Welcome Botballers!

This site is a social network for current and former Botball participants to meet and hang out, discuss Botball and robotics technology in general, or just have a good time. It is a project of the Botball Youth Advisory Council (YAC) and the KISS Institute for Practical Robotics .

Are you here for the live streams? Click "Botball Live" in the menu at the top of the site!

We're still working on the site and adding features, so you should consider this a beta release. Currently, you can:

It is also home to the YAC's Guide to Botball, a collection of articles aimed at helping new teams learn the skills needed to be competitive in Botball.

Follow BotballRobotics on Twitter

Site Announcements

Jeremy Rand's picture

E-mail Subscriptions Restored Once Again

Botballers may have noticed that the Community site's e-mail subscriptions were down for the past couple weeks. That is now fixed. Thanks for your patience.

Jeremy Rand's picture

BotPoints Freezing for 2013 Season

Hello Botballers,

BotPoints have been frozen for the 2013 season. All BotPoints earned between now and GCER will rollover to the 2014 season. Congratulations to everyone who earned BotPoints!

Marty Rand's picture

Another Team Tracker Update

The Botball Team Tracker has been updated again in preparation for GCER 2013. The Team Tracker now links to Botball Live videos on YouTube. Currently only the 2013 Oklahoma Regional Tournament is supported. YAC hopes to add more regions in the future.

-Marty Rand

Marty Rand's picture

New Team Tracker Update

After months of development and testing, a new Botball Team Tracker is live! This marks the first GCER 2013 update. A partial list of changes is as follows:

*Much improved loading times (down to near instant for fast computers
*It now works on phones (only tested on Android, but iOS should work too)
*Firefox now works (except for some minor sorting issues)

Seeding changes:

Jeremy Rand's picture

Botball Live 2013 Announced

Hello Botballers! YAC has been hard at work improving the Botball Live experience for the 2013 regional season. With the Oklahoma tournament under 2 days away, we're excited to announce the 2013 Botball Live!

Reliability has been an issue for Botball Live since the start. This year, cameras are using wired connections rather than Wi-Fi. We expect this to improve stream stability significantly. The entire backend has been redone to give us the ability to do some really cool stuff, which we hope to release in full at GCER, or maybe sooner. ;-) As with any computer system, it is subject to Murphy's Law, but we're hopeful that the new system will be more successful than previous years.

We've also been working on better ways to see the results. YAC is excited to announce the beta release of the Team Tracker. Initially demoed at GCER 2012, the Team Tracker allows you to easily look through results of current or old tournaments. The Team Tracker is based on ideas from former YAC member Jake Hall, was initially coded by YAC VP of Technology Jeremy Rand (Team SNARC), is currently maintained by YAC member Marty Rand (Norman Advanced Robotics), and was beta tested by Daniel Goree (Norman Advanced Robotics). Huge thanks to Jake, Jeremy, Marty, and Daniel for this. Remember, this is a beta release -- there will be bugs, and some features are just plain missing. The Twitter and Joust results systems are still available.

Our first event will be the Oklahoma regional tournament on March 9. Other events will be announced as they get closer. Remember, if you have any feedback anytime during the season on what we can be doing better, post it on the forums. We will also have a YAC Feedback Session at GCER 2013, where Botballers can give YAC suggestions/feedback.

Enjoy the streams!

-The 2013 Botball Youth Advisory Council

Jeremy Rand's picture

YAC 2013 Application

Some people have been asking about the YAC 2013 application form; it has been posted on the forum for a while.

http://community.botball.org/forum/robotics-competitions/botball-discuss...

Deadline is January 4; please consider applying if you want to help make Botball better!

Jeremy Rand's picture

Awards Posted, BotPoints 2013 Leaderboard is Active

The 2013 YAC Awards are posted on the top of the screen (click Awards).

Also, the BotPoints 2013 Leaderboard is active on the right-hand sidebar. Start earning BotPoints for the 2013 season!

Jeremy Rand's picture

BotPoints Frozen for 2012 Season

BotPoints are frozen for the 2012 season. All BotPoints earned after this point will be rolled over to the 2013 season. Congrats to everyone who's used the Community site and earned BotPoints!

Jeremy Rand's picture

BotPoints Freezing in One Week

The BotPoints Leaderboard will be freezing in approximately one week so that YAC technicians can audit the numbers. Two recent audits both found minor bugs in the BotPoints Leaderboard. These bugs have been corrected, and the current totals are believed to be accurate.

Jeremy Rand's picture

2012 Live-Blog Challenge Registration Open!

The Live-Blog Challenge is back for GCER 2012! In addition to student blogs, new this year is an Adult division for KIPR Open teams, mentors, and parents.

If your Botball team is interested in blogging GCER, click the Live-Blog Challenge link at the top of the site to get more information.