Starting an FTC team

Once you have decided to start an FTC team the following steps should allow you to get through all of the important points.

Make sure you have a group of students ready to go. If the students are new to FIRST or competitive technology based programs and under the age of 13 you may want to consider FLL. Click here to see our FLL program >>
An adult that will act as a main contact and is able to communicate through email is important. Almost all information about the program comes through email. Regular reading of these updates will make a team more successful.
School affiliation is not required but a central organization where students meet and work on their machine is important. Most work can be done on a table top, storage in a cupboard. To simulate the playing field a 12 foot by 12 foot area should be available at times, especially near the end of the build (End of November through Dec 1st).
Register your team at usfirst.org, www.usfirst.org/ftc , You will be registering through a system called Team Information Management System, TIMS.
Once registered you will be asked to pay your registration fee. Once paid you will be given your official team number that will stay with the team each year.
Order a Robotics Kit. On the information page of TIMS there is a link for ordering a kit. This takes you outside of FIRST to a Pitsco/Lego site. Any grants you have been awarded should be reflected here.
Register on the Google Group WashingtonFTC. This will be the main point of contact with the Affiliate Partner as well as an easy way for teams to interact.
When registration for the Washington State Championship opens register on this site.

Important points to consider

Budget

Note: This budget is only an approximate based on costs reported from 2010 FTC teams

Item	Cost
Team registration Through FIRST	$275
Robotics Kit	$800
State Tournement Fee	$100
T Shirts, Travel, Misc.	$150
Practice Field and misc parts	$475
Total	$1800

Practice Field

FIRST may be offering a practice field kit that will not be known before the Game kick off in September. Plans for the field will be available for download to build your own. It is highly recommended you either build/buy your own or find an FTC team that would let you use theirs.

Keep in touch

There are several ways to communicate and learn things about FTC.

Keep up with any updates emailed to the main contact, share this information with the team.
Local teams communication through Google Group WashingtonFTC.
FIRST has an official forum for FTC. Click here to see the official FIRST FTC Forum >>
ChiefDelphi.com has an FTC group. This is the quasi-official center of all things FIRST in the world. Click here to see ChiefDelphi's FTC Forum >>

Engineering Notebook

Some rookie teams choose not to maintain an engineering notebook. Many of the awards are based on the information contained in the book. Make a strong effort to have the team use the book daily and contain meaningful information about the design/engineering process that the students used. More information about this will be in your teams manual.

Click here to see upcoming FTC events >>