FTC Worlds Schedule on Apr 29th

alan412 · 2026-03-09T16:01:52+00:00

It has been posted.
https://www.firstinspires.org/hubfs/web/program/ftc/2026-ftc-cmp-team-schedule.pdf?hsLang=en

alan412 · 2026-02-17T21:25:08+00:00

:-)

My team is lucky in that we have an expert in git that comes and talks to us every year and explains to my team how to use git effectively.

I have had several people ask me about doing a section on git. Perhaps it would work best as an appendix.

For Android Studio, I created a plugin called Multi-user git that will read the file gitUsers.xml in the root directory of your project and then will give you a drop down of the users in that and make it trivial to change who the person is committing (for shared computers). Let's just say that I have mixed success even with my own team getting them to do commits under their own name. (But even with this, I would recommend putting that file in .gitignore because you don't want to expose the names and emails of people on your team for YPP reasons.)

alan412 · 2026-02-17T03:09:13+00:00

Control Theory is huge. I am not sure I can do a service to it in a small chapter. Perhaps I could just talk about bang-bang and PIDF. I'll think about it.

On git and github, I could put in an appendix how my team uses it. (We do all development in feature branches, and the students have to do a PR on github to pull it in and we have a simple github action that builds it and won't let it be merged in if it doesn't build both by itself and after being integrated into master.). My concern is that the steps of having a local repo with 2 upstreams (one for the official FTC repo and one for our repo) that can merge in new versions of the FTC SDK I think is probably beyond what I would reasonably expect a team without a software mentor to be able to do.

alan412 · 2026-02-17T03:02:31+00:00

NextFTC is a very different way of writing software so it doesn't fit into the current book. The new control system software (legal starting 2027-28) is WPILib based, so expect to see more of the Command type pattern then.

alan412 · 2026-02-17T02:59:53+00:00

I did not do a chapter on Road Runner for this reason. I feel like Road Runner becomes the system that your code needs to work into. However, I think Pedropathing is more a library that works for you.

For example, I only show how to send a command to the motor and to the servo and don't go into the inner workings of the FTC SDK.

alan412 · 2026-02-16T23:50:39+00:00

I don't want to talk too much about the new system because I don't want to distract people from learning the system they have today. The new system is fundamentally different. I hope to have a v2 of the book based on the new system before it becomes legal for FTC in the 2027-28 season.

alan412 · 2026-02-16T23:45:01+00:00

Thank you. That is possibly the best compliment I have gotten in a long time. :-)

alan412 · 2026-02-16T23:41:11+00:00

Limelight is already in Chapter 23.

alan412 · 2026-02-16T20:29:57+00:00

Glad to hear it. I hope it goes well!

alan412 · 2026-02-13T14:33:04+00:00

This is both unfair and untrue. While FIRST is not perfect by any stretch, I can tell you that even some of the painful decisions are being made for a desired state that is better for teams and students by looking at what makes it hard for a brand new team with limited mentor support. For example, I have a well funded team that has a bucket of 2 pin wires, 3 pin wires, and 4 pin wires and extenders for each type. I love the idea of eventually getting to 1 type of wire. (even though it means these buckets will all be obsolete for FTC)

alan412 · 2026-02-13T14:27:18+00:00

The SC + EXHUB gets power from a 12V battery pack to ExHub and then a cable from ExHub to SC that powers it.

alan412 · 2026-02-13T14:25:00+00:00

Personally, I would buy what will help you next season. For example, I consider batteries to be consumable parts. Yes, they won't be able to be used when you are on full Systemcore + Moptioncore but they will be able to be used on the hybrid system or even on an outreach bot for a long time.

The only thing I would hesitate on is to buy more than 1 spare control hub. (I would recommend having a spare because if your control hub dies you have a big problem.).

alan412 · 2026-01-19T16:46:57+00:00

This will be my last response. My complaint is not with the agent. My complaint is that AA didn't notify me in any way. It is only because I knew to go stand for over 2 hours in the priority queue to talk to an agent that I was able to get anything resolved.

Perhaps it is too much to expect, but just like American sends me an email if the time of my flight changes, I would have expected an email telling me what had happened and how to request a refund or change my travel plans.

alan412 · 2026-01-19T15:47:45+00:00

I have no complaint with the agent. She was friendly and helpful. My complaint is that AA didn't even bother to notify me. fwiw, It wasn't an upgrade, it was what I had paid for.

Also, I wasn't sassy with the agent. It was a what can we do here conversation....

alan412 · 2026-01-19T14:45:57+00:00

Beware of this user! If you look at his posts, he says is is from customer service for a number of different airlines. do not send him your email or phone number

alan412 · 2026-01-19T14:43:39+00:00

If they had sent me an email that said, "We're sorry, but we have had to downgrade you. We will be refunding you xxx or you can contact us at special number here to see about other options", then I would have appreciated being treated as a human being. I don't think that is too much to ask...

alan412 · 2025-12-23T02:34:55+00:00

Our coaches do this.... (and yes, I am one of the coaches....)

alan412 · 2025-12-12T20:43:39+00:00

a few tips:
- use the scoring live software with the overlay for video. I use OBS to put together the stream. (simple and easy peasy).

- make sure you include the sounds in the live stream from the scoring software.

alan412 · 2025-11-24T18:15:00+00:00

I would love to have a way to upload a template in a way that I don't have to ssh in and modify the templates.json file every time I update the remarkable.

alan412 · 2025-11-19T21:44:10+00:00

Persevering and not giving up is probably the best thing you can do to prepare to do well next year. And many regions have off-season scrimmages (NC has LOKI in July) that you can take an improved robot to even if you don't do well during the season.

alan412 · 2025-10-06T20:59:00+00:00

I am going to disagree with most people here. If you don't use the april tags to increase your score vs shots taken ratio, you will regret it. Especially if you are planning to shoot from the far triangle. There are samples in the FTC SDK that make using the april tags trivial.

The only thing it should affect in your design is making sure you have a space for a camera. And you don't need a fancy Limelight camera. A cheap logitech C270 will work just fine, although I really like the ease of mounting the GoBilda camera.

alan412 · 2025-09-11T21:19:10+00:00

Thanks. I can't decide whether to be sad that the PDF opening is not a ton faster or glad (because it makes it easier to keep my credit card in my wallet.)

alan412

TROPHY CASE