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ORTOP Newsletter
December 2016
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In this issue: ORTOP News | ORTOP Spotlights | Internet News
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ORTOP welcomes David Perry as its new Executive Director
As many of you know, ORTOP spun out from the Oregon University System (OUS) in mid-2014. At about the same time I retired from OUS and agreed to become the interim Executive Director on a volunteer basis. This fall the ORTOP Board of Directors opened the position of Executive Director, recruited candidates for this position and conducted intensive interviews of top candidates.
We are happy to announce that David Perry has agreed to become ORTOP's first paid Executive Director. He started on November 22nd on a part-time basis and will transition to full-time on December 12th.
David held positions as manager and director of Museum Education at Oregon Museum of Science & Industry. More recently he has been the program director and interim executive director at Zenger Farm, which educates youth and adults on environmental stewardship, sustainable urban agriculture, and green business development.
David has taught graduate education courses and published an engineering design curriculum. He has also served as a volunteer with all four
FIRST® programs.
On behalf of ORTOP's Board of Directors and its staff, I would like to welcome David. We look forward to his leadership in the weeks and years ahead.
Bruce Schafer, ORTOP Board Chair
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ORTOP Board Members
The ORTOP Board of Directors is made up of individuals with years of experience in ORTOP's robotics programs. The Board members include...
Read more
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Standard TV & Appliance presents g
rant check to ORTOP
ORTOP received a check for $3,500 at the 2016 Air Show Grant Presentation sponsored by Standard TV & Appliance, on November 16.
Pictured with Cathy Swider, ORTOP Affiliate Partner, is Chris Barber LTC (Ret.), Oregon International Air Show Board Chairman (center), and Bill Gander, owner of
Standard TV & Appliance and Air Show sponsor (on right).
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First time at a FIRST® LEGO® League Qualifying Tournament?
Helpful information for coaches making their first trip to a Qualifying Tournament.
What to expect... Read more
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Intel and ORTOP
Q&A with Jill Eiland, Intel Public Affairs Director
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Helping ORTOP as you shop for the holidays and beyond
Amazon has a way you can support ORTOP when you do your holiday shopping as well as regular shopping on Amazon. If you log into Amazon in a slightly different way, 0.5% of your purchases will go to the non-profit of your choice. Once you've set it up, it will be automatic in the future.
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FIRST® Tech Challenge league results for Week 1
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Email marketing using an online newsletter
Does your team need a way to promote the team for fundraising or a way to connect with new and current sponsors, friends and other teams? Then you need to have an online e-newsletter.
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Compass and Promote Awards
In addition to the seven judged awards that can be awarded at FIRST® Tech Challenge Tournaments, there are two additional awards that, in Oregon, are only considered at the State Championship, these are the Compass and Promote Awards.
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FIRST® Robotics Competition Roundtables
The FIRST Robotics Competition Mentor Roundtable and FIRST Robotics Competition Business Roundtable were held November 5th at Intel’s Jones Farm Conference Center.
Read more
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Scouting teams
At a FIRST® Tech Challenge tournament, every team is as likely to be your partner as they are your opponent. To beat opposing alliances, teams must know how to work with alliance partners. The more robots a team understands, the more efficient strategies they can create.
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FIRST® Robotics Competition - BunnyBots 2016
Since 2008 teams in the PNW have participated in this off-season competition. Because we believe the best way to learn to build a robot is to build a robot, BunnyBots provides a 12-week build season in the Fall to help make FIRST more of a year-round activity.
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FIRST® LEGO® League Qualifiers
During the weekends of December 3-4 and 10-11, twenty-four qualifying tournaments will be held across Oregon.
See schedule
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Girl Fest
Held November 5, at the Portland Expo center, sponsored by Girl Scouts of the USA.
Participants included
FIRST®
Tech Challenge team
Bytes of KitKats
, Emma Barbee
, 2016 Dean’s List Finalist and a
FIRST
Tech Challenge team-member from Tigard High School, two ladies from the Benson robotics club.
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Keeping the work on track and motivation
During the Mentors Roundtable, hosted by Team 4488 Shockwave on November 5, the most requested topic was Keeping the Work on Track and Motivation.
The FIRST® Robotics Competition project takes place in a six-week window, and it is understandable that mentors were looking for suggestions on how to make the best of the limited time frame. The simple rule for motivating a group is finding what each volunteer and/or student wants to do, and give them resources to keep the work on track.
Read more
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How to set up a successful outreach program
One of the fundamental aspects of FIRST® robotics is community involvement. Outreach is the initiative a FIRST team takes in creating a project or objective that will serve the community and spread the message of FIRST. Actively engaging in the community helps exhibit dedication to improving the community. As a team, you are able to help those in need while building relations with sponsors, neighboring FIRST teams, and local businesses. In addition, outreach can be very helpful for earning volunteer experience that's useful for membership in school-based service clubs and for college admissions and scholarships.
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First Tech Federal Credit Union | Flir | Puppet Labs |
Cascade Microtech | Performance Health Technology | Vernier Software and Technology |
IBM | Microchip | Applied Materials Foundation | ONAMI-Business Oregon | Timbercon | Oregon International Airshow |
ESI | FEI | Masonic Lodge #110 | Portland Community Media | OMSI | Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum
Your company can benefit by partnering with us!
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Programmable self-assembly in a thousand-robot swarm
Harvard’s Self-Organizing System Research Group produces a self-organizing thousand-robot swarm using simple programmed rules, allowing autonomous robots to arrange themselves into vast, complex shapes.
See video
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Micro-robots currently in production
See video
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Football’s newest MVP is a robot
Dartmouth College engineering students have created a robotic tackling dummy designed by a defensive lineman and a rugby player.
It may one day have the ability to execute plays autonomously.
Read more
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Robot Octopus
Researchers at the BioRobotics Institute at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, in Pisa, Italy, have been investigating soft robotics. In the process they have chosen to build robots that mimic an octopus.
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Calendar
December
FIRST LEGO League Qualifiers
FTC League Meets
FRC Bunnybots
January
FRC Kickoff
FIRST LEGO League Championships
FTC Qualifying Tournaments
FTC League Qualifiers
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February
FTC Super Qualifiers
FTC Championship
March - April
FRC District Tournaments
FRC Pacific Northwest District Championship
March - July
Various outreach events
FIRST
LEGO League Junior Expos
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How you can become involved
At a tournament
At an outreach event
Become the one to open the door and inspire young minds to be involved in STEM
Help fund these amazing programs
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Seeking articles
- H
elp m
ake FIRST® Loud!
If you have a story or information that you feel would be of interest our readers, consider submitting it. For more information, see
writer’s guidelines.
The newsletter is published the first week of each month.
Allyn Vannoy, Editor
Terry Hamm, Assistant Editor
Williane Tenca, Assistant Editor
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A brief update on the ORTOP newsletter
Results of November newsletter. The newsletter was emailed to 4,861 contacts, resulting in an open rate of 31.6% (1,511). According to Constant Contact, an open rate of 18% is average. The ‘opens’ were distributed 64% to desktops and 36% to mobile devices.
Allyn Vannoy, Editor
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ORTOP Office phone number: 503-486-7622
Executive Director: David Perry
FLL Program Manager: Loridee Wetzel
FTC Program Manager: Cathy Swider
FRC Senior Mentor: Debbie Kerr
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