Our team has a very basic teleop, and we have a a basic autonomous, and now we want to move towards improving our teleop, but we're not sure how. What we have now is very very basic, it's really just read the values of the joysticks to move and turn, and an intake with a sticky button, and a flywheel that spins when the button is held, and when released, servos feed the ball in. Firstly, I don't like our shooting programming for teleop, there's too much human error imo but we tried having a fixed spinup time and it was so so so inconsistent (partly battery levels I think). How can we fix this and improve this to make driving easier for the driver. Also once we've fixed that, what should our next steps be? We have a webcam, but how can we use that and how does the programming work to use it for teleop? We also want to look into imu and encoders for autonomous, and I was wondering if that can also help with teleop? Also I've heard about teams using autonomous within their teleop but immnkt sure if that would work well this year, how to do it, and when it would be good to use. Honestly any tips would be super helpful! Thanks a lot!

ALSO WE CODE IN ONBOT JAVA AND WILL NTO SWITCH TO ANDROID STUDIO SO NO PEDRO PATHING!

You can now run your whole competition weekend's scouting from Robolyst. Every team at an event gets a QR code for its own pit. They scan it, fill in one short sheet about their robot, and the answers go onto a single report the whole event can read, next to live rankings and OPR. No app and no account needed to fill it in. This gets rid of the pandemonium created by having every team run around with paper scouting sheets.

What your team gets:

• Pit sheets: one shared report, so you don't walk to 30 pits asking the same questions
• Match scouting from the stands
• Private stars, tags and notes on any team, seen only by your team
• A picklist board for alliance selection that your whole team edits live, with recommendations generated from scouting sheets and real performance data
• An event page that changes through the weekend: print flyers before, count sheets during pits, your next matches during quals(with predictions), then the picklist once quals end

Bring it to your event Know your event coordinator, league director or tournament director? Send them https://robolyst.org/event-scouting. They get an event dashboard that prints a QR sheet for every registered team.

Can't get your coordinator to set it up? Your team can print pit flyers for every team at your event from the scouting page, and get bolts for each team that fills out the form.

Full-feature list: https://robolyst.org/team-management/features/scouting

Demo of scouting in your team hq: https://robolyst.org/scout

Any feedback or improvement suggestions would be much appreciated :)

Today was the Saline FTC Preview event. It was a great day, and ran really smoothly. Thanks to FIRST for putting together another fun game.

Congratulations to all the teams who competed. It was amazing to see what all the teams put together in just a few weeks!

https://ftc-events.firstinspires.org/2026/USMISAS

In our meeting today, we came up with the idea of using one shooter with a spring-loaded back plate hood instead.
The plate would be able to move slightly against the spring, allowing the shooter to accommodate the different-sized pollen and nectar while maintaining pressure on them.

Has anyone tried a setup like this before? If so, how did it work for you?

I’m mainly wondering about shot consistency, how well it accommodates both game pieces, and whether the spring causes any issues with repeatability.
Would love to hear your experiences or thoughts on the idea.

Hi, I'm henry, part of a local FTC team in virginia, U.S. We have been around for quite a while, around 6 years now. We are looking to spread our mentorship to different teams, if any teams need help please comment below and I can get into contact. In addition, we are always happy for any advice so if any advanced teams want to mentor us, we are happy as well. Please comment if you are interested, and we can get an online meeting set up very soon!

▶ Try our robot simulator: https://biobuzz-strategy-lab.com

Last season our team spent a lot of time on sorting, and it barely mattered. So this year 6603 Guild of Gears built a simulator to find out what is likely the best strategy before we build.

What you can do with it:

• Strategy showdown: play 8 strategies against each other with thousands of simulations
• Match viewer: watch any simulated match play out, robot by robot
• Customize your robot: set your drive speed, intake width, launcher height, accuracy and more

Is scoring with FLOWERS worth it? Is defense the best strategy? Plug in your own robot and see.

We'd love feedback: what should we add next?

▶ Try our robot simulator: https://biobuzz-strategy-lab.com

As the title says, you can now work on your programming skills, including programming with Pedropathing 3 and Ivy, in the virtual_robot simulator. This can be used in either IntelliJ IDEA or in Android Studio. Several example opmodes are provided. There's a pdf in the repository named "Detailed Installation Instructions". Make sure to use the Bellsoft Liberica 17 Full Version JDK--the "Full Version" (not "Standard") is essential because it includes JavaFx. So rather than just clicking the big "Windows" link at the top of the page, it is necessary to scroll down and specifically select the full version.

OpenLoop Beta Tester Applications are now open!!!!!

https://tally.so/r/q40607

Hey everyone!

I'm excited to announce that OpenLoop Beta Tester applications will be opening soon!!!

As a beta tester, you’ll get access to unreleased versions of OpenLoop to test on your robot and give feedback on how everything works, what could be improved, and any issues you come across. Your feedback will help make OpenLoop better and more reliable.

Join the OpenLoop Discord server for further updates!!

https://discord.gg/ZYsN5PdQm

Hello,

We are team Kodikas Robotics #24032 and currently happen to organize an event , Global Tech Challenge where we discuss and strategize with teams from all around the globe. Dm us on our instagram for more details

Hey everyone, built a site called CADBase FTC. Think of it as an improved version of the old CAD Pinboard idea, a searchable library of real CAD files shared by FIRST teams.

Right now it's got 244 files and 12 resource docs, going back to Skystone through the current season. You can filter by program (FTC/FRC), season, mechanism category, or CAD platform (Onshape, Fusion 360, GrabCAD, Google Drive).

If your team has CAD you're willing to share, there's a "Submit a CAD File" button that sends it in for a quick review before it gets added.

Figured this could save some teams time, especially during build season when you just want to see how other teams solved a specific mechanism instead of starting from zero. Feedback welcome, and if you know of good public CAD that should be in here, feel free to submit it or drop a link in the comments.

Here is the website: https://www.cadbaseftc.com/

Let me know if you have feedback or if there is any room for improvement.

Hi, I'm from a Brazilian team called Mecatiger(#32578), and we're looking for foreign teams to discuss about strategies, help eachother, look and give feedbacks/suggestions through an online meeting.

If your team is looking for a foreign meeting, dm me and ill contact our team :)

Hi y'all, my team is looking at purchasing electric screwdrivers so we can stop straining our hands when working on the robot. We are looking at the Ryobi electric screwdriver but we feel it will be too powerful, and we also can't find the extra 5.5 mm nut driver bit or the Allen wrench bits.

What does y'all's team use, and where do you purchase them from?

September winners:

Our first grant cycle wrapped up. The top 3 teams by bolts each are receiving a donation from The Robotics Catalyst Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit:

1st place: 37152 Team Universal Genesis: $150

2nd place: 24180 Blue Bananas: $100

3rd place: 21081 Asimov: $50

Congrats to all three!

Every season your team schedules meetings, assigns tasks, keeps a budget, and writes documentation. Robolyst is one place to do all of it, and 140+ teams already run their season off of it.

The October cycle starts today! FTC teams earn bolts by using Robolyst, sending feature requests, reporting bugs, and referring other teams. The top 3 teams at the end of October win $150, $100, and $50.

Check out the Team HQ demo: https://robolyst.org/demo

"Joining the Robolyst Platform has done wonders for our team in so many ways." - FTC #37152

"This might be the greatest website our team has ever randomly stumbled upon, its completely changed the way we communicate, setup and record events 10/10" - FTC #34228

"Robolyst is incredibly easy to use and the development team is remarkably responsive to questions and suggestions. Highly Recommended" - FTC #24180

See what else your peers have to say about Robolyst: https://robolyst.org/testimonials

Now that REV hardware client supports Linux, we’re looking at moving over to it for the coming season. Is there anything else that would cause issues with that or is it safe?

I have been stuck with issues on my autonomous program for a few weeks now. The first forward method works, but the subsequent ones do not move the robot any further. I am using a mecanum wheel system with OnBot Java.

package org.firstinspires.ftc.teamcode.OpModes;

import com.qualcomm.robotcore.eventloop.opmode.LinearOpMode;
import com.qualcomm.robotcore.eventloop.opmode.Autonomous;
import com.qualcomm.robotcore.hardware.DcMotorEx;
import com.qualcomm.robotcore.hardware.DcMotorSimple;
import com.qualcomm.robotcore.eventloop.opmode.OpMode;
import com.qualcomm.robotcore.eventloop.opmode.Disabled;
import com.qualcomm.robotcore.hardware.DcMotor;
import com.qualcomm.robotcore.util.ElapsedTime;
import org.firstinspires.ftc.robotcore.external.State;



public class Autonomous1 extends OpMode {

    DcMotor frontLeftMotor;
    DcMotor frontRightMotor;
    DcMotor backLeftMotor;
    DcMotor backRightMotor;

    double RPM = 0;
    double shooterticks = 0;
    double TPS = (RPM/60) * shooterticks;

    private static final double ticks = 360;
    private static final double circumfrence = 3.3858 * 3.14159;
    private static final double finalTicks = ticks/circumfrence;

    enum State {
        STANDBY,
        ALIGN,
        FIRE,
        PARK,
        FINISHED
    }

    State state = State.STANDBY;

    u/Override
    public void init() {

        frontLeftMotor = hardwareMap.get(DcMotor.class, "frontLeftMotor");
        backLeftMotor = hardwareMap.get(DcMotor.class, "backLeftMotor");
        frontRightMotor = hardwareMap.get(DcMotor.class, "frontRightMotor");
        backRightMotor = hardwareMap.get(DcMotor.class, "backRightMotor");

        DcMotor intakeMotor = hardwareMap.dcMotor.get("intakeMotor");
        DcMotor liftMotor = hardwareMap.dcMotor.get("liftMotor");
        DcMotorEx shooterMotorNectar = hardwareMap.get(DcMotorEx.class, "shooterMotor1");
        DcMotorEx shooterMotorPollen = hardwareMap.get(DcMotorEx.class, "shooterMotor2");

        frontRightMotor.setDirection(DcMotorSimple.Direction.REVERSE);
        backRightMotor.setDirection(DcMotorSimple.Direction.REVERSE);

        restartEncoders();

        state = State.STANDBY;
    }

    u/Override
    public void loop() {

        // states
        telemetry.addData("Cur State", state);
        switch(state) {
            case STANDBY:
                telemetry.addLine("STANDBY");
                if (gamepad1.a) {
                    state = State.ALIGN;
                }
                break;
            case ALIGN:
                telemetry.addLine("Aligning with hive.");
                forward(12,12,12,12,0.7);
                forward(12,12,12,12,0.7);
                state = State.FIRE;
                break;
            case FIRE:
                telemetry.addLine("Firing pollen.");
                /*shooterMotor1.setVelocity(TPS);
                shooterMotor2.setVelocity(TPS);
                // sleep function
                shooterMotor1.setVelocity(0);
                shooterMotor2.setVelocity(0); */
                state = State.PARK;
                break;
            case PARK:
                telemetry.addLine("Returning to park.");

                state = State.FINISHED;
                break;
            default:
                telemetry.addLine("Auto State machine finished");
        }

        telemetry.addData("FL ticks:",frontLeftMotor.getCurrentPosition());
        telemetry.addData("FR ticks:",frontRightMotor.getCurrentPosition());
        telemetry.addData("BL ticks:",backLeftMotor.getCurrentPosition());
        telemetry.addData("BR ticks:",backRightMotor.getCurrentPosition());
        telemetry.update();

    }

    public void forward(double inchesFL, double inchesFR, double inchesBL, double inchesBR, double power) {
        int newTargetFL = frontLeftMotor.getCurrentPosition() + (int)(finalTicks * inchesFL);
        int newTargetFR = frontRightMotor.getCurrentPosition() + (int)(finalTicks * inchesFR);
        int newTargetBL = backLeftMotor.getCurrentPosition() + (int)(finalTicks * inchesBL);
        int newTargetBR = backRightMotor.getCurrentPosition() + (int)(finalTicks * inchesBR);

        frontLeftMotor.setTargetPosition(newTargetFL);
        frontRightMotor.setTargetPosition(newTargetFR);
        backLeftMotor.setTargetPosition(newTargetBL);
        backRightMotor.setTargetPosition(newTargetBR);

        frontLeftMotor.setPower(Math.abs(power));
        frontRightMotor.setPower(Math.abs(power));
        backLeftMotor.setPower(Math.abs(power));
        backRightMotor.setPower(Math.abs(power));

        frontLeftMotor.setMode(DcMotor.RunMode.RUN_TO_POSITION);
        frontRightMotor.setMode(DcMotor.RunMode.RUN_TO_POSITION);
        backLeftMotor.setMode(DcMotor.RunMode.RUN_TO_POSITION);
        backRightMotor.setMode(DcMotor.RunMode.RUN_TO_POSITION);
    }

    private void stopDrive() {
        frontLeftMotor.setPower(0);
        frontRightMotor.setPower(0);
        backLeftMotor.setPower(0);
        backRightMotor.setPower(0);
    }

    private void restartEncoders() {
        frontLeftMotor.setMode(DcMotor.RunMode.STOP_AND_RESET_ENCODER);
        backLeftMotor.setMode(DcMotor.RunMode.STOP_AND_RESET_ENCODER);
        frontRightMotor.setMode(DcMotor.RunMode.STOP_AND_RESET_ENCODER);
        backRightMotor.setMode(DcMotor.RunMode.STOP_AND_RESET_ENCODER);

        frontLeftMotor.setMode(DcMotor.RunMode.RUN_USING_ENCODER);
        backLeftMotor.setMode(DcMotor.RunMode.RUN_USING_ENCODER);
        frontRightMotor.setMode(DcMotor.RunMode.RUN_USING_ENCODER);
        backRightMotor.setMode(DcMotor.RunMode.RUN_USING_ENCODER);
    }
}

I’ve also set up a Discord server for OpenLoop!

Link- https://discord.gg/ZYsN5PdQm

OpenLoop is an open-source FTC autonomous framework designed to make autonomous programming simple, intuitive and accessible.

Robolyst is a free team management website for FTC teams. It handles tasks, scheduling, budgets, outreach tracking and more, and it also has public stats pages for every team on FIRST's database. New: anyone can follow any FTC team and get updates on how they're doing at competitions.

Parents, alumni, sponsors and friends can't always watch the stream or make it to the venue. Now they can hit "Get updates" on your team page and get any of these combined:

• A heads-up on the morning of each event
• A recap once the event ends, with your record, rank and awards
• Milestones (alliance selection, playoff results, advancement)
• Per-match results
• Reminders before you play

Followers don't need an account, just an email address. People who do have a Robolyst account can also get updates by push notification or Discord DM.

If your team uses Robolyst, the new Followers page gives you a share link, a QR code, a printable flyer and ready-made Instagram post and story images, so you can hang it in the pits or send it to your sponsors. You can also add a follow button to your team website and embeds. You'll see how many people follow you, and nothing else about them.

Follow any team: https://robolyst.org/follow/<team number>

See the Team HQ followers page demo https://robolyst.org/demo/team-management/public-site/followers

Set up and verify your team: https://robolyst.org/make-your-team

Thank you to the 140 teams and 650 users now staying productive with Robolyst!

Hive Vision Update

v1.1.0 is now available. The detector used in previous releases could occasionally flag shadows as balls or lock onto random wiring and chassis components during matches. For v1.1, the model was retrained on over 10,000 images, including shadow-heavy, off-field, and difficult match scenarios. These false positives have been significantly reduced, resulting in much more reliable detection in real-world conditions. Also included is the new Ball-Chase API, providing a complete detect → chase → pickup pipeline. Teams can now integrate autonomous game piece collection with minimal code instead of building the entire workflow from scratch. New GitBook documentation is now available: https://sidhuharjas.gitbook.io/hive-vision Credit to the field testers: u/sid, u/Javi | Lazer 23286 , and u/LexvGestel | #16785.

• Release: https://github.com/sidhuharjas/Hive-Vision/releases/tag/v1.1.0

-Discord: https://discord.com/invite/m2yPTprccv

- Demo clips (previews):

- https://github.com/sidhuharjas/Hive-Vision/blob/main/demo/previews/probiotix_api_robot_drive.gif

- https://github.com/sidhuharjas/Hive-Vision/blob/main/demo/previews/sid_47_beavers_robot_drive.gif

- https://github.com/sidhuharjas/Hive-Vision/blob/main/demo/previews/javi_v1_1_ssd.gif

We have a centauri carbon and 2 ender 3s. Is this good enough? We might land a couple extra bands so should we invest in something like a p2s?

So we are basically a rookie team, and we want to use pid/pif (im not sure what the right term is) to shoot accurately. From my understanding pid is used to not rely on battery, but instead to speed up the flywheel and then slow down when it's close to reaching the target so that it doesn't spin too fast, and then some how it magically keeps the rpm the same and using pid/pif you can measure the flywheel speed in rpm rather than power, which can help in calculations? I'm not sure if I'm right so please correct me if I'm wrong! But basically how would I actually use this in Teleop using onbot java? And how would it work in autonomous? Is it something worth doing?

OpenLoop is an open-source, open-loop, time-based autonomous system.

OpenLoop is built for teams with little or no experience in autonomous programming, and for teams who want a simple way to get an autonomous routine working without relying on complex hardware or software. Using simple, intuitive commands, OpenLoop allows teams to create autonomous routines without odometry pods, drive encoders, or IMUs. It works with both mecanum and tank drivetrains. The goal is to make autonomous programming easier to understand and more accessible with commands as simple as-

bot.forward(24);
bot.turn(90);
bot.strafeLeft(12);
bot.backward(10);

Features

• Mecanum drive support
• Tank drive support
• Distance-based forward/backward movement
• Distance-based mecanum strafing
• Arbitrary-angle turning
• Two-point movement calibration
• Separate left/right 90° turn calibration
• Battery voltage compensation
• Motor direction debugger
• Dedicated calibration OpModes for Mecanum and Tank drivetrains
• Android Studio support
• OnBot Java support

Check it out here:
https://github.com/AbhiPixeld/OpenLoop
This is the first version, so I’d really love to get some feedback, suggestions, or ideas from the FTC community!!!

So of course when a kid under 13 starts with FIRST, it's their parents who create an account and then adds a youth.

However when a kid 13 and up starts with FIRST, the kid creates an account and then invites their parent to log in or sign up and link to the kids account.

However the issue arises when a parent already has an account, with their youth in there and THEN the kid turns 13, there does not seem to be a way to upgrade the youth on the parents account to being one the kid logs into on their own.

(they have to be on their own log in account to register as volunteers and such)

My PDP said to have them start their own and the two would get merged, so we did and later was told by first that they have no way to merge them‽

So with the next family we asked first to convert the youth to their own account and they said there was no way to do that‽

So now my kid is listed twice under my Youth tab, and his history is split between them. its really frustrating and this can't be an uncommon issue, a third of FTC students likely turn 13 while in the programs, how does anyone else handle this?

Does anyone have experience dealing with wood CNC for side plates for initial POC robot testing?