West Tennessee FLL

It is with deep disappointment that I share an update on the immediate suspension of the current FIRST season and the cancellation of both Championship events. This decision has been made based on guidance from the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and state and local health officials, as well as the declaration of states of emergency across many states/countries, the ever-expanding travel restrictions for schools, and in light of developments over the past 24 hours.  The health and safety of our community is our top priority, so we have decided to suspend all season play across all Programs worldwide, effective immediately, including the cancellation of both FIRST Championship events. Please know that FIRST Championship registration fees will be refunded.

This difficult decision was grounded in FIRST’s commitment to put the health and safety of our community above all else. During this challenging time, we have been working closely with our program delivery partners (PDPs) and event organizers around the world to navigate and mitigate the risks to our community due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). As a result, many of our events in the United States and around the world have been canceled or postponed, including more than half of all future FIRST Robotics Competition events. We acknowledge and appreciate the thousands of teams, parents, mentors, coaches and volunteers who have poured their hearts and souls into this season, and we share your disappointment.

The mission of FIRST has always been to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators, and we continue to be deeply committed to this mission. We know that you will have questions, and we will provide answers in the following days and weeks as we navigate what has been an unprecedented time.

Sincerely,

Larry Cohen, President of FIRST

Tonight, our FIRST Senior Mentor, Randall Phillips will be featured on Magik 901 Live Show WMQM 1600AM & 93.3FM (The People Station), as they discuss what our FLL Team Members are discovering about Robotics & STEM-based education.

Monday (Today), February 10, 2020 from 7pm to 8pm or Download the “Tune In” App to listen to the Interview on “The Magik 901 Live Show” on WMQM 1600AM or 93.3FM (The People Station) or listen to it HERE.

Thank you to everyone who came out for the West TN FLL Championship this past Saturday, Jan 15th.

A special thank you to all the coaches and mentors who helped the teams all season long.

Thanks to all the volunteers, referees and judges…with a special shout out to:

• University of Memphis Engineering Technology students
• R&N Systems Design
• Young Engineers of IEEE
• University of Memphis STEM Ambassadors
• TVA
• 901FPV (Drone Racing)
• FTC TEAM #11031 – Benton Bots 2.0

Pictures and results will be posted here shortly, and coaches should be getting the team feedback within the next few day. We will also be producing a video from the event (and it will be posted when it is completed).

We do have a few lost and found items from the event (use the “Contact us” form if you think you left something) and we still have some items left from the qualifiers as well.

We will need teams to demo at the Memphis FRC Regional, so please let us know if your team can come out and demo during that event (Mar 18-21, 2020 at Collierville HS). We will especially need teams on Friday March 20 (VIP DAY).

You might want to throw a power strip in the box you are bringing to Championship. Each pit table only has one plug!

Please note that we have had to swap Robot Design and Core Values judging rooms. So if you looked at or printed the map before the time of this post, please revisit the map at http://fll.memphisfirstteams.org/scripts/pit_map.php

With the UofM semester just starting, Chartwells (the UofM Food Service) just announced two new offerings in the UC food court:

On Jan 18th a wonderful article on the FLL Team The Robo Wizards (STEM Day at Barret’s Chapel) was in the Commercial Appeal. The article can be found HERE.

An updated Tournament Manual is available HERE.
Only one major change: Page 8 – tournament schedule has been updated as follows:

Team Pit map has been created and is available HERE. If your school has more than one team, or you are sharing resources with another school/team, please check the map to ensure you are grouped together.

Please note: due to the extra time needed for robot inspection this year, please make sure your team is on-time for all your events!