The TechnoMage league is one of 10 pilot VEX Competitions leagues authorized for this year. We are promoting a vibrant community where teams come together and participate in morning workshops on various topics like programming, mechanical design and competition strategy, and then compete through the afternoon.

We have several League days leading up to a final playoff where teams are recognized for their contributions, performance and have the opportunity to win one of three VEX World Championship slots in Disneyland in April!

This year, Kohelet Yeshiva High School (Merion Station, PA) will host the TechnoMage League Playoffs on January 28th, 2012. This is their first year competing in VEX, and they are hosting THREE EVENTS (2 League days and the Playoffs). Wow, what an entrance to the community!

Please have a few alliance partner selections in mind, because the first thing that we are going to do is make the alliance selections (only 2 teams per alliance), and then begin eliminations. Everyone gets to play, … so we will need to be prompt to get home at any kind of reasonable hour. Be ready to hustle!

You can arrive as early as 6:00pm, and we will be starting alliance selection promptly at 7:00pm. We intend to start matches by 7:15pm, so you might want to reach out to your intended picks and plan ahead.

There will be judged awards, and one award can earn you a spot at the VEX World Championships in Disneyland — The EXCELLENCE Award, but you need a fantastic notebook, a fantastic robot, you need to compete well and YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO TELL THE JUDGES ABOUT IT.

FINAL TechnoMage League Standings as of 01/15/2012

Steve’s League Ranking Algorithm= ( 3* Wins) + (2 * Ties) + (1 * Losses). Play more, rank higher! Win while playing more, and you will rank even higher. If you don’t participate, or participate at a marginal level — even if you win, you won’t rank higher than a team who goes to more events and loses. The Alliance column below indicates the ranking of the alliance, the row of that team and who the partner is in parentheses. If the row is not green, the team has not been selected.

TechnoMages

The Technomages title derives from the Babylon 5 fantasy universe where they are the Dreamers, shapers, singers and makers who study the mysteries of the laser circuits, crystals and scanners and use them to achieve the effect of magic.

• Our TechnoMages delve deeply into all aspects of robotics. They strive to master programming and the Sense-Plan-Act (SPA) cycle.
• They explore the limits of sensory input, processing power and mechanical ingeniuty all to master the particular challenges and game scoring options.
• They help others achieve this same mastery by volunteering at events as software inspectors, software help and  often setup the networking and web sites of the events.

TechnoMage Levels

• Apprentice – receiving instruction
• Journeyman – competent practitioner
• Master – teaches others

TechnoMage Skills

Here are the programming skills that TechnoMages must master from initial challenges to increasingly greater mastery of the robotics world.

• Mapping Joysticks->Motors Power levels (includes servos)
• Mastering Cortex Controllers
  • Referencing the primary and secondary controller
  • Referencing the joysticks on each controller
  • Referencing the buttons on each controller
  • Referencing the accelerometer on each controller
• Programming Drive Modes
  • Basic Tank
  • Arcade
  • Holonomic
• Control of Flow
  • Sequence
  • Branch
    • If
    • Switch
  • Loop
    • While
    • Until
    • Do
• Sensors
  • • Contact
      • Bumper
      • Limit
    • Ranging
      • Sonar
    • Special
      • Encoders
      • Light
      • Accelerometers
      • Potentiometers
• Variables and State management
• Competition Behaviors
  • Line following
  • Wall Following
  • Straight-line driving
  • Move to specified position
  • Autonomous > 22 points On Round-Up
• Source Code Control
• Multi-tasking
• Inspections
• Network setup
• Web site development
• Web casting
• Teaching (Show, Do-together, Watch)

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