Team Blast: Check out this week's Tech Tip of the Week, and more on ftc-docs.

Hi ,

Tech Tip of the Week
New Blog: Express Enrollment Youth Registration (U.S./Canada)
SHOW Us Your Skills This Season with Kahoot!
FIRST^® Memorial Scholarship Applications Open (Global)
Field Setup and Assembly Assistance
Diary of an Innovator Blog Series

Tech Tip of the Week

This week’s Tech Tip provides useful tips when using Control and Expansion Hubs.

The RS485 data cable ports that provide data between Control and Expansion Hubs are redundant - you can use two data cables utilizing both ports to ensure that if one cable fails communications aren’t lost.
Encoder ports 0 and 3 are hardware-counted, but ports 1 and 2 are software-counted. This means higher counts-per-revolution encoders (like the REV Through-Bore Encoder) should be placed on Ports 0 or 3 to ensure counts aren’t missed, and lower counts-per-revolution encoders (like the goBILDA Odometry Pods or most motors) can be connected to any port.

This week’s Tech Tip actually has 7 tips, but they don’t all fit in this newsletter. You can view the Tech Tip of the Week on ftc-docs, which includes this week’s complete Tech Tip and all past Tech Tips.

New Blog: Express Enrollment Youth Registration (U.S./Canada)

Read our recent blog on the Express Enrollment update to the FIRST^® program registration processes. This new, mobile-friendly application simplifies both the coach/mentor invitation process and parent/guardian youth participant sign up experience when invited by a lead coach/mentor.

SHOW Us Your Skills This Season with Kahoot!

Lights, camera, STEAM! Science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) inspire big ideas, bold action – and creativity. Our skills make it possible to create art and experiences that bring us together, entertain us, and move us. Check out our new Kahoot Course on all things STEAM and explore concepts in music, theater, visual arts, and the various future opportunities they open.

FIRST^® Memorial Scholarship Applications Open (Global)

Applications for this year's Dr. Bart Kamen Memorial FIRST Scholarship and Woodie Flowers Memorial Grant are now open and available along with other FIRST Scholarship opportunities.

Dr. Bart Kamen Memorial FIRST Scholarship awards four (4) $10,000 renewable scholarships annually for students pursuing medical or biomedical programs.
The Woodie Flowers Memorial Grant is available to last season's Dean's List Award Winners and awards one (1) $10,000 renewable scholarship annually to a student pursuing a degree that will lead to "a meaningful life".

Field Setup and Assembly Assistance

To ensure proper assembly of the CENTERSTAGE^℠ presented by RTX game sets, please make sure to follow the field setup and assembly instructions listed on the FIRST website. Additional video tutorials for building your game sets are offered from AndyMark to ensure proper assembly. Following each step is important to the overall performance of the field during gameplay.

If any issues are encountered, please contact AndyMark’s customer service department.

Diary of an Innovator Blog Series

We've launched our Diary of an Innovator Blog series on the FIRST^® Tech Challenge Blog. Make sure to check it out and read all about our incredible Diary of an Innovator teams!