Hi , 

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

In this week's blast:
📕 Game Manual Part 1 Re-Release

🎮 Robot Controller Android Smartphone Reconsideration

🤖 Tech Tip of the Week

Game Manual Part 1 Re-Release 

Version 1.4 of the Game Manual Part 1 - Traditional and Remote, was rereleased on 1/10/2024 at noon eastern time. Please be sure to download the most recent copy.  All changes are listed in the revision history.  

Robot Controller Android Smartphone Reconsideration

As part of Game Manual 1 this season, FIRST Tech Challenge communicated the planned discontinuation of smartphones as Robot Controllers on robots next season. Since the release of Game Manual 1 in July we have received further feedback from our community about the impact of this change as well as announced plans for a new control system starting in the 2027-2028 FIRST Tech Challenge competition season. After additional consideration, we are delighted to announce the reversal of our decision to discontinue the use of smartphones as Robot Controllers on robots. Game Manual 1 will be promptly updated this week to eliminate any mention of the planned obsolescence. There are no additional planned changes to supported smartphones nor their use as Robot Controllers on robots for the 2024-2025 season.   

Tech Tip of the Week

This week’s Tech Tip of the Week is for all those who program in OnBot Java. Have you ever been worried that your OnBot Java programs could suddenly magically vanish? Has it ever happened to you? One lesser-known feature of OnBot Java is automatic backups - each time you “compile all” in OnBot Java the system saves a copy of all source code, up to 30 compilations deep. In order to find these backups, you must connect to the Control Hub via USB from a Windows machine and navigate to the “FIRST” folder on the device’s internal storage. In this folder you’ll find a “java” folder, and within that is the “srcBackups” folder. Here you’ll find zip files containing each backup with a time/date stamp. Happy Programming!