Good Afternoon Teams,
As 2009 winds down, we’re putting the finishing touches on the plans for Kickoff. We have most of the pre-recorded sections of the kickoff broadcast ready to go and we will start converting the SNHU gym into a sound stage Wednesday, January 6th. If you can’t make it to an official kickoff site to view the broadcast, you can tune into either NASA TV or the NASA webcast from home. Information is available here http://robotics.nasa.gov/ and the final details will be added to that site next week.
The winning Safety Animation has been chosen and will be shown during the Kickoff broadcast. The top six finalists were: Teams 61, 100, 226, 342, 375 & 1625. My congratulations and thanks to everyone who submitted an animation.
The decryption test will be sent out in an email blast December 30th and the encrypted sections of the manual will be posted next week . I strongly advise teams to download these sections before the kickoff so you’ll be ready to go the moment the encryption code is revealed.
We’re packing and shipping out Kits of Parts this week and everything is in motion to get 1,757 teams and 1,757 kits of parts to 58 kickoffs all at the same time. We will then ship remaining 54 kits to teams who paid to have their kit delivered to their location. Yes, that’s a total of 1,811 FRC teams competing this year. I expect things will get really interesting, especially with the game the GDC has planned for you.
I want to wish you an exciting (and healthy) 2010.
10 days until the 2010 Kickoff
See you there!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Season’s Greetings
Good Morning Teams,
I wish you a happy winter holiday of your choice. FIRST will be closed Friday, December25th returning Monday, December 28th
The FRC Season News and Email Blast page now has its own RSS feed.
A game hint should appear on the FRC landing page of the usfirst.org website today….
16 days until the 2010 Kickoff
See you there!
I wish you a happy winter holiday of your choice. FIRST will be closed Friday, December25th returning Monday, December 28th
The FRC Season News and Email Blast page now has its own RSS feed.
A game hint should appear on the FRC landing page of the usfirst.org website today….
16 days until the 2010 Kickoff
See you there!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Maybe a little too soon
Good Evening Teams,
It's come to my attention that section 5 of the manual was posted today with some errors. Please stand by. A corrected version will be posted as soon as possible tomorrow morning. I apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused.
25 days until kickoff
See you then!
It's come to my attention that section 5 of the manual was posted today with some errors. Please stand by. A corrected version will be posted as soon as possible tomorrow morning. I apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused.
25 days until kickoff
See you then!
New and News
Good Morning Teams,
Keep an eye out. Sections 4 and 5 of the 2010 FRC manual will be posted very soon.
New in Section 4 Robot Shipping:
We need your help to make the FedEx donation stretch as far as possible so we don’t exceed the total and have to pay extra like we did last year. What can teams do? Keep your robot crate as light as possible. Freight shipments are charged by weight, so the fewer pounds FRC teams ship this year, the further the FedEx donation can stretch. You can make a difference by carrying that extra toolbox in your car rather than shipping it in your crate, or deciding to pack 1 drill rather than 2. Every little bit helps!
As part of this effort, FRC has decided to raise the overage fees for teams whose crates are heavier than the 400 pound limit. We hope that this will provide even more incentive to keep crate weight down and not have FRC exceed the FedEx shipping donation. Pack carefully.
New in Section 5 Awards:
We won’t be using FIRSTAwards.org anymore. Instead, Team Main Contacts will assign up to four students in TIMS as Award Submitters. The student Award Submitters will then be given access to the award submission section of the new Student Team Member Information System. The site opens for submissions at noon EST January 12, 2010 and closes at midnight EST February 18, 2010. Decide now who’s going to be responsible and make sure your Main Contact gets their names into the system.
Plus, there’s a new Coopertition Award. All the details are in Section 5
News on the FRC Staff:
Late last week we bid farewell to Neil Rosenberg the FRC Engineering Manager. Neil had a positive effect on FRC during his three years with us and will be missed. We wish him and his wife the best as they move to North Carolina to begin the next phase of their lives.
We’re looking for a new Engineering Manager and have had several inquiries from the first community. The position is posted here
25 days until the 2010 Kickoff
See you there!
Keep an eye out. Sections 4 and 5 of the 2010 FRC manual will be posted very soon.
New in Section 4 Robot Shipping:
We need your help to make the FedEx donation stretch as far as possible so we don’t exceed the total and have to pay extra like we did last year. What can teams do? Keep your robot crate as light as possible. Freight shipments are charged by weight, so the fewer pounds FRC teams ship this year, the further the FedEx donation can stretch. You can make a difference by carrying that extra toolbox in your car rather than shipping it in your crate, or deciding to pack 1 drill rather than 2. Every little bit helps!
As part of this effort, FRC has decided to raise the overage fees for teams whose crates are heavier than the 400 pound limit. We hope that this will provide even more incentive to keep crate weight down and not have FRC exceed the FedEx shipping donation. Pack carefully.
New in Section 5 Awards:
We won’t be using FIRSTAwards.org anymore. Instead, Team Main Contacts will assign up to four students in TIMS as Award Submitters. The student Award Submitters will then be given access to the award submission section of the new Student Team Member Information System. The site opens for submissions at noon EST January 12, 2010 and closes at midnight EST February 18, 2010. Decide now who’s going to be responsible and make sure your Main Contact gets their names into the system.
Plus, there’s a new Coopertition Award. All the details are in Section 5
News on the FRC Staff:
Late last week we bid farewell to Neil Rosenberg the FRC Engineering Manager. Neil had a positive effect on FRC during his three years with us and will be missed. We wish him and his wife the best as they move to North Carolina to begin the next phase of their lives.
We’re looking for a new Engineering Manager and have had several inquiries from the first community. The position is posted here
25 days until the 2010 Kickoff
See you there!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Working in a winter wonderland
Greetings Teams,
We’re having some snowy weather here, but it’s not slowing us down. The “elves” on the first floor are building field components while the fourth floor “elves” are helping get late teams registered for kickoffs and competitions.
Blair Hundertmark (he’s an Emcee at Championship) had a really good suggestion this week. When you’re building your cart this season, make sure to put your team number on it. Blair points out that once teams carry their robots out onto the field, the volunteers working the event often don’t know who’s empty cart is whose. If your cart is numbered, the Emcee can return your flag or prop during game play without having to search for a team member who isn’t busy driving the robot and the Field Reset Crew can keep track of carts when they have to be moved. It would save a lot of time and aggravation, so please, take a minute and put your team number on your cart.
We will have final information for you soon on the new crate shipping overage rule. Every time a team ships crate that weighs over 400lb the expense is charged against the total FedEx donation (for those of you who haven’t heard, FedEx donates a dollar amount and when it runs out –like it did just before championship last year – FIRST has to come up with the difference.) The $55 fee we charged teams for overweight crates in the past doesn’t cover the expense any more (the fee has held steady over the years, the cost of shipping has not). What’s taking so long is we’re looking for a fair way to charge teams who exceeded the crate weight while allowing some margin of error for differences in scale calibration.
If your team has started to meet please keep in mind you can’t design, fabricate or assemble any elements intended for the final robot prior to Kickoff. I know the 2010 rules won’t be released until kickoff, but I don’t expect the intent of this rule to change dramatically for 2010. More details can be found inof Section 8 of the 2009 Competition Manual here.
31 Days until Kickoff
See you there!
We’re having some snowy weather here, but it’s not slowing us down. The “elves” on the first floor are building field components while the fourth floor “elves” are helping get late teams registered for kickoffs and competitions.
Blair Hundertmark (he’s an Emcee at Championship) had a really good suggestion this week. When you’re building your cart this season, make sure to put your team number on it. Blair points out that once teams carry their robots out onto the field, the volunteers working the event often don’t know who’s empty cart is whose. If your cart is numbered, the Emcee can return your flag or prop during game play without having to search for a team member who isn’t busy driving the robot and the Field Reset Crew can keep track of carts when they have to be moved. It would save a lot of time and aggravation, so please, take a minute and put your team number on your cart.
We will have final information for you soon on the new crate shipping overage rule. Every time a team ships crate that weighs over 400lb the expense is charged against the total FedEx donation (for those of you who haven’t heard, FedEx donates a dollar amount and when it runs out –like it did just before championship last year – FIRST has to come up with the difference.) The $55 fee we charged teams for overweight crates in the past doesn’t cover the expense any more (the fee has held steady over the years, the cost of shipping has not). What’s taking so long is we’re looking for a fair way to charge teams who exceeded the crate weight while allowing some margin of error for differences in scale calibration.
If your team has started to meet please keep in mind you can’t design, fabricate or assemble any elements intended for the final robot prior to Kickoff. I know the 2010 rules won’t be released until kickoff, but I don’t expect the intent of this rule to change dramatically for 2010. More details can be found in
31 Days until Kickoff
See you there!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated
Good Morning Teams,
I feel a great deal better and am back in the office. I suspect it was the hospital food and the boredom that finally got me out of bed. Thank you for all your kind wishes. Watch this space for news as FRC gears back up to full speed for the Kickoff and 2010 season!
33 days until the 2010 Kickoff
See you there!
I feel a great deal better and am back in the office. I suspect it was the hospital food and the boredom that finally got me out of bed. Thank you for all your kind wishes. Watch this space for news as FRC gears back up to full speed for the Kickoff and 2010 season!
33 days until the 2010 Kickoff
See you there!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Still Not Bill #2
Hi Everyone,
This is Frank again, still guest blogging for Bill. Bill is still in the hospital, but you’ll be happy to know he was feeling well enough yesterday to ask to have his laptop brought to him so he could get back fully in the communications loop. You can’t keep a good man down!
In addition, I’m very pleased to let you know that an early version of the FRC Java software is now available for download at http://first.wpi.edu/FRC/frcjava.html . I know we promised this for November, and I apologize for being a few days late, but I think you will be very happy with the results. Our hats off to the extraordinarily dedicated Java beta test teams and the developers for all their hard work! Veteran teams, I encourage you to open your doors to rookies in your area interested in getting an early look at Java and how it works with the robot. Remember they don’t have the advantage of having last year’s control system to experiment with.
37 days until 2010 Kickoff
See you there!
This is Frank again, still guest blogging for Bill. Bill is still in the hospital, but you’ll be happy to know he was feeling well enough yesterday to ask to have his laptop brought to him so he could get back fully in the communications loop. You can’t keep a good man down!
In addition, I’m very pleased to let you know that an early version of the FRC Java software is now available for download at http://first.wpi.edu/FRC/frcjava.html . I know we promised this for November, and I apologize for being a few days late, but I think you will be very happy with the results. Our hats off to the extraordinarily dedicated Java beta test teams and the developers for all their hard work! Veteran teams, I encourage you to open your doors to rookies in your area interested in getting an early look at Java and how it works with the robot. Remember they don’t have the advantage of having last year’s control system to experiment with.
37 days until 2010 Kickoff
See you there!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Still Not Bill
Hi Everyone,
This is Frank Merrick, FRC Deputy Director “Guest Blogging” for Bill while he is in the hospital. I want to thank the FRC community for the outpouring of best wishes for Bill. This just goes to show FRC is more than about the robots! We hope Bill will be able to leave the hospital in the next few days. In the mean time, I want you to know:
The first three sections of the 2010 Game Manual are available here.
The link where teams may register for 2010 Championship housing is live here.
38 days until the 2010 Kickoff
See you there!
This is Frank Merrick, FRC Deputy Director “Guest Blogging” for Bill while he is in the hospital. I want to thank the FRC community for the outpouring of best wishes for Bill. This just goes to show FRC is more than about the robots! We hope Bill will be able to leave the hospital in the next few days. In the mean time, I want you to know:
The first three sections of the 2010 Game Manual are available here.
The link where teams may register for 2010 Championship housing is live here.
38 days until the 2010 Kickoff
See you there!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
An unexpected change in plans
Hi Everyone,
This is not Bill typing. Bill was taken ill last Saturday and is resting comfortably in the hospital waiting for test results. Kickoff will happen on schedule and the FRC events will run as planned, but here at FRC we’re a man short and a bit off balance. Bill will return to blogging in the near future and if there is any breaking news before he gets back to full strength I’ll be sure to let you know.
39 days until Kickoff
See you there!
This is not Bill typing. Bill was taken ill last Saturday and is resting comfortably in the hospital waiting for test results. Kickoff will happen on schedule and the FRC events will run as planned, but here at FRC we’re a man short and a bit off balance. Bill will return to blogging in the near future and if there is any breaking news before he gets back to full strength I’ll be sure to let you know.
39 days until Kickoff
See you there!
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