About FTC

What is FTC, and what are our goals?

FTC is a robotics league that hosts teams in a robotics competition. Every year each team has to create a new robot with the same basic limitations, and teams from the same region play against each other in several exciting events.

The robot competitions are based around a complicated game, which is different each year. Each year's game involves different game elements (things you grab and move around), and a unique field layout.

FTC has two components: the robot competitions and the business and outreach side. 

In-depth explanation:

Every year the robot size is limited to an 18" cube, but it can extend after the match starts. The field layout varies each year, but is always 12' x 12' in size. Four robots are on the field at once, split into two teams, usually moving objects around to score points.  Every team goes to the first 3 competitions. Winning a lot of matches and then winning the knockout section at the end of the competition is what advances you to the next competition. Our goal is to get to World Championships in Houston.

The business side consists of earning money to support the team (buying new parts, materials, and paying fees). At the higher level competitions, teams present a portfolio to the judges, give a presentation, and answers questions. Judges considers the amount of outreach you did, which includes mentorship and events, and the general idea is to promote their program. 

Some teams focus more on this aspect than others. The Judges give awards to teams based on what you excelled at, and some of these advance you to the next competition. Weston and Lev lean more towards the robot side as it is more predictable, but this team could become more involved in outreach if members want to take that on. There are many potential fun opportunities, like making videos for social media.

It's not awards and robots combined that advance you to the next competition. It's one or the other. You can advance with both, but neither one influences the other. You could have a great robot but have no portfolio, a terrible presentation, and advance with the robot. Or you could have a robot that loses every match but you get the top award for all of the inspiration and outreach you did, and advance. 

This is why we want to focus where we have the best chance of advancing. It doesn't mean doing none of the other side, but it means putting most of our effort into our best chance of winning.