FTC Robotics: Tips, Tricks, Strategies, and Secrets: New 2011/12 Season Edition

by Pope John XXIII, Joseph Vengen, Jacob Scordato

The best selling book on FTC Robotics just got better: Updated with over 40 pages of new material for the 2011/12 season! FIRST Tech Challenge is the fastest growing FIRST robotics competition for students, but there has never before been a single volume to instruct new and veteran teams alike on how to navigate the competitions' rich complexities. This book contains the accumulated wisdom of several champion teams who have won major state level championships as captain teams. The volume is organized into sections covering every aspect of FTC competition, each section containing bite-sized chunks of information: a single sentence describing a tip, trick, strategy, or secret used by top ranked teams, followed by a paragraph or two of examples, explanations, pictures, or diagrams. Over four hundred of these recommendations are detailed in this book. The new 2011/12 edition contains new sections on Samantha WiFi and working with plastic, as well as dozens of new illustrations, code samples, and other updated information. By following these recommendations, your team is sure to improve, and maybe even become a champion team as a result!

234 pages, Paperback

First published March 29, 2010

About the author

Pope Saint John XXIII (Latin: Ioannes XXIII), born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli reigned from 28 October 1958 to his death in 1963.

He was ordained a priest on 10 August 1904 and served in a number of posts, including papal nuncio in France and a delegate to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. In a consistory on 12 January 1953 Pope Pius XII made Roncalli a cardinal as the Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prisca in addition to naming him the Patriarch of Venice.

Roncalli was elected pope on 28 October 1958 at age 77 after 11 ballots. His selection was unexpected, and Roncalli himself had come to Rome with a return train ticket to Venice. He was the first pope to take the pontifical name of "John" upon election in more than 500 years, and his choice settled the complicated question of official numbering attached to this papal name due to the antipope of this name.

Pope John XXIII surprised those who expected him to be a caretaker pope by calling the historic Second Vatican Council (1962–65), the first session opening on 11 October 1962. He did not live to see it to completion. John died of stomach cancer on 3 June 1963, four and a half years after his election and two months after the completion of his final and famed encyclical, Pacem in Terris."


He was beatified on 3 September 2000 by Pope John Paul and declared a saint by Pope Francis on 5 July 2013, based on his merits of opening the Second Vatican Council. He was canonised on 27 April 2014. His feast day is 11 October, the day of the first session of the Second Vatican Council.