Maryland FIRST Tech Challenge 2007
A mid-level robotics competition for high-school students.
2009 FIRST Tech Challenge Awards
All judged awards require that the teams complete and submit an Engineering Notebook. Teams may compete with their robot on the field without submitting an Engineering Notebook, but the team will not be interviewed and/or will not be eligible for judged awards.
FIRST Tech Challenge Inspire Award
This award is given to the team that the judges felt truly embodied the ‘challenge’ of the FTC program. This team serves as an inspiration as to what this program, and the young minds involved, can accomplish. The team that receives this award has performed well in all judging categories and was chosen by the judges as having best represented a role model FIRST Tech Challenge team.
Judges should use match performance, observations made during interviews and in the pit area, the team’s Engineering Notebook, and performance on the playing field in determining the winner of this award. The recipient of this award should:
- Demonstrate respect and gracious professionalism both for team members and fellow teams
- Have an Engineering Notebook that impresses the judges
- Work beyond their robot to help spread awareness of the team within the community
- Have good communication and team work skills within the team as well as with their alliances
- Communicate clearly about their robot design to the judges
- Has a robot design that effectively plays the game challenge and impresses the judges
- Consistently performs well during matches
PTC Design Award
New for the 2008 season, this judged award recognizes design elements of the robot that are both functional and aesthetic. All successful robots have innovative design aspects; however, the Design Award is presented to teams that incorporate industrial design elements into their solution. These design elements could simplify the robot’s appearance by giving it a clean look, be decorative in nature, or otherwise express the creativity of the team. The winning design should not compromise the practical operation of the robots but compliment its purpose.
Rockwell Collins Innovate Award
This award celebrates a team that not only thinks outside the box, but also has the ingenuity and inventiveness to make their designs come to life. This award is given to the team that the judges feel has the most innovative and creative robot design solution to the FIRST Tech Challenge to any and/or all specific field elements or components. Elements of this award include elegant design, robustness and “out of the box” thinking related to design. This award may address the design of the whole robot or some sub-assembly component attached to the robot. The creative component needs to work consistently, but a robot does not have to work all of the time during matches to be considered for this award. The team’s Engineering Notebook should be marked with journal entries to show the design of the component(s) and the team’s robot in order to be eligible for this award, and entries should describe succinctly how the team arrived at that solution.
FIRST Tech Challenge Motivate Award
This judged award celebrates the team that exemplifies the essence of theFIRSTTech Challenge competition through team spirit and enthusiasm. This team shows their spirit through costumes and fun outfits, a team cheer or outstanding spirit, and through their collective efforts to make FIRST known throughout their school or community.
FIRST Tech Challenge Connect Award
This award is given to the team that judges feel most connected with their local community and the engineering community. The best team is more than the sum of its parts, and recognizes that their schools and communities play an essential part to their success. The recipient of this award is recognized for helping the community understand FIRST, the FIRST Tech Challenge, and the team itself. In addition, the team that wins this award is aggressively seeking engineers and exploring the opportunities available in the world of engineering, science, and technology.
FIRST Tech Challenge Think Award
This award is given to the team that the judges feel best reflects the “journey” the team took as they experienced the engineering design process during the build season. The Engineering Notebook is the key reference for judges to help identify the most deserving team. The team’s Engineering Notebook should focus on the design and build stage of the team’s robot. Journal entries of interest to judges for this award will include those describing the steps, brainstorms, designs, re-designs, successes, and “those interesting moments” when things were not going as planned. A team will not be a candidate for this award if the team has not completed the section of the Engineering Notebook describing the team’s experience.
FIRST Tech Challenge Winning Alliance Award
This award will be given to the winning alliance represented in the final match of the competition, usually consisting of three teams.
FIRST Tech Challenge Finalist Alliance Award
This award will be given to the finalist alliance represented in the final match of the competition, usually consisting of three teams.