Welcome to the FTC Into The Deep Season!
Hello, New Mexico, FIRST® Tech Challenge teams and other interested folks!
Welcome to the INTO THE DEEPSM Presented by RTX competition season!! Team registration is open through your FIRST Dashboard at:
https://www.firstinspires.org/
New this season is a single Competition Manual that replaces Game Manuals Parts 1 & 2 used in previous seasons. The INTO THE DEEPsm Competition Manual Preview Release V0 is now available! Click on the title or visit the Game and Season Materials page on the FTC website to access it. Season specific Tournament & Game details and rules will be added to a new version of this manual that will be released at the INTO THE DEEPSM Kickoff on Saturday September 7. There are many changes this year affecting Robot & Event rules and allowable hardware. Many of these are outlined in the now available release of the manual. Please be sure to review these in detail! If you have any questions about these changes, please contact me using the “Contact Us” feature of this website.
We will be holding INTO THE DEEPSM Kickoff events in Albuquerque and Alamogordo on Saturday September 7! These will be held at La Academia de Esperanza Charter School in Albuquerque and Alamogordo High School in Alamogordo. Doors open at 9:30AM. Additional details will be posted soon. Competition fields will be setup with the INTO THE DEEPSM Challenge sets.
For folks in the Albuquerque area, there will also be a FIRST Robotics Sign Up Day event to learn about all FIRST Programs. This will be held Friday Aug 16 at Q Station, 3225 Central Ave NE. from 6:00 – 7:30PM
There was considerable discussion last season about advancement slots to the World Championship! I have been assured by FIRST that we will have at least one advancement slot! We could get an additional slot if we see growth in the total number of teams! New Mexico has struggled in the post COVID world and was still well below our number of teams in 2019. This is where we really need all of our teams’ help! If you know other folks in your areas who would like to form team(s)s or your own team has grown large enough to split into two, please try to get additional teams registered! There is Rookie team grant funding available through FIRST and we may also have local resources available! For FIRST grants, please visit the Team Grant Opportunities webpage at
https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/team-grants
The same rules regarding Out of Region competition apply as last season. Teams may only advance to Regional and World Championships from within their own region. While other teams may be welcome to play here, only NM teams will advance to the NM Regional Championship and to the World Championship in Houston with NM advancement slot(s).
We look forward to seeing you all compete! Please reach out using the “Contact Us” Feature on the website if you have any questions or need assistance.
Jim Jackson, NM FTC Program Delivery Partner, Land of Enchantment Robotics