Hi , 

Here's some updates and news from FIRST^® Tech Challenge.

In this week's blast: 

🐙 Team Updates pause for U.S. holiday

🌊 Tech Tip of the Week

🐠 2024-2025 FIRST Tech Challenge New Team Hardship Grant final deadline

Team Updates pause for U.S. holiday
There will not be a Team Update scheduled for Thursday, November 28, 2024. The next Team Update will take place Thursday, December 12, 2024. 

Sign up to receive notifications as soon as new Team Updates are posted. 

Tech Tip of the Week
This is an important message for teams who use Android Studio to program their robots. 

Android Studio recently released a new version of their software, 2024.2.1 codenamed “LadyBug”, which brought changes that broke the native compatibility with the FIRST Tech Challenge Software Development Kit (SDK), most notably with the FtcRobotController project. 

FIRST Tech Challenge teams who use existing software are not able to use Android Studio “LadyBug” without performing additional steps to restore compatibility. A new version of the SDK has been released (10.1.1) that has native compatibility with Android Studio "LadyBug." 

Check out the full article on ftc-docs!

2024-2025 FIRST Tech Challenge New Team Hardship Grant final deadline
The 2024-2025 FIRST Tech Challenge New Team Hardship Grant is coming to an end. Awarded new teams will receive a one-time $750 grant which can be used towards FIRST Tech Challenge season registration and products exclusively the FIRST Tech Challenge Storefront.

Please keep in mind that only new FIRST Tech Challenge teams in USA, Mexico, Canada, or USA Military APO may receive this grant and must fit the eligibility requirements stated on the grant page. 

The final grant cycle ends November 19 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Grants are awarded on availability and may run out before this deadline!