents to guide each team.
Link to Vision and Mission of FIRST
What is FTC?
It’s much more than building robots. Participants call it “the hardest fun you’ll ever have!”
Guided by adult Coaches and Mentors, students develop STEM skills and practice engineering principles (like keeping an engineering notebook) while realizing the value of hard work, innovation, and sharing ideas. The robot kit is reusable from year to year and can be programmed using a variety of interfaces, including Java. Teams also must raise funds, design and market their team brand, and do community outreach for which they can win awards.
Participants have access to tens of millions of dollars in college scholarships. Each season concludes with exciting FIRST World Championship events previously held in Detroit, MI, USA and St. Louis, MO, USA. This year's FIRST World Championship will be held in Houston, Texas, USA.
Link to main FTC page Link to FTC Team Basics
Team Formation
How much does it cost to be an FTC team?
Expenses vary between teams based on how active they are, how complex their robot becomes, and other factors. In the 2023-24 season, registration is $295 USD per team. Other expenses (before grants and other income) can range from $2,250-$5,000.
Link to FTC costs general info page
Registration Includes:
Official FIRST Tech Challenge Team Number
Ability to register for in-person or virtual FIRST Tech Challenge events
Ability to compete for FIRST Tech Challenge awards
Expenses include:
Team registration (each season)
Robot Kit of Parts (KoP) (required for the first season, re-usable for following seasons)
Additional parts and raw materials as needed to meet team’s design
Competition event registrations
Transportation and meals (some teams include this in team dues, some do not)
Team uniforms (typically t-shirts, sometimes also costumes)
Office supplies
Presentation materials
Access to computer(s) for programming
Miscellaneous
Link to FTC Kit of Parts (KoP) Options page with:
TETRIX Kit Bill of Materials (TETRIX is the brand name of the parts kits)
Link for help finding your local FIRST representative for areas outside the US
How does a new group register as an FTC team?
New groups need to identify two adult leaders that will act as the primary contacts with FIRST and coordinate team activities. After these adults are identified, teams can register with FIRST. Team rosters of students do not need to be completed in order to register.
Who can be on an FTC team?
Student Members
Throughout the world, FTC is for students in grades 7-12
In Michigan, USA, FTC is for Middle School only, as defined by public school district, even for students that attend private schools or are homeschooled. If your district does not use the name “Middle School,” then FIRST in Michigan defines eligible students as those who are between Elementary and High School.
FIRST limits FTC teams to 15 student members
To maximize team manageability, Lightning Robotics recommends a maximum of 10-12 student members per team
Adult Mentors
There is no limit to the number of adult mentors that can assist a team
FTC teams function best with the full and active support of the students’ families. This does not mean that all parents must be at every meeting, but they should be actively engaged with the team and work to support the students in whatever way they are able.
FTC Season Overview
When is the FTC season?
In Michigan, USA:
May-September --> Registration and Pre-Season
Early September --> Kickoff (Game Challenge revealed)
September-October --> Build and Practice Season
November-December --> Qualifying Season
December --> State Championship
April --> World Championship Events
In the rest of the world:
May-September --> Registration and Pre-Season
September --> Kickoff (Game Challenge revealed)
September-January --> Build and Practice Season
November-March --> Qualifying Season
December-March --> State/Regional Championships
April --> World Championship Events
What happens during the FTC season?
Robot Challenge
Analyze Game Challenge to develop a game strategy
Design a robot to match your strategy
Build, test, and revise robot
Program robot
Practice driving
Attend competition events
Outreach to the Engineering Community
Meet with engineers and others to discuss how they use science, engineering, and math in their professions (these meetings can be at the place of business, at team meetings, or virtual meetings via video conferences or phone calls)
Recruit engineers and others to visit your team meetings to teach your students different principles and methods
Outreach to the Robotics Community
Make connections with other robotics teams (in FIRST or in other robotics groups)
Ask for assistance when needed
Provide assistance when able
Identify and contact businesses or organizations that use robots in their operations
Outreach to Your Community
Show and teach your community about robotics and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), e.g., present a demonstration of your robot
Help others to do the same, e.g., volunteer to help another group (robotics or not) with its efforts to reach the community
Community Service
Anything that helps other people in your community or anywhere else in the world.
These efforts can be large or small, such as cleaning up a local park, supporting an aid organization that provides disaster relief, or anything else you can think of that helps people
Competition Events
Where are the competition events?
FTC Qualifier competitions are generally held in schools, but can also be held in other large venues. How far you will need to travel will depend on your region. Areas with a large number of teams are likely to host an event close to your location.
FTC State or Regional Championships are held in similar venues. The location is determined by the state/region.
FTC World Championships are held in a combination of large venues. These events are in Houston, Texas, USA or Detroit, Michigan, USA.
What are the competition events like?
Arrival, Sign-In, and Inspections
Most events include time on the evening before robot competition for teams to arrive, sign-in with the event coordinators, set up their pit areas, and have their robot inspected by the event crew
Inspections involve two parts:
Robot Inspection: All robots are reviewed to confirm that they do not violate any rules about size, use of materials, safety issues, or required components including alliance flag holders, safety labeling, and accessibility of the robot controller phone and main power switch, as well as the connection between the phone and control hub, which manages communication between the controller and motors of the robot.
Field Inspection: All robots are taken to the game field and tested for function at that location. This evaluation answers the question, “Will the robot operate during a match?” but does not address the question, “Will the robot succeed during a match?”
Judging Session
The team will meet with a panel of FTC judges to present their team and robot. This presentation will cover all aspects of:
Team identity and structure
Strategy
Design
Successes and failures during build and testing
Programming goals, methods and innovations
All forms of outreach
Alliances
Each match is a head-to-head game. There are two alliances -- red and blue -- each with two teams’ robots, for a total of four robots on the field together. The game changes each season, but the alliance concept is the same. The game challenge video (see link below in Game Challenge section) describes this well.
Qualification Matches
Each team competes in a number of matches (this depends on the total number of teams at an event, but is usually 4-6). During these matches, ranking points are earned based on alliance performance.
At the end of the Qualification Matches, all teams move to the Selection process.
Selection
During Selection, the four teams with the highest performance ranking are named Alliance Captains and will choose their alliance partners for the next portion of competition, the Elimination Matches. These captains choose two alliance partners.
The game does not change. There will still only be two robots per alliance on the field for each match. The difference is that the members of the alliance will take turns participating in the next rounds.
Elimination Rounds
The elimination portion of the event uses a standard bracket-style format:
Semi-Finals
Finals
At each elimination round, opposing alliances play up to 3 matches. The alliance that wins 2 of 3 matches wins that round.
What does the robot have to do?
Basic FTC Game Structure
The basic game structure (field size and shape, order and length of game segments, etc.) remains essentially the same from year-to-year.
Rules for FTC and Game Challenge
Each year, the official rules are published in the Game Manual
Game Manual, Part 1: General FIRST and FTC rules. These are updated each year but large changes are rare from one year to the next.
Game Manual, Part 2: Specific FTC rules for the current season and Game Challenge. These are updated each year and the game rules are almost completely different for each season.
Common Tasks/Concepts
All game challenges include some combination of moving the robot, controlling or manipulating game elements, moving game elements from one location to another, and sensing some aspect of the game field (light beacons; infrared beacons; lines, colors, or patterns on game field surfaces, etc.).
Game Challenge
The specific Game Challenge for FTC changes every year: There is a new theme, set of game elements on the playing field, set of scoring possibilities, and set of game rules.
Link to 2023-24 game challenge video
Robot Materials
Building Materials
Kit of Parts (KoP)
Metal and plastic parts, including beams, plates, wheels, motors, etc.
Link to KoP Bill of Materials ← Link is broken; reported to FIRST
Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS)
In addition to the KoP, teams may use any raw materials or manufactured/processed items that do not violate any FTC rules. The main restrictions are:
Safety: Items must not violate safety rules
Availability: Items must be generally available to all teams
Complexity: Items must be components (i.e., hinges) rather than finished robot elements (i.e., a robot arm kit)
Electronics Materials
Robot controllers (2 phones and 2 game controllers)
Battery
Controller box(es)
Sensor(s) such as color, infrared, proximity, gyroscope, touch, etc.
Custom Parts
Teams can design and build custom parts for their robot. These are limited only by the rules related to legal materials, safety, game play, and the team’s imagination.
Robot Programming
Programming Language and Environments
FTC robots are programmed using the Java language. There are several methods for programming FTC robots:
Blocks Programming Tool
App Inventor
Android Studio
Link to FTC Programming Resources
Strategy
In order to develop a successful game strategy, teams need to look at the overall challenge, then break it down into manageable pieces.
Read and understand the rules (see Game Manual, Parts 1 & 2, links in the “What does the robot have to do?” section, above)
Develop strategy before robot abilities
Develop strategy to have stages
Start with the most basic elements such as “move to a scoring location” or “move to and gain control of a game element, then use it to score”
Progress to additional point scoring opportunities that build upon rather than replace the initial strategy
Lightning Robotics recommends having two adults and two students designated as rules "experts"
Use the FTC forums
Great for sharing info and questions with other teams
Portions of forums are moderated by official FTC staff. In these areas, answers given by the moderators become official rulings.
Designing
"What?" before "How?"
Whenever possible, design the robot to be built in a modular fashion (mechanism A is structurally separate from mechanism B, etc.) to allow expansion of robot in stages to follow strategy stages
Start with the most basic capabilities such as move, control, and score, leaving space(s) on the robot for additional structures or mechanisms without requiring the initial robot to be disassembled or redesigned
Progress to additional capabilities by adding them to the robot with minimum disruption to the existing robot so that, if new items do not function as desired, they do not interfere with usability of initial robot configuration
Design abilities before features
Move forward = ability; tank treads = feature
Do a pull-up = ability; grappling hook and pulley = feature
Prototypes and Testing
Make out of easy-to-manipulate materials such as poster board, cardboard, tape, staples, etc.
Take photos at each step of the process
Test the items, adjust and/or rebuild, then test again
Document your tests - "show your work"
Durability
Items on the robot need to be durable enough to survive multiple uses in practice sessions and event-day matches without major repairs
Plan for worst-case scenarios (collisions, etc.)
Items that have elements that will naturally wear out should be designed so that those elements can be repaired and replaced quickly and with a minimum of disruption to the remainder of the robot. Spare parts should be prepared ahead of time and be in as close to a “ready to go” state as is possible within the constraints of the material and the actions required to install them on the robot.
Building
Every team’s building experience will be different.
Everything will take longer than you expect / you may need to meet more often than expected
Be prepared to take it all apart and start over
What works, wins!
We recommend using Loctite
Helps hold nuts onto bolts or set screws in place
Particularly helpful on set screws (used to secure items such as gears, motors, etc. onto axles), because they have a tendency to loosen during robot operation
Be sure to get the non-permanent kind of Loctite so that you can still remove/replace nuts
Small adjustments -- or deviations -- make a big difference, so double-check everything
Mark parts for assembly / disassembly / reassembly. For example:
Marks on plates and mounting points to help align mounting holes
Color-coded tape at ends of some cables and on the appropriate data/power port to ensure fast and accurate pairing of cables and ports
LIFT and DO NOT LIFT markings as needed on the robot to ensure that lifts are performed only at structurally-appropriate points
Axle Collars
Axle collars keep other items (i.e., free-spinning wheels) in place on an axle
In some critical instances -- because the set screws often get loose -- it may be wise to put two collars in place so that they support each other in the task of keeping the desired item (wheel, etc.) in place.
Wiring
Plan ahead
Length of cables
Routes: no tangles
Strain relief
Labels
Reasons to diagram
Understanding the wiring
Being able to take it apart and repair it without reinventing it
Documentation to show the judges
Engineering Notebook
What is an Engineering Notebook?
One of the goals of FIRST and FIRST Tech Challenge is to recognize the engineering design process and the journey that a team makes during the phases of problem definition, concept design, system-level design, detailed design, test and verification, and production of the robot. Throughout the process of designing and building a robot, teams will come across obstacles, lessons learned, and the need to draw things out on paper. This is where teams will use an Engineering Notebook. These notebooks track the team from the beginning of the season in May throughout the competition season.
This documentation should include:
Sketches
Discussions and Team meetings
Design evolution
Software development
Processes, obstacles
Each team member’s thoughts throughout the journey for the entire season
Why is the Engineering Notebook important?
Judges review a team’s Engineering Notebook to better understand the journey, design, and team as a whole. The Engineering Notebook is a complete documentation of the Team’s Robot design as well as chronicles the time spent doing research, outreach, Team meetings, and plans for growth.
Links and Examples
Link to FTC Team 365’s Engineering Notebook (.zip download)
Link to FTC Team 4250’s Engineering Notebook (.zip download)
Link to FTC Team 5037’s Engineering Notebook (.zip download)
Link to FTC Team 6134’s Engineering Notebook (.zip download)
Tips for Running a Successful FTC Team
Parent Involvement
Involved parents are always beneficial to a team. They can help guide the build process, handle administrative aspects of running a team, and fabricate parts that may be too complicated and/or dangerous for students to make themselves. While parents can be a great help, it is a good idea to let the students try to accomplish the work on their own, and wait for them to ask for help. FTC is a great experience for both students and parents, but students gain the most by being hands-on and working through problems themselves. Parents are especially important in keeping FTC teams running smoothly. In Michigan, FTC is for grades 6-8. Students will cycle through every three years and so will their parents. To keep an FTC team running for more than three years, parents of every student should try to help out and mentor. The lead mentor of a team can also work alongside and show future lead mentors some of the responsibilities in order to prepare them to take over the team in future seasons.
Engineering Notebook
The Engineering Notebook is one of the most important parts of an FTC team. Not only is it a great way to recap your season and build process, but you can also win awards at competitions. The best way to make sure you have a complete Engineering Notebook by the end of the season is to add to it every day or meeting. Have each student write a couple sentences about what they did at the meeting and what they learned. Take lots of photos and videos to add to your notebook to visually show your progress throughout the season. The engineering notebook can be individualized based on each team, but many share common aspects including the build process, outreach in the community, and lots of pictures.
Outreach
A great way to expand your team and recruit new students is by participating in outreach events in your community. Community service, demonstrating your robot, and participating in STEM events are all ways to get your team involved and known. It can also get more students interested in robotics and FIRST. One way to spread STEM and robotics in your community is by showing your robot to other students. You can set up demonstrations of your robot at schools in your district, then give students the opportunity to see your robot up close, or even drive it. You can also create a short video or flyer about your team to spread to schools or other locations to spark interest in FIRST.
Judging
Another way to win awards at competitions other than having a successful robot, is the judging sessions. Students will go over their season, team, and outreach in front of a panel of judges. Have your students prepare a script or speech and identify who will be saying what. Practice before they go in front of the judges, and be creative! Come up with an interesting way to keep the judges engaged and ensure they will remember your team.
PDF Version
FTC Startup Guide Publish.pdf