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We know there's a lot to think about when you're getting started with FIRST Tech Challenge. So we wanted to start you off with some of our general building best practices so that you have a couple specific things to think about when you start building your robot.  �         Design to facilitate easy repair. Make sure that every part is accessible and easy to fix for quick and painless pit repair. �          Build the robot for competition. Consider the outcome of different types of collisions and add guards and bumpers in the design to minimize impact. Protect wires and position motors so that the end of the wire is inside the robot body. �         As screws, nuts, and washers are removed from the robot or from early prototypes, check them for damage and discard or mark parts that are no longer perfect. �         Keep drive wheels symmetrical. Asymmetrical wheels will ...

Over the past decade, FIRST � Tech Challenge has continued to grow, serving the FIRST mission of creating excitement and exposing students to the wonderful world of science, technology, engineering and math. With growth, must come change, as most of our community has seen through our evolution of robot technology. We continue to work to make this program more accessible and affordable, while still engaging and challenging students of all skill levels. Since the 2015 season, FIRST Tech Challenge has moved away from a centralized control system to the Android based platform you see today. The increased reliability of the Android based/REV platform, is allowing us to improve the flow of the matches. We are making significant and exciting changes that teams and volunteers need to be aware of for the 2017-2018 season. Autonomous to Driver Controlled Transition Starting in the 2017-2018 season, there will no longer be a hard stop following the autonomous period to transition to the driver c...

The Modern Robotics (MR) Core Power Distribution Module (PDM) and the 12V 3000mAh battery are equipped with Tamiya electrical connectors. The PDM�s power input cable has a male Tamiya connector and the 12V battery has a female Tamiya connector.        Figure 1 - The PDM and the 12V Battery have Tamiya electrical connectors. The Tamiya connector is a common type of connector often used in the RC model industry. The Tamiya connector is a keyed type of electrical connector. This means that the shape of the connector prevents a user from improperly connecting two electrical components together. For the PDM, the square shaped component of the Tamiya connector matches the square shaped (positive) receptacle on the battery�s female Tamiya connector. The PDM�s circular shaped component matches the circular shaped (negative) receptacle on battery�s female Tamiya connector. The Tamiya connectors work well, but the internal components can stretch and loosen after repeate...