The 2016-2017 FIRST Tech Challenge is officially underway, with the season kickoff at noon today.
The Massachusetts kickoff event at Needham High School began with a presentation by roboticist Dr. Russ Tedrake of MIT, followed by seminars and workshops for team members and mentors.
At noon, Loretta Bessette and David Price of Massachusetts FTC unveiled the “Velocity Vortex” game rules and playing field.
Following a question and answer period, team members were invited to examine the playing field and game elements up close.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
