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Your team

• Edina FTC Robotics is available for 7th - 12th graders from Edina's Valley View, South View & Edina High School. This is a school activity, and not a community organization.
• FTC Robotics are competition teams, not a class, not Battle Bots.
• In the FIRST® organization's middle level FIRST® Tech Challenge, teams compete in two local tournaments , with the opportunity to qualify for the state and world championships.
• No previous experience is necessary.​
• Sign up begins in May. 
• Teams of 6-10 students work for 2 months (mid Sept. - mid Nov.) to build a robot that will compete in at least two local tournaments (Mid-Nov. until Mid-Jan.) with a possibility of advancing to State (Feb. in St. Paul) or the World Championship (April in Houston).
• NEW 2023 cost is based on your Level of Participation (see below):
  • Creative ​$450 per person + $95 EHS Activity fee
  • Competitive $520 per person + $95 EHS Activity fee
  • All In $600 per person + $95 EHS Activity fee
  • Scholarships are available.​​

Considerations in team formation:

1. Level of participation - Alignment of everyone's goals and time available allows everyone to have a great experience.
2. ​Parent/adult role - Teams are coached/mentored by parents in a variety of roles. 
3. Student skills - Each team needs a variety of skills to successfully build a robot.
4. Friend request - We want you to have fun and when possible, we honor these requests.

Levels of Participation:  
     
​​Creative, Competitive, All In 

 1. Creative
​Goal: Create a working robot that accomplishes some of the tasks in the game and may be competitive at a tournament. Everyone who wants to, can drive/operate the robot in competition. Use Tetrix parts from existing stock.
Time: 5 hours over 2 days a week from Sept. to Feb. (Tues or Thurs. 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM and Sat. 9:00 AM - 12:00 noon). Additional time may be an option as the competition draws near, but is not required.
Learn: Understand the game, basics of building a robot using a kit of parts and possibly a few 3-D printed parts, teamwork, problem solving, engineering process, time management, writing, applied math, business skills, critical thinking. Coded in Blocks.
Best suited for students who:
     * have limited time, both veterans and rookies.
     * are interested in the experience.
           
 2. Competitive
Goal: Build a robot that can do many of the autonomous and driver controlled tasks in order to be competitive at tournament. Documentation may need to be done at home. Use Tetrix parts from our existing stock with an allowance for special parts. Time trials used to determine 2 alternating drive teams.
Time: 7 hours over 3 days a week from Sept. to Feb. (Tues & Thurs. 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM and Sat. 9:00 AM - 12:00 noon, sometimes extended to 2:00 PM).
Learn:  General understanding of game strategy, building using a kit of parts and some specialized pieces (including 3-D printed parts), teamwork, problem solving, engineering process, time management, writing, applied math, business skills, critical thinking.  Coded in OnBot Java with GitHub.
Best suited for students who:
     * are focused and learn independently, veterans & rookies.
     * schedule other activities so that they don’t
       conflict with robotics for more than an hour a week.

3. All In - Invitation only for Veterans.
Goal: Build a robot that consistently completes all the autonomous and driver controlled tasks, in an effort to be as competitive as possible at all levels of tournament play. Willing to put in the time for research, outreach, marketing, mentoring of other teams, and building multiple robots as the team refines their designs and advances. Engineering Notebook is required. Use goBilda and Tetrix parts from our existing stock with a significant allowance for special parts. Robot driver & operator determined through time trials.
Time: more than 10 hours over 4-5 days a week with homework from Summer to April (Tues & Thurs. 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM and Sat. 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM on Saturdays, plus additional meetings by sub teams.) May include some summer meetings.
Learn: Understand advanced game strategy, more complex building, applying calculations, using many specialized parts (including 3-D printing),  advanced Java coding using vision processing and complex motion profiling code (like Road Runner) to help with autonomous, teamwork, problem solving, engineering process, time management, writing, applied math, business skills, critical thinking.
Best suited for students who:
     * ​have at least one year of FTC experience.
     * ​are high school students or motivated, highly organized 8th graders.
     * ​are focused and able to work independently.
     * able to collaborate with others & accept the decision of the consensus
     * ​prioritize robotics and schedule activities around robotics.
     * ​parent/mentor and student have sufficient time to devote.

The Game

• 2022-2023 game is PowerPlay.
• FIRST® Tech Challenge teams will compete in an energy-driven game and test the limits of performance, efficiency, and endurance as they power their innovations forward in POWERPLAYSM presented by Raytheon Technologies.​
• The robot is built with metal parts and coded in either Blockly, OnBot Java or Java with GitHub.
• Our robots compete on a 12 foot x 12 foot foam mat field surrounded by plastic walls. The field is the same every year, but the game’s theme, tasks and objects on the field change annually.
• Each year's game is different, with a variety of ways to score points. Your team determines which points to pursue when designing your robot. 
• Tournaments are 7:30 AM - 6:00 PM+ and happen between mid-Nov. and Jan., in the Twin Cities on Sat. or Sun with a possibility of advancing to State (Feb. in St. Paul) or the World Championship (April in Houston).
• At a tournament you will have 5 matches that are  2 vs 2, with a randomly assigned an "Alliance Partner" and two opponents for each match. They call it "Cooperatition", cooperating and competing with "Gracious Professionalism." 
• In the 2 minute & 30 second match, the first 30 sec. are autonomous. The next two min. are driver controlled (AKA teleop) with video game controllers. The final 30 seconds of driver controlled/teleop includes special ways to score, called End Game.

​Adult Mentor Roles Required

FTC Robotics is brought to you by volunteer parents, just like you! ​Each student is required to have an adult participant. These are the Adult Mentor Roles.
As a mentor who works with our students, you will have an Edina volunteer background check done, at a cost of $16.  This ensures the safety of all of our children.  If you have extenuating circumstances, contact [email protected].

2022-23 School Year

Veterans training Meetings begin Aug. 15
Rookie training Meetings begin Aug. 29
Tuesday and/or Thursdays 6:00-8:00 and
Saturdays 9:00-12:00 (optional to 2:00) 
Kickoff (Game Reveal) Saturday, Sept. 9 at 11:00! 
See full calendar on our home page.

High School Students

​EHS students can earn a letter - Lettering Criteria 
​EHS's Hall of Fame FRC team #1816 The Green Machine  If you demonstrate knowledge of how to work with media, presentations, build or code a robot with an FTC team, you can be invited to join . 

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