Congratulations to our amazing 2020-2021 FIRST Tech Challenge Volunteers of the Year!

 

                            

FIRST is proud to announce the 2021 FIRST Tech Challenge Volunteers of the Year, Mr. Thomas Barnette and Mr. Trey Woodlief.  This dynamic duo originally hails from the hilly Piedmont region of Greensboro, North Carolina.  They have been friends since childhood and are FIRST alumni and long-time FIRST volunteers.

Trey, who is a PhD student in Robotics at the University of Virginia, is an alumnus of FRC Team 1533 (Triple Strange) and an active volunteer for FLL, FTC, and FRC in the Chesapeake and North Carolina regions.

Thomas, who is a software engineer who also recently graduated from NC State with a master’s degree in electrical engineering, is an alumnus of FTC Teams 5795/6183 (Thunderducks) and 731 (Wannabee Strange) and FRC Team 1533 (Triple Strange). Thomas is also an active volunteer for FLL, FTC, and FRC in the North Carolina region.

In addition to their regional volunteer activities, Thomas and Trey are the original authors of the scoring software used by the FIRST Tech Challenge to manage and score its official events.  FTC Live was first used at an international level in 2018 during the Relic Recovery season for super-regional events, and during World Championship.  It has been the official FIRST Tech Challenge scoring system software ever since.  FTC Live provides real-time score tracking and other advanced features for traditional, in-person, events.

For the ULTIMATE GOAL presented by Qualcomm season, when social distancing rules prevented most of the FIRST community from participating in traditional events, Trey and Thomas were instrumental in designing and developing a Cloud-based solution that allowed the FIRST Tech Challenge to have a meaningful season and provide remote competitions for its teams.  The FTC Scoring system lets teams score their matches remotely, and supports remote judging using integrated video conferencing features.

The FIRST Tech Challenge would not have been able to have a successful 2020-2021 season without the help of Thomas and Trey.  In addition to being instrumental team members for the development of the FTC Scoring software, the two volunteers also helped provide real-time remote event support and participated in monthly volunteer, team and partner support calls.

Despite the global pandemic, the FIRST Tech Challenge was able to conduct close to 53,000 remote matches in 819 official events held for the ULTIMATE GOAL presented by Qualcomm season.

Congratulations and thank you, Trey and Thomas!