MLGW/TVA robotics showcase

Posted on August 16, 2018 by admin

The MLGW/TVA robotics showcase will be on Monday October 1 with opening remarks at 9 am CDT.

Schools should arrive no later than 8 am.

Sets ups prior to Monday can be either on the previous Friday afternoon or Sunday.

We would like to have examples of as many different robotics activities that are going on in the greater Memphis area. This would include FLL, FTC, FRC, VEX IQ, VEX EDR, BEST, Medtronic, and Stephanie’s summer group.

We will need to limit teams to no more than two per type of robotics and 3 or 4 students to keep the total number manageable.

Arrangements can be made for transportation and or substitute teacher costs that might be incurred.

Please let us (memphisfirstteams@gmail.com) know if you will be able to have your team(s) attend.

This is a significant event for Memphis as it raises awareness of robotics activities and increases the likelihood of encouraging volunteers for your program.

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2nd Annual Robo-Rodeo

Posted on August 16, 2018 by admin

Mark your calendar and plan to join us for the

2nd Annual Robo-Rodeo

Sep 14-16, 2018

The 2nd Annual Robo-Rodeo at the Tennessee Valley Fair, will again include a FIRST Robotics off-season event organized by FRC Team 4265, the Secret City Wildbots and will take place in the Jacob Building. Huge thanks to the Tennessee Valley Fair for having us back. We hope your team will join us in the off-season to compete once again in the 2018 Power Up game.Huge thanks to the Tennessee Valley Fair for having us back. We hope your team will join us in the off-season to compete once again in the 2018 Power Up game.

Friday, Sept. 14th – Load in & some fun fair theme activities

Saturday, Sept. 15th – Practice and qualification matches

Sunday, Sept. 16th – Finals and Awards

Cost: $350 for 1 robot, $500 for 2 robots

Your registration will include fair admission passes for students and coaches.

(Downloadable Flyers will be posted by next week)

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Eclipse being replaced by VS Code

Posted on August 1, 2018 by admin

From: FRC Blog

For the 2019 season, C++ and Java development are moving from Eclipse (with deploy based on Ant scripts) to Microsoft’s VS Code (with deploy based on Gradle via GradleRIO). Given this significant change, we wanted to provide an opportunity for all teams to be able test the new IDE and tooling. The alpha is open to everyone to try, and will use existing 2018 core libraries (wpilib, ntcore, cscore, etc), meaning it is compatible with your robots, existing code and vendor libraries (like NavX, Phoenix, etc). More info about the alpha test, and instructions on how to get started with the new VS Code system can be found on ScreenSteps.

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FRC Team Accepting Applications

Posted on August 1, 2018 by admin

Are you a student and you would like to be on an FRC team but your school doesn’t have have one?

Are you an adult with skills such as Engineering, Programming, Project Management, Sales, Business Management or just like helping students build cool stuff like robots and would like to mentor youth?

Well Team #4764 – The Memphis MechWarriors is currently accepting applications to join the team!

The team meets at the Cloud 901 space in the Benjamin L. Hooks library. Check out their website HERE.


Clicking the graphic above takes you directly to the application page!

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TVA Grant Available

Posted on July 24, 2018 by admin

I know you have been anxiously awaiting news about the TVA grants this season, so I’m pleased to inform you that we received the funds today and are ready to dispense to teams. We will be utilizing the new process we implemented last season. However, one change is now that the registration is bundled with the challenge set, the complete bundle will be covered. Please see below:

Team Eligibility:

  • All FIRST Robotics Competition teams in the TVA Service Area are eligible for funding (that includes all of TN), which will cover $500 towards Registration for your team
  • Teams must begin the registration process with FIRST and hold a team number, however, teams must NOT pay for registration as it will forfeit their TVA Grant. No exceptions, substitutions or refunds will be made.
  • A maximum of 256 TVA team grants are available on a first come, first served basis. Funds will be available until December 1, 2018 OR until team registration closes in your region/nationally OR until we reach the 256 team grant cap – whichever comes first. If we get close to reaching the 256 team cap, we will notify all Partners (and we will post it on this blog).

Next Steps:

  • All teams interested in receiving TVA funds must submit a very short online application to FIRST
  • FIRST will send grant information and the application link to all teams that received TVA funding last season and encourage them to apply for funds if they intend to participate this season. The list of last season’s TVA teams that we will contact is attached for your reference – any teams that have already paid their registration for this season have been removed from the list.
  • We ask that Partners send the application link to any other teams that are eligible for TVA funds – new/rookie teams or returning teams that did not receive funding last season.
  • You may choose to post the TVA information and application link on your website or social media channels

TVA Grant Process

  • FIRST will review all grant requests each Wednesday by noon, Eastern Time.
  • FIRST will send the grant requests to Tennessee Valley Authority to verify the team’s location within their service area. This process usually takes 48 hours.
  • Once FIRST receives the approval back from Tennessee Valley Authority, teams can expect the grant funds to be available within 5 business days.
  • Teams should expect to receive 3 emails during the application process – 1. To confirm that they have successfully submitted the application 2. To notify them of approval and application of funds 3. Information about recognizing/thanking TVA and the use of the TVA logo.
  • Any teams that have already paid registration or are outside of the TVA services area will be referred back to the Partner.
  • Any questions regarding this process should be directed to Ryanne Cook at rcook@firstinspires.org .
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