0.11 From Kickoff to competition

Kickoff and learning the game

The season's game is revealed in the Kickoff broadcast. In this broadcast, FIRST shows the new field, the game pieces and the tasks robots will do in a video. When you watch the video, you see how the field is set up, which game piece gets carried where and what a match looks like. You do not have to wait for this day to learn the robot's basic jobs: chassis, electronics and driving can be practiced without knowing the game.

The video gives you the general idea. Under which condition a task scores points, and which limits the robot must stay within, is written in the Competition Manual. FIRST releases the full version of the Manual on Kickoff day. The pre-season preview released before that is not a finished text, and it does not include the game itself. Watching the video and checking the rule are separate jobs, and one does not replace the other.

FIRST's broadcast to the whole world and the Kickoff gathering in Türkiye are not the same thing. The place, time and conditions for joining the event where teams get together are announced on the FTC Türkiye Kickoff page.

After the game is revealed, the rules do not stay exactly the same. During the season, FIRST publishes changes called Team Updates, and it answers rule questions through the official Q&A. Looking at the current version of the text before you decide on a task helps you spot early a change that would otherwise waste your work later. Where these channels are and how to follow them is in the 0.5 Support and news channels lesson.

Choosing the tasks your robot will do

Once you know the game, the next step is deciding which jobs your robot will do on the field. You can start this decision from the movements on the field, not from the task names. Picking a game piece up off the floor, carrying it from one place to another, dropping it at a certain target or reaching an area of the field are jobs you can think about one by one. After that, you check in the Manual which movement scores points and under which condition it counts.

A task's points alone do not make the decision. You also have to weigh how doable that movement is, whether it can be repeated throughout a match, the parts you have, the team's experience and the time you can spend. If a high-scoring target needs a more complex mechanism, building that mechanism and keeping it working takes time out of the season. Reliably repeating a lower-scoring movement in every match gives a different result from going for a high target that you try once and miss. These are hypothetical examples made to show a way of thinking; the season's real points are in the Manual.

Focusing on a smaller group of tasks with your first robot is one of the options you have. We are not saying that a robot that does less automatically scores more points. The team itself knows how much time it has to get something working. The robot's size and the parts that can be used on it also limit your design decision, and the numbers for these limits are in the current Manual.

Your first choice can change, and changing it does not count as a step back. Seeing in a small test that an idea does not do the job you expected lets you change the decision without building the whole robot. The next section looks at how this test becomes something physical.

From chassis to a robot that can do tasks

Building the robot starts with the chassis. After the chassis is built, the electronic parts are mounted in place, the cables are connected, the device firmware is prepared, and with the first program the robot becomes drivable. Each step in this order is a separate hands-on job; two of them are covered in the 1.1 Chassis assembly and 1.2 Electronics layout and cables lessons.

To try the movement you have in mind for a game task, you do not need to build the whole robot from scratch. You can try an idea for gripping or lifting a game piece on a small mechanism made of cardboard, a single profile you have on hand, or a few parts you can spare. A test piece like this is called a prototype. There is no rule that every idea must be made from cardboard first and then from metal; the job of the test is to show whether the idea works. A test like this shows you whether the movement really does its job, how much space it takes and where it gets stuck, without building the whole robot.

When a working mechanism is attached to the robot, the job is not over. The mechanism's connections and range of motion are tested together on the robot, because a part that works on its own can catch on another part, a cable or the chassis itself once it is on the robot. The safety conditions to follow while working on the robot are in the 0.6 Working safely lesson.

Programming does not wait for the mechanical work to finish. As soon as the robot is drivable, work on the driving code can start, and the mechanisms' movements go into the program as they are added. When a new part is added to the robot or a connection changes, the mechanical side and the program are tested again together. Keeping a backup of a working program lets you go back after a change.

The first drivable robot is also the tool the driver can start practicing with. Not waiting for every mechanism to be finished lets the practice described in the next section start early. Meanwhile, the team's work on registration, sponsors and judging can run alongside the technical work.

Testing and driver practice

A good robot does not score points on the field by itself. What it achieves on the field is only as much as the driver can do with it. That is why testing and practice are not the same thing, even when they happen in the same test run. Testing improves how the robot works, and practice improves how the driver uses the robot. If a mechanism works perfectly but the driver cannot use it at match speed, the result you see on the field is still low.

Practice can start with the first drive. First the driver practices going forward, turning, stopping at the point they want and approaching a target. Once these are steady, using the mechanism is added. Making the driver wait until the robot is completely finished squeezes the time left for practice into the tightest part of the season. The driver only gets to know how fast the robot speeds up, how far it slides before stopping and how it turns in a tight space by driving it.

As mechanisms are added, try using the driving and mechanism controls together. Which job is mapped to which button, whether the driver can see the target and whether they can get the robot into the right position all change the result. Having several people on the team try the same job and choosing the driver from among them can help you. You do not need a test or a set number of repetitions for this.

At some point, movements that work one by one get combined within the flow of a match. When the Autonomous period, driver control and the preparation between matches are tried one after another, you see how the robot and the team work in the real order. You can run this rehearsal on the real match timing. If you cannot set up a full field, a safe area that imitates the distance and position of the target also supports the practice, as long as you do not assume this area has exactly the same conditions as the competition.

A movement working once does not count as proof that it works. When you see repeated jamming, missed targets or connections that loosen over time, you look at both the robot and the way it is used. After something on the robot is changed, the same test is done again. Blaming the error in advance on the driver or on the most recently added part delays the search for the real cause.

The time given to driver practice lets what the robot is capable of become visible on the field. In teams that do not plan their calendar backwards, this time is left until the very end: the mechanical work is still not finished in February, and the robot goes onto the field almost untested.

Judging and getting ready for competition

A working robot is one half of the team's work; the other half is being able to explain that work. Notes, drawings and photos that show what you tried, which choice you made and why, and what you learned from a test build up over the season. This collection becomes the material for what you will say in the judging interview and for the portfolio. Instead of looking back and trying to remember at the end of the season, recording your tests while you do them leaves you with work you can actually explain.

Making a portfolio and getting ready for the interview are jobs that take time. Which documents are required, how the interview goes and which award looks for which condition are checked in the current Manual, because these conditions can change from season to season. Not every award asks for a portfolio, so the team can prepare based on the award it is aiming for.

A working robot must also follow the competition rules. At the event, the robot and related hardware go through the robot check, called inspection. Going over the robot with the current official checklist before you go to the competition lets you see anything that needs fixing while you are still in the workshop. If the season's official form has not been released yet, the team's own check does not replace that form.

Getting ready for an event goes beyond the robot, too. The event's location and times, travel, the required documents, batteries and chargers, basic tools and spares for parts that might break are all thought through together. A backup of the working program also needs to be with you and easy to reach. Bringing a spare for a part means you do not miss a match when that part breaks on event day. What you need and how much of it depends on the team's own robot and its trip.

When a team that has done its preparation arrives at the venue, it meets registration, setting up the pit area, robot inspection and the match order. This flow of the day is explained in the 0.12 Competition day and the pit lesson.

Extras

• FIRST game and season page
• 2026-27 Competition Manual
• FTC Türkiye Kickoff program
• 0.2 Awards and the road to the world championship
• 0.5 Support and news channels
• 0.6 Working safely
• 1.7 Motor control with a gamepad
• 1.8 Code backup and running it again
• 0.K Resources and printables