FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC)
Welcome to the area of kcfirst.org designed to provide those already involved with an FRC program access to important information and resources. Here you will find event information, resources and links to helpful sites elsewhere in the FRC community.
FRC Coach Meeting - Sept 21, 2017
We are going to a have a coaches meeting this fall to talk about the regional events, things that are going on in the area, and thoughts from FRC teams.
Date:September 21, 2017
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM at the
Location: Kansas City Engineering zone 4825 Troost Ave Kansas City, MO 64110
Food will be served.
Please RSVP at https://goo.gl/forms/TCE3DSFlGDTJ5AsD2 so we know how many people are coming for the food count. Even if you can not attend can you please fill out the form and click will not attend.
FRC Kickoff - Saturday, January 6, 2018
FRC Kickoff marks the beginning of the design and build season. Teams have the opportunity to meet at "local" Kickoffs to compare notes, get ideas, make friends, find mentoring teams, learn the game, pick up the Kit of Parts, and get geared up for the exciting competition season.
Greater KC FRC Regional AND a 2nd KC FRC Regional
This year there will be two FIRST Robotics Competition Regional Tournaments in the Kansas City area to choose from (or attend both). They will take place on back-to-back weekends Week 2 and Week 3 of competition season. The first regional will be called the Heartland Regional and will be March 9-11 (this is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) . The second will be called the Greater Kansas City Regional and will be on Week 3 (March 15-17) and will be Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The location for both will be Metropolitan Community College - Business & Technology. See event day listings for more information.
FIRST Community and Alumni
As a FIRST participant or alum, you know firsthand how important FIRST was to you...in high school, in college and beyond. Whether you are currently active or not, you can stay connected through the FIRSTCommunity. Signing up only takes a few minutes, and it's free.
FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC)
Welcome to the area of kcfirst.org designed to provide those already involved with an FTC program access to important information and resources. Here you will find event information, resources and links to helpful sites elsewhere in the FTC community.
FTC Team Manual
Critical to the success of an FTC team is the information contained in the FTC team Resource area at firstinspires.org. If your team has not considered the wealth of information available in this segment of the firstinspires.org website it is highly recommended that you take a look today!
FTC 2017-2018 Registration
Learn about the 2017-18 FTC Competition Structure
This year there will be two FTC Qualifiers in the Kansas City area as well as one Conference Qualifier. The locations and dates for the FTC Qualifiers will be held announced soon so watch this space. The Conference Qualifier will be held for those teams that advance through Meets. Date and location will be announced soon. Each team is gauranteed a spot at one regular qualifier and two meets. Qualifier cost is $100 and each two meets cost $100. Teams advance to the Missouri State championship in Rolla, MO by way of the regular qualifier or the conference qualifier. Meets in the Kansas City area will be held at several locations in Kansas City in November, December, and January. See events on this website for more information.
More information about FTC Meets
FTC teams can participate in meets and qualify to compete at the Conference Qualifier on 2/10/18. Two Meets cost $100 and teams are gauranteed two if they register by 9/30/17. This meet is in the Northwest quadrant but is open to any team in Missouri or Kansas who registers. The quadrant is significant for point accrual and determining which teams go to the Conference Qualifier. The link to register for a 2017-18 Meet is not yet available. Check back at this spot.
Meets will have 8 to 12 teams and take about 4 hours. The robot game will be played with official rules. No judging or alliances will occur. 5 matches per team. Teams can arrive about an hour before the meet starts. For more information go to http://stlfirst.org/first-tech-challenge
FTC Kickoff and Workshops
Kickoff will be held September 9, 2017
MCC Business & Technology Campus
1775 Universal Ave., KC, MO 64120
Team Training Workshop will be held September 23, 2017
MCC Business & Technology Campus
1775 Universal Ave., KC, MO 64120
FTC Meets and Qualifiers in KC - 2017-18
FTC Meets and Qualifiers in KC - 2017-18 (see events listing for more information)
October 28: CowTown Throwdown FTC Meet
November 11: 2 FTC Meets at KC Engineering Zone hosted by Astromechs
December 9: FTC Qualifier hosted by Notre Dame De Sion
December 16: 2 FTC Meets at KC Engineering Zone hosted by St. Teresa's FTC team
January 13: 1 FTC Meet at KC Engineering Zone
January 20: FTC Qualifier hosted by Blue Valley CAPS
January 27: 2 FTC Meets hosted by Olathe Northwest High School
February 10: FTC Conference Qualifier hosted by Blue Springs High School
Results from KC FTC Qualifiers - 2016 - 2017
Results from KC FTC Qualifiers - 2016-2017
FTC Missouri State Championship
FTC Missouri (and Kansas) State Championship will be held in Rolla MO in 2018. Date to be announced. Last season, it was held in Rolla, MO at Missouri S&T on March 4, 2017. These Kansas City area teams advanced to the State Level Championship. Results of the March 4th State Championship included two KC area teams advancing to the North Super Regional Championship held on March 30th - April 1st. The two advancing teams were Team 10173 Olathe Northwest High School Ravonics Gemini and Team 3409 Astromechs.
FIRST LEGO® League
Welcome to the area of kcfirst.org designed to provide those already involved with an FLL program access to important information and resources. Here you will find event information, resources and links to helpful sites elsewhere in the FLL community.
2017 HydroDynamics - Team Resources
Drink in the 2017/2018 HYDRO DYNAMICSSM season and learn all about water – how we find, transport, use, or dispose of it. In the 2017/2018 FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge, students age 9 to 16* from 80 countries will make a splash with HYDRO DYNAMICS. What might become possible when we understand what happens to our water?
KC FLL Season 2017-18
Newsletter to coaches about the entire 2017-18 FLL season from Gretchen Neis.
Robot Game Questions?
See the KC area Head Ref Website at : https://sites.google.com/view/kcfllref/home or contact Michael Hartwig directly at kcfllref@gmail.com
KC Area FLL Qualifier Registration
FLL Coaches: Registration opens at 4 pm on September 28th for KC area qualifiers. Qualifier registration closes at 5 pm on October 6th. Payment of $100 is due by October 30th.
Link to register not yet available:
Cost is $100 and is non-refundable. More information when available:
and see the event in the Events section of this website.
FLL Qualifier Information for the 2017-18 Season
The qualifier dates are as follows:
Qualifier #1 - November 11, 2017 Olathe Northwest High School
Qualifier #2 - November 18, 2017 Summit Lakes Middle School, Lee's Summit, MO
Qualifier #3- December 2, 2017 Bingham Middle School, Independence, MO
Qualifier #4 - December 9, 2017 Wyandotte High School
Qualifier #5 - December 16, 2017 Lawrence High School
Please visit the newsletter for more information.
Announcement about updated Judging Rubrics
FIRST LEGO League has updated the Project rubric for the 2017 HYDRO DYNAMICSSM season. The updated rubric has an increased focus on the processes used in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), specifically these changes:
- The Sources of Information criteria clearly reflects the need for quality sources and a wide variety of sources. Teams must consult professionals in fields relating to their topic to be at the Accomplished or Exemplary levels.
- Problem Analysis includes the analysis of the problem and of existing solutions. Review Existing Solutions has been eliminated as a separate area for evaluation.
- When teams are describing their Team Solution, they are now expected to describe how it solves the problem.
- The new Solution Development criteria encompasses the previous Implementation criteria. Teams should explain the processes they used to select, develop, evaluate, test, and improve the solution. Teams who use some type of evaluation, testing, or other data analysis as part of their process will be at the Accomplished level; teams who do evaluation and consider cost, ease of manufacturing, or other implementation factors in a systematic way will be at the Exemplary level.
Teams who are working toward the Accomplished and Exemplary levels for Solution Development may choose to spend more designing their process than in previous seasons to ensure it is systematic and includes some type of evaluation or testing of their solution. All teams will spend more time explaining their development process to Judges than they would have done in the past.
If you have questions about the updated rubric, email flljudge@firstinspires.org or fllprojects@firstinspires.org.
Clarificaton of HydroDynamics Project
Clarification of Water Disposal - The problem your team investigates must be a part of the human water cycle. For the HYDRO DYNAMICSSM Project, this means “the ways people find, transport, use, and dispose of water in order to meet a specific need or desire.” Since this definition explains the path that water takes when utilized by humans, water “disposal” here refers to “wastewater,” or water that has already been used by humans in homes, industries, and businesses. Water disposal does NOT refer to the removal of floodwaters. Therefore, controlling the structural damage or immediate threats to human life caused by natural floods would NOT be appropriate topics for the Project. In order for natural flooding to be a suitable topic, it must be clearly linked to the human water cycle, and a human use of water. An example of this type of linkage might be flood contamination of a water source that will be used by humans. Questions? Email fllprojects@firstinspires.org
KC Area Water Connections for HydroDynamics Project
Is your team looking for places to start exploring project ideas for this year’s FIRST LEGO League Challenge? This list will give you a place to start.
KC Coach's Workshop Presentations
The following are presentations from 9/9/17 Coaches Workshop covering HydroDynamics and from the prior year's Coaches Workshop (2016-17) covering Animal Allies.
Results from KC FLL Qualifiers - 2016-2017
The results from the FIRST LEGO League qualifiers are posted below:
FLL KC Championship Information
FLL Championship for Greater KC will take place January 20, 2018 at Metropolitan Community College - Business & Technology. For more information, see the event listing on January 20. Results from last year are listed below.
Jr. FIRST LEGO® League
Welcome to the area of kcfirst.org designed to provide those already involved with a Jr.FLL program access to important information and resources. Here you will find event information, resources and links to helpful sites elsewhere in the Jr.FLL community.
2017 Aqua Adventure is here
Get pumped for the FIRST® LEGO® League Jr. 2017/2018 season. In the AQUA ADVENTURESM Challenge, more than 40,000 children will navigate the uncharted waters of this important resource. Find out where the water you use in your daily life comes from, and what happens on its way to you. Where will this current voyage carry you?
Each year, FIRST LEGO League Jr. presents a new and exciting Challenge to ignite the creativity of children age 6 to 10. While exploring the real-world theme, teams will use basic engineering concepts to build a model made of LEGO® elements. They will also learn to present information through a Show Me Poster. Throughout their experience, teams will operate under the FIRST LEGO League Jr. Core Values, celebrating discovery, teamwork, and Gracious Professionalism®.
Download logos, poster, and certificates.
Aqua Adventure Challenge Document and Season Materials
2017-18 KC Showcase Opportunities - Informational Letter from Gretchen Neis
Dear teams,
We hope you are excited about the AQUA ADVENTURES season!
We have finalized dates for FLL Junior events in the Kansas City Region and wanted to share some resources with you.
Kansas City Showcases (will include reviewing and team building):
November 11th at Olathe Northwest High School FLL Qualifier: time and sign up to follow
November 18th at Summit Lakes Middle School FLL Qualifier: time and sign up to follow
March 17th (St. Patrick’s Day) at the FRC Championship at Metropolitan Community College-Business and Technology Campus (MCC BTC): time and sign up to follow
April: date and location to follow
Showcases (share posters with public-display style only):
January 20th at FLL Championship at MCC BTC: time and sign up to follow
June 23-24 at Maker Faire at Union Station KC: time and sign up to follow
See below for a link to a flyer of local resources for water experts.
Additionally, a local organization is offering workshops for this year’s challenge. Check out the workshops at http://www.learnscienceandmathclub.org/?q=aqua-adventures registration ends September 20th.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions. I will be contacting teams to sign up for Showcases in October.
Thank you,
Gretchen Neis
JRFLL and FLL partner
