2022-2023 Season Update

Milwaukee School of Engineering is excited to share that FIRST Wisconsin will be leading FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Program Delivery Organization (PDO) operations beginning this season. Sean Schuff and Arrow Guetschow, two very familiar faces in the FIRST community, will be your new Program Delivery Partners (PDP’s) on behalf of FIRST Wisconsin.

MSOE remains a committed partner to all FIRST programs in the state and will provide support to Sean and Arrow throughout the transition.

This transition enables us more freedom to support FIRST, especially FTC, growth in the Milwaukee area without the conflicts of interest that are present by running state operations. Most notably, MSOE is now able to be a home for three FTC community teams in addition to our FRC community team for the 2022-2023 season with this change.

If you are a Milwaukee area team looking for supports in FTC – whether it’s use of a field at our STEM Center or space for an unofficial scrimmage – please continue to reach out to us at stem@msoe.edu.

We look forward to joining you all in supporting FIRST Wisconsin as they take the helm of FIRST FTC in Wisconsin this season! Moving forward, please contact your new PDP’s for any questions regarding FTC: Arrow Guetschow (arrow@lakeshorefirstrobotics.org) Sean Schuff (sean@firstinspireswi.org)

Practice Fields Available

Need access to a full FTC Field?  Both MSOE and the Lakeshore Robotics Education Center are welcoming teams to come and practice on their fields! Access to fields at both locations is by appointment only.

If you are interested in utilizing the field at the We Energies STEM Center at MSOE, please contact Mike Meilicke . If you would like access to tools, storage or other equipment to work on your robots while at the Center, please include that in your request.  You will be sent a scheduling link for future use in that correspondence along with facility use agreement for the season.

If you are interested in utilizing the field at the Lakeshore Robotics Education Center, please contact Arrow Guetschow.

FAQ’s

What is FIRST Tech Challenge?

The FIRST Tech Challenge is a robotics competition designed for students in grades 7-12 to compete head to head, using a sports model. Teams are responsible for designing, building, and programming their robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams. The robot kit is reusable from year-to-year and is programmed using a variety of languages. Teams, including coaches, mentors and volunteers, are required to develop strategy and build robots based on sound engineering principles. Awards are given for the competition as well as for community outreach, design, and other real-world accomplishments. Through their involvement with FIRST Tech Challenge, students discover the rewards of collaboration and develop a deeper understanding of innovation and engineering.