Good Morning Teams,
Don’t forget - Regional and District Event Registration opens today.
Be prepared - Registration for the 2011 Kickoffs and Kit pickup opens in two weeks on October 14th at noon ET. Information on Local Kickoffs is available here. Every Local Kickoff is different so be sure to read the descriptions carefully. Many locations have limited capacities and registrations are first come, first served. So choose your local kickoff soon. If your Local Kickoff offers workshops, register in TIMS for the event first, then contact the Kickoff Coordinator to register for the workshops. My thanks to the amazing volunteers who make Local Kickoffs happen.
The FRC Safety Animation contest also opens in two weeks on October 14th at noon ET. Your team main contact will receive the details in an email blast today, but if you want to get started, the theme this year is “A Lifetime of Safety”, animations may not exceed 40 seconds in length and the deadline for submission in STIMS is Monday, December 6, 2010 at noon EST. The winning Safety Animation will be highlighted during the kickoff on January 8, 2011 and shown at Regional events during the 2011 competition season.
This year we will be releasing the 2011 FIRST Robotics Competition Manual in stages. Game specific information will be withheld until Kickoff as always, but over the next few weeks watch for the Introduction, Communication, Team Organization, At the Events, Robot Transportation and The Awards sections be posted on usfirst.org. I’ll let you know when they’re ready.
My congratulations to Amir Abo-Shaeer mentor of team 1717 D’Penguineers who has been awarded a 2010 MacArthur Fellowship.
I want to take a moment to thank all the FRC teams that promote, support, encourage and mentor FTC, FLL and JrFLL teams. Together we are the FIRST family.
100 days to Kickoff
See you then!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Dallas dates
Good Evening Teams,
It’s official. The Dallas Regional has moved from Week Four to Week Six and is being planned as a double event. For right now we’re calling the two events Dallas East and Dallas West, but that might change in the near future. The date will not change again.
102 days to Kickoff
See you then!
It’s official. The Dallas Regional has moved from Week Four to Week Six and is being planned as a double event. For right now we’re calling the two events Dallas East and Dallas West, but that might change in the near future. The date will not change again.
102 days to Kickoff
See you then!
Things you should know before you register for your first event
Good Afternoon Teams,
Registration for Regional and District events opens this Thursday, September 30th. Are you ready?
If you haven’t yet, go to TIMS to pre-register your team. It will save a lot of time on Thursday when you register for your first choice event.
If you have pre-registered in TIMS, please go back in and check your account. Operations tells me a surprising number of teams have started, but not completed the pre-registration process. Incomplete pre-registration will slow you down on Thursday when you register for your first choice event.
I’ve had a few questions from teams about shipping to a bag & tag event under special circumstances.
Let me start by explaining how shipping to a regular Regional Event works. When a team hands their robot crate over to FedEx, that crate DOES NOT go directly to the event venue Instead, FedEx delivers robot crates to secure Shepard Exposition drayage warehouses. The night before the event, when FRC has access to the venue and can take delivery of the robot crates, Shepard trucks the robot crates to the event venue.
At the conclusion of a regular Regional Event, Shepard picks up all the robot crates, takes them back to their warehouses and then connects with FedEx during the week to send your robot on the next leg of its journey. FedEx doesn’t deliver robots to FRC event venues and doesn’t pick up robots at venues. Event venues don’t have the facilities to store robot crates as they arrive in the days leading up to the event.
At a Bag & Tag event teams take care of delivering their robot to the venue when FRC has access. If we decide a team has a good reason to ship their robot to a Bag & Tag event, we will have to find someone or some place near the event that can accept delivery of that robot and store it securely until FRC has access to the venue. Then we’ll have to arrange for the stored robot to be delivered to the event. As you can imagine, this is going to take some time to set up so please, only ask for special delivery to a Bag & Tag event if you really, really need it.
If you plan to attend two or more competition events and aren’t sure how attending both Bag & Tag events and traditional events will affect your team, I’ve provided a chart below to help you navigate.
If your team plans to register for either of the Seattle Regional events, be aware, ALL teams will automatically be placed on the wait list. There’s a reason for this. Many of the Washington state teams are funded with grants that require the team to participate in a Washington state regional. We have two events scheduled for Seattle in week three to make sure there are enough spaces to accommodate all of these teams and still leave room for more, but we don’t want all the spaces to fill before all the teams that have to play in WA are registered. We will move teams off the Seattle Regional wait lists as soon as possible.
Talking about Seattle’s double event, you should know that FRC reserves the right to ‘balance’ teams at any of the double event competitions. For instance: if every rookie team interested in playing in Minnesota registers for the 10,000 Lakes and there are no rookies at North Star, or if all the teams interested in playing in Toronto register for Toronto West leaving only four teams registered at Toronto east. We haven’t had to ‘balance’ double events in the past, and won’t if things work out on their own, but be aware, we still reserve the right to level the playing field if need be.
If you’ve heard any rumors about changing the start and end dates of the New Jersey Regional, they’re not true. I understand that weekend overlaps with a major NJ school test, but we can’t change the days due to other activities already scheduled at the venue.
If you’ve heard any rumors about the Colorado Regional they might be true. The venue might change due to unforeseen circumstances, the date might change to week 6 and it might grow to a double event, but at least the city is expected to remain the same. We’re working hard to get this event wrapped up before registration starts.
The Dallas Regional is still TBD which means there’s a chance it might change to a different week and it might grow into a double event. We’re working hard to get this event wrapped up before registration starts.
VIMS has a new look and a more user friendly few interface. If you volunteer for FRC events, be sure to check it out. You can sign up to volunteer at 2011 FRC events now.
You may have heard that FIRST received a $3 million grant from Google to develop and implement student driven fundraising programs. That’s true.
FIRST is currently in first place in the AMEX online competition
FIRST is last in all four categories in the JCPenney competition
102 days to Kickoff
See you then!
Registration for Regional and District events opens this Thursday, September 30th. Are you ready?
If you haven’t yet, go to TIMS to pre-register your team. It will save a lot of time on Thursday when you register for your first choice event.
If you have pre-registered in TIMS, please go back in and check your account. Operations tells me a surprising number of teams have started, but not completed the pre-registration process. Incomplete pre-registration will slow you down on Thursday when you register for your first choice event.
I’ve had a few questions from teams about shipping to a bag & tag event under special circumstances.
Let me start by explaining how shipping to a regular Regional Event works. When a team hands their robot crate over to FedEx, that crate DOES NOT go directly to the event venue Instead, FedEx delivers robot crates to secure Shepard Exposition drayage warehouses. The night before the event, when FRC has access to the venue and can take delivery of the robot crates, Shepard trucks the robot crates to the event venue.
At the conclusion of a regular Regional Event, Shepard picks up all the robot crates, takes them back to their warehouses and then connects with FedEx during the week to send your robot on the next leg of its journey. FedEx doesn’t deliver robots to FRC event venues and doesn’t pick up robots at venues. Event venues don’t have the facilities to store robot crates as they arrive in the days leading up to the event.
At a Bag & Tag event teams take care of delivering their robot to the venue when FRC has access. If we decide a team has a good reason to ship their robot to a Bag & Tag event, we will have to find someone or some place near the event that can accept delivery of that robot and store it securely until FRC has access to the venue. Then we’ll have to arrange for the stored robot to be delivered to the event. As you can imagine, this is going to take some time to set up so please, only ask for special delivery to a Bag & Tag event if you really, really need it.
If you plan to attend two or more competition events and aren’t sure how attending both Bag & Tag events and traditional events will affect your team, I’ve provided a chart below to help you navigate.
If your team plans to register for either of the Seattle Regional events, be aware, ALL teams will automatically be placed on the wait list. There’s a reason for this. Many of the Washington state teams are funded with grants that require the team to participate in a Washington state regional. We have two events scheduled for Seattle in week three to make sure there are enough spaces to accommodate all of these teams and still leave room for more, but we don’t want all the spaces to fill before all the teams that have to play in WA are registered. We will move teams off the Seattle Regional wait lists as soon as possible.
Talking about Seattle’s double event, you should know that FRC reserves the right to ‘balance’ teams at any of the double event competitions. For instance: if every rookie team interested in playing in Minnesota registers for the 10,000 Lakes and there are no rookies at North Star, or if all the teams interested in playing in Toronto register for Toronto West leaving only four teams registered at Toronto east. We haven’t had to ‘balance’ double events in the past, and won’t if things work out on their own, but be aware, we still reserve the right to level the playing field if need be.
If you’ve heard any rumors about changing the start and end dates of the New Jersey Regional, they’re not true. I understand that weekend overlaps with a major NJ school test, but we can’t change the days due to other activities already scheduled at the venue.
If you’ve heard any rumors about the Colorado Regional they might be true. The venue might change due to unforeseen circumstances, the date might change to week 6 and it might grow to a double event, but at least the city is expected to remain the same. We’re working hard to get this event wrapped up before registration starts.
The Dallas Regional is still TBD which means there’s a chance it might change to a different week and it might grow into a double event. We’re working hard to get this event wrapped up before registration starts.
VIMS has a new look and a more user friendly few interface. If you volunteer for FRC events, be sure to check it out. You can sign up to volunteer at 2011 FRC events now.
You may have heard that FIRST received a $3 million grant from Google to develop and implement student driven fundraising programs. That’s true.
FIRST is currently in first place in the AMEX online competition
FIRST is last in all four categories in the JCPenney competition
102 days to Kickoff
See you then!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Bag and Tag and so much more
Good Afternoon Teams,
I have updates to last week’s list of FRC Events.
The much anticipated 2011 Bag & Tag events are listed below. New this year, FRC will be working with teams that have to travel long distances to attend events that are now Bag & Tag. (For example last year teams from Brazil and the UK attended the NYC Regional). The details are still in the works, but don’t eliminate a Bag and Tag event just because your team lives too far away to drive to the event. FRCTeams@usfirst.org will work with individual teams to arrange shipping to Bag & Tag events depending on your circumstances.
Also, just like last year, when picking Bag & Tag events, please take timing into consideration. If you register for back to back events, make sure they’re close enough that you’ll have time to get your robot from one location to another. FedEx doesn’t pick up at Bag & Tag events so you must take your robot with you, then arrange for FedEx to pick it up by the first Tuesday following the event.
If you’re new to Bag & Tag events, you might want to check out section 4.8 of last year’s Competition Manual which covers how Bag & Tag was handled last year.
Week One - bag & tag
March 3-5, 2011
Alamo Regional - San Antonio TX
BAE Systems Granite State Regional - Manchester, NH
Finger Lakes Regional - Rochester, NY
New Jersey Regional – Trenton, NJ
March 4-5
Kettering University District – Flint, MI
Traverse City District – Traverse City, MI
Week Two- bag & tag
March 10-12
Greater Kansas City Regional – Kansas City, MO
Pittsburgh Regional – Pittsburgh, PA
March 11-13
New York City Regional – New York City, NY
Week Three - bag & tag
March 17-19
Arizona Regional - Chandler, AZ
Oklahoma Regional – Oklahoma City, OK
Sacramento Regional - Davis, CA
Seattle Cascade Regional – Seattle, WA
Seattle Olympic Regional – Seattle, WA
March 18-19
Detroit District – Detroit, MI
West Michigan District – Allendale, MI
Week Four - bag & tag
March 24-26
Autodesk Oregon Regional – Portland, OR
SBPLI Long Island Regional – Hempstead, NY
Washington DC Regional – Washington, DC
Waterloo Regional - Waterloo, ON
March 25-26
Ann Arbor District – Ann Arbor, MI
Niles District (TBD) - Niles, MI
Week Five - bag & tag
March 31-April 2
Greater Toronto East Regional - Mississauga, ON
Greater Toronto West Regional - Mississauga, ON
MN 10,000 Lakes Regional – Minneapolis, MN
MN North Star Regional - Minneapolis, MN
Northeast Utilities FIRST Connecticut Regional – Hartford, CT
Silicon Valley Regional – San Jose, CA
April 1-2
Troy District – Troy, MI
Livonia District – Livonia, MI
Week Six - bag & tag
April 7-9
Colorado Regional– this date and location are still tentative
MI State Championship – Ypsilanti, MI
Virginia Regional – Richmond, VA
The Student Team Information Member System (STIMS) will open for the 2011 season Oct 7th. Students need to go to STIMS to reconnect to their teams. Main or Alternate Contacts need to go to TIMS to accept students and to assign student award submitters for this year.
On a related note, the Safety Animation Award will open for submissions in STIMS on October 14th, so you might want to get your student award submitters assigned soon. Watch for more details on the Safety Animation Award in upcoming email blasts.
If you want to nominate someone for the Dean’s List Award, talk to your team Main or Alternate contact. This year, instead of having the student award submitters make the nomination, we’re asking the team Main or Alternate contact to submit. That prevents the awkward situation where a student ruins the surprise by seeing they’ve been nominated by another student submitter.
If your team is trying to plan ahead, the items in the 2011 Kit of Parts officially support Windows 7 and XP.
If you remember my earlier blog posts about participation medallions, you know we’re changing from bronze participation medallions to game name specific participation pins this season. The change will save natural resources (pins are smaller), fossil fuels (pins are lighter) and will have a commemorative image of the game logo. Because of the cost savings, we’ll be able to give 25 participation pins to all teams this year, not just the ones that didn’t win gold or silver medallions. I can’t show you what they look like (that would be giving the game name away), but I did share an example on July 22nd last year.
Are you on Facebook? JCPenney is holding not one, but two contests on Facebook that you might want to know about. Please vote for FIRST to win $250,000 and if you’re a student 13-18 enter to win a share of the $500,00 they’re giving away to students who volunteer in their community.
Dean Kamen’s new TV show Dean of Invention starts 10/22 on Planet Green (Discovery)
FIRST is a featured program on the White House Educate to Innovate Change the Equation’s web page.
And I didn’t forget I promised to tell you about the GDC meeting last week. Creativity levels were high so we worked until 9pm Saturday night and were back on the job by 8am Sunday. Unfortunately, we were so productive, everything we talked about will probably be part of the big reveal at Kickoff January 8th. However, Aidan Browne wanted me to tell you we’re seriously looking at Ben & Jerry’s Phish food.
108 days to Kickoff
See you then!
I have updates to last week’s list of FRC Events.
- The Israel Regional is really March 14-16
- Ann Arbor District moved to March 25-26
- The event in NH is really BAE Systems/Granite State Regional
- The event in CT is really Northeast Utilities FIRST Connecticut Regional
- Olympic and Cascade are now Seattle Olympic Regional and Seattle Cascade Regional
- The week 5 TBD MI District event is now Livonia District
The much anticipated 2011 Bag & Tag events are listed below. New this year, FRC will be working with teams that have to travel long distances to attend events that are now Bag & Tag. (For example last year teams from Brazil and the UK attended the NYC Regional). The details are still in the works, but don’t eliminate a Bag and Tag event just because your team lives too far away to drive to the event. FRCTeams@usfirst.org will work with individual teams to arrange shipping to Bag & Tag events depending on your circumstances.
Also, just like last year, when picking Bag & Tag events, please take timing into consideration. If you register for back to back events, make sure they’re close enough that you’ll have time to get your robot from one location to another. FedEx doesn’t pick up at Bag & Tag events so you must take your robot with you, then arrange for FedEx to pick it up by the first Tuesday following the event.
If you’re new to Bag & Tag events, you might want to check out section 4.8 of last year’s Competition Manual which covers how Bag & Tag was handled last year.
Week One - bag & tag
March 3-5, 2011
Alamo Regional - San Antonio TX
BAE Systems Granite State Regional - Manchester, NH
Finger Lakes Regional - Rochester, NY
New Jersey Regional – Trenton, NJ
March 4-5
Kettering University District – Flint, MI
Traverse City District – Traverse City, MI
Week Two- bag & tag
March 10-12
Greater Kansas City Regional – Kansas City, MO
Pittsburgh Regional – Pittsburgh, PA
March 11-13
New York City Regional – New York City, NY
Week Three - bag & tag
March 17-19
Arizona Regional - Chandler, AZ
Oklahoma Regional – Oklahoma City, OK
Sacramento Regional - Davis, CA
Seattle Cascade Regional – Seattle, WA
Seattle Olympic Regional – Seattle, WA
March 18-19
Detroit District – Detroit, MI
West Michigan District – Allendale, MI
Week Four - bag & tag
March 24-26
Autodesk Oregon Regional – Portland, OR
SBPLI Long Island Regional – Hempstead, NY
Washington DC Regional – Washington, DC
Waterloo Regional - Waterloo, ON
March 25-26
Ann Arbor District – Ann Arbor, MI
Niles District (TBD) - Niles, MI
Week Five - bag & tag
March 31-April 2
Greater Toronto East Regional - Mississauga, ON
Greater Toronto West Regional - Mississauga, ON
MN 10,000 Lakes Regional – Minneapolis, MN
MN North Star Regional - Minneapolis, MN
Northeast Utilities FIRST Connecticut Regional – Hartford, CT
Silicon Valley Regional – San Jose, CA
April 1-2
Troy District – Troy, MI
Livonia District – Livonia, MI
Week Six - bag & tag
April 7-9
Colorado Regional– this date and location are still tentative
MI State Championship – Ypsilanti, MI
Virginia Regional – Richmond, VA
The Student Team Information Member System (STIMS) will open for the 2011 season Oct 7th. Students need to go to STIMS to reconnect to their teams. Main or Alternate Contacts need to go to TIMS to accept students and to assign student award submitters for this year.
On a related note, the Safety Animation Award will open for submissions in STIMS on October 14th, so you might want to get your student award submitters assigned soon. Watch for more details on the Safety Animation Award in upcoming email blasts.
If you want to nominate someone for the Dean’s List Award, talk to your team Main or Alternate contact. This year, instead of having the student award submitters make the nomination, we’re asking the team Main or Alternate contact to submit. That prevents the awkward situation where a student ruins the surprise by seeing they’ve been nominated by another student submitter.
If your team is trying to plan ahead, the items in the 2011 Kit of Parts officially support Windows 7 and XP.
If you remember my earlier blog posts about participation medallions, you know we’re changing from bronze participation medallions to game name specific participation pins this season. The change will save natural resources (pins are smaller), fossil fuels (pins are lighter) and will have a commemorative image of the game logo. Because of the cost savings, we’ll be able to give 25 participation pins to all teams this year, not just the ones that didn’t win gold or silver medallions. I can’t show you what they look like (that would be giving the game name away), but I did share an example on July 22nd last year.
Are you on Facebook? JCPenney is holding not one, but two contests on Facebook that you might want to know about. Please vote for FIRST to win $250,000 and if you’re a student 13-18 enter to win a share of the $500,00 they’re giving away to students who volunteer in their community.
Dean Kamen’s new TV show Dean of Invention starts 10/22 on Planet Green (Discovery)
FIRST is a featured program on the White House Educate to Innovate Change the Equation’s web page.
And I didn’t forget I promised to tell you about the GDC meeting last week. Creativity levels were high so we worked until 9pm Saturday night and were back on the job by 8am Sunday. Unfortunately, we were so productive, everything we talked about will probably be part of the big reveal at Kickoff January 8th. However, Aidan Browne wanted me to tell you we’re seriously looking at Ben & Jerry’s Phish food.
108 days to Kickoff
See you then!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
2011 FRC Event Schedule is here
Good Morning Teams,
Here’s what we have so far for 2010 FRC Events. *** heads up: The Dallas venue is still to be determined, the Colorado date and location are tentative, and one, possibly two Michigan District Events are still being finalized. Please understand, I'm sharing this information so teams will have as much time as possible to plan for registration on 9/30, but there are still contracts to sign and arrangements to work out so TBD really is TBD. I’ll share the final event list and the Bag & Tag event locations with you as soon as I can.
Week One
March 3-5, 2011
Alamo Regional - San Antonio TX
BAE Systems Granite State Regional - Manchester, NH
Finger Lakes Regional - Rochester, NY
New Jersey Regional – Trenton, NJ
March 4-5
Kettering University District – Flint, MI
Traverse City District – Traverse City, MI
Week Two
March 10-12
Florida Regional – Orlando, FL
Greater Kansas City Regional – Kansas City, MO
Lake Superior Regional – Duluth, MN
Pittsburgh Regional – Pittsburgh, PA
San Diego Regional – San Diego, CA
Wisconsin Regional – Milwaukee, WI
WPI Regional – Worcester, MA
March 11-12
Ann Arbor District – Ann Arbor, MI
March 11-13
New York City Regional – New York City, NY
March 13-15
Israel Regional – Tel Aviv, Israel
Week Three
March 17-19
Arizona Regional - Chandler, AZ
Bayou Regional – Westwego, LA
Boilermaker Regional – West Lafayette, IN
Cascade Regional - Seattle WA
Chesapeake Regional – Baltimore, MD
Lone Star Regional – Houston, TX
Oklahoma Regional – Oklahoma City, OK
Olympic Regional - Seattle WA
Peachtree Regional – Duluth, GA
Sacramento Regional - Davis, CA
Saint Louis Regional – Saint Louis, MO
March 18-19
Detroit District – Detroit, MI
West Michigan District – Allendale, MI
Week Four
March 24-26
Autodesk Oregon Regional – Portland, OR
***Dallas Regional – venue still TBD
Hawaii Regional – Honolulu, HI
Los Angeles Regional – Long Beach, CA
Midwest Regional – Chicago, IL
Palmetto Regional – North Charleston, SC
SBPLI Long Island Regional – Hempstead, NY
Washington DC Regional – Washington, DC
Waterloo Regional - Waterloo, ON
March 25-26
***MI District - Niles, MI
Week Five
March 31-April 2
Northeast Utilities FIRST Connecticut Regional – Hartford, CT
Greater Toronto East Regional - Mississauga, ON
Greater Toronto West Regional - Mississauga, ON
Las Vegas Regional – Las Vegas, NV
MN 10,000 Lakes Regional – Minneapolis, MN
MN North Star Regional - Minneapolis, MN
Silicon Valley Regional – San Jose, CA
Smokey Mountain Regional – Knoxville, TN
April 1-2
Troy District – Troy, MI
***MI District - TBD
Week Six
April 7-9
Boston Regional – Boston, MA
Buckeye Regional – Cleveland, OH
***Colorado Regional– this date and location are still tentative
MI State Championship – Ypsilanti, MI
North Carolina Regional – Raleigh, NC
Philadelphia Regional – Philadelphia, PA
Utah Regional – Salt Lake City, UT
Virginia Regional – Richmond, VA
114 days to Kickoff
See you then!
Here’s what we have so far for 2010 FRC Events. *** heads up: The Dallas venue is still to be determined, the Colorado date and location are tentative, and one, possibly two Michigan District Events are still being finalized. Please understand, I'm sharing this information so teams will have as much time as possible to plan for registration on 9/30, but there are still contracts to sign and arrangements to work out so TBD really is TBD. I’ll share the final event list and the Bag & Tag event locations with you as soon as I can.
Week One
March 3-5, 2011
Alamo Regional - San Antonio TX
BAE Systems Granite State Regional - Manchester, NH
Finger Lakes Regional - Rochester, NY
New Jersey Regional – Trenton, NJ
March 4-5
Kettering University District – Flint, MI
Traverse City District – Traverse City, MI
Week Two
March 10-12
Florida Regional – Orlando, FL
Greater Kansas City Regional – Kansas City, MO
Lake Superior Regional – Duluth, MN
Pittsburgh Regional – Pittsburgh, PA
San Diego Regional – San Diego, CA
Wisconsin Regional – Milwaukee, WI
WPI Regional – Worcester, MA
March 11-12
Ann Arbor District – Ann Arbor, MI
March 11-13
New York City Regional – New York City, NY
March 13-15
Israel Regional – Tel Aviv, Israel
Week Three
March 17-19
Arizona Regional - Chandler, AZ
Bayou Regional – Westwego, LA
Boilermaker Regional – West Lafayette, IN
Cascade Regional - Seattle WA
Chesapeake Regional – Baltimore, MD
Lone Star Regional – Houston, TX
Oklahoma Regional – Oklahoma City, OK
Olympic Regional - Seattle WA
Peachtree Regional – Duluth, GA
Sacramento Regional - Davis, CA
Saint Louis Regional – Saint Louis, MO
March 18-19
Detroit District – Detroit, MI
West Michigan District – Allendale, MI
Week Four
March 24-26
Autodesk Oregon Regional – Portland, OR
***Dallas Regional – venue still TBD
Hawaii Regional – Honolulu, HI
Los Angeles Regional – Long Beach, CA
Midwest Regional – Chicago, IL
Palmetto Regional – North Charleston, SC
SBPLI Long Island Regional – Hempstead, NY
Washington DC Regional – Washington, DC
Waterloo Regional - Waterloo, ON
March 25-26
***MI District - Niles, MI
Week Five
March 31-April 2
Northeast Utilities FIRST Connecticut Regional – Hartford, CT
Greater Toronto East Regional - Mississauga, ON
Greater Toronto West Regional - Mississauga, ON
Las Vegas Regional – Las Vegas, NV
MN 10,000 Lakes Regional – Minneapolis, MN
MN North Star Regional - Minneapolis, MN
Silicon Valley Regional – San Jose, CA
Smokey Mountain Regional – Knoxville, TN
April 1-2
Troy District – Troy, MI
***MI District - TBD
Week Six
April 7-9
Boston Regional – Boston, MA
Buckeye Regional – Cleveland, OH
***Colorado Regional– this date and location are still tentative
MI State Championship – Ypsilanti, MI
North Carolina Regional – Raleigh, NC
Philadelphia Regional – Philadelphia, PA
Utah Regional – Salt Lake City, UT
Virginia Regional – Richmond, VA
114 days to Kickoff
See you then!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Ready or Not
Good Morning Teams,
If your team hasn’t completed the team profile section of TIMS yet, you might want to get to that this week. FRC team registration will open September 30that noon ET (that’s official). It’s my goal to have the list of 2011 regional and district events and the list of Bag & Tag events publicly available before then. The challenge is, some of the contracts are still outstanding and I want to have as many of the dates and locations finalized as possible before I post the schedule. So watch this space, I’ll be sharing more details very soon.
If you prequalified last year for the 2011 Championship, 9/30-10/21 is your only window to register for Championship and be sure of a space. Championship registration opens to all teams on 10/21 and slots will fill up fast. If you wait to register after 10/21 you may end up on the wait list like everyone else. Don’t know what it means to prequalify? Look here
We’ve chosen the 2011 Beta Test teams. Everyone who applied has been contacted, so I’m happy to announce the following teams will be helping us review the software libraries and build new code to share with all teams. My thanks to everyone who offered to help with this project. All FRC teams will be able to communicate with the Beta Test teams here
88 TJ2 Bridgewater MA JAVA
166 Chopshop Merrimack NH c/c++
176 Aces High Windsor Locks/Suffield CT LabVIEW
263 Sachem Aftershock Lake Ronkonkoma NY c/c++
294 Beach Cities Robotics Redondo Beach CA c/c++
339 Kilroy Stafford/King George/Spotsylvania VA JAVA
346 RoboHawks Chesterfield VA JAVA
369 High Voltage Brooklyn NY c/c++
442 Redstone Robotics Huntsville AL c/c++
486 The Positronic Panthers Wallingford PA c/c++
694 Stuypulse New York NY JAVA
811 Cardinals Nashua NH JAVA
967 Iron Lions Marion IA LabVIEW
1071 Team MAX Wolcott CT LabVIEW
1160 FireBird Robotics San Marino CA JAVA
1323 MadTown Robotics Madera CA c/c++
1334 OTHS Read Devils Ontario Canada c/c++
1421 Team Chaos Picayune MS LabVIEW
1511 Rolling Thunder Rochester NY c/c++
1540 Flaming Chickens Portland OR JAVA
1543 The Riddler Revolution Kissimmee FL LabVIEW
1577 SteamPunk Raanana Israel LabVIEW
1657 Hamosad Mevoot Eron, Kibutz Ein Shemer Israel LabVIEW
1714 MORE Robotics 108 11th Avenue, South Milwaukee WI c/c++
1718 The Fighting Pi Romeo MI LabVIEW
1746 Forsyth Cumming GA LabVIEW
1754 Nitro Knights Boston MA LabVIEW
1758 Technomancers Florence SC c/c++
1764 Dirty Gears Liberty MO LabVIEW
1816 The Green Machine Edina MN c/c++
1831 Gilford High School Screaming Eagles Gilford NH c/c++
1860 Cephatron São Paulo Brazil LabVIEW
1872 Yellow Fever Rio Piedras Puerto Rico JAVA
1876 Beachbotics Hilton Head SC c/c++
1908 Shorebots Eastville VA LabVIEW
1912 Combustion Slidell LA LabVIEW
2169 KING TeC Savage MN LabVIEW
2175 The Fighting Calculators Woodbury MN LabVIEW
2200 MMRambotics Ontario Canada c/c++
2261 CasaMESA Robotics Longmont CO JAVA
2410 Metal Mustang Robotics Leawood KS LabVIEW
2472 The Centurions Circle Pines MN LabVIEW
2477 Rascals Waipahu HI JAVA
2502 EP Robotics Eden Prairie MN c/c++
2504 The Governors Honolulu HI LabVIEW
2577 Pingry Robotics Martinsville NJ JAVA
2648 Infinite Loop Oakland Maine ME JAVA
2660 The Pengbots Tulalip WA c/c++
2723 Atomic Shock Oklahoma City OK LabVIEW
2757 Built And Dangerous (B.A.D.) Longwood FL c/c++
2761 IronHorse Fresno CA LabVIEW
2809 K-Botics Ontario Canada c/c++
2817 Bluff City Bots Memphis TN JAVA
2846 FireBears Roseville MN JAVA
2943 RoboDynamics Dallas TX LabVIEW
2969 Cane - Anators San Antonio TX JAVA
3017 The Patriots Fresh Meadows NY c/c++
3286 The Rocket Surgeons Yakima WA LabVIEW
3339 BumbleB Kfar-Yona Central Israel LabVIEW
I mentioned in an earlier blog that this season will be the 20th anniversary of FIRST. Due to a number of extenuating circumstances, including the challenges involved in moving to a new Championship location, FIRST is postponing the celebrations until the 25th anniversary. This year we’ll be presenting the 20th unique FRC challenge and I’m proud to be a part of this tradition, even if we aren’t having a big party.
Do you know a female high school student computer whiz? Encourage them to apply for the National Center for Women & Information Technology Award for Aspirations in Computing before October 15th.
The GDC will be back in Manchester this weekend for the next onsite meeting. I’ll let you know how that goes.
115 days to Kickoff
See you then!
If your team hasn’t completed the team profile section of TIMS yet, you might want to get to that this week. FRC team registration will open September 30that noon ET (that’s official). It’s my goal to have the list of 2011 regional and district events and the list of Bag & Tag events publicly available before then. The challenge is, some of the contracts are still outstanding and I want to have as many of the dates and locations finalized as possible before I post the schedule. So watch this space, I’ll be sharing more details very soon.
If you prequalified last year for the 2011 Championship, 9/30-10/21 is your only window to register for Championship and be sure of a space. Championship registration opens to all teams on 10/21 and slots will fill up fast. If you wait to register after 10/21 you may end up on the wait list like everyone else. Don’t know what it means to prequalify? Look here
We’ve chosen the 2011 Beta Test teams. Everyone who applied has been contacted, so I’m happy to announce the following teams will be helping us review the software libraries and build new code to share with all teams. My thanks to everyone who offered to help with this project. All FRC teams will be able to communicate with the Beta Test teams here
88 TJ2 Bridgewater MA JAVA
166 Chopshop Merrimack NH c/c++
176 Aces High Windsor Locks/Suffield CT LabVIEW
263 Sachem Aftershock Lake Ronkonkoma NY c/c++
294 Beach Cities Robotics Redondo Beach CA c/c++
339 Kilroy Stafford/King George/Spotsylvania VA JAVA
346 RoboHawks Chesterfield VA JAVA
369 High Voltage Brooklyn NY c/c++
442 Redstone Robotics Huntsville AL c/c++
486 The Positronic Panthers Wallingford PA c/c++
694 Stuypulse New York NY JAVA
811 Cardinals Nashua NH JAVA
967 Iron Lions Marion IA LabVIEW
1071 Team MAX Wolcott CT LabVIEW
1160 FireBird Robotics San Marino CA JAVA
1323 MadTown Robotics Madera CA c/c++
1334 OTHS Read Devils Ontario Canada c/c++
1421 Team Chaos Picayune MS LabVIEW
1511 Rolling Thunder Rochester NY c/c++
1540 Flaming Chickens Portland OR JAVA
1543 The Riddler Revolution Kissimmee FL LabVIEW
1577 SteamPunk Raanana Israel LabVIEW
1657 Hamosad Mevoot Eron, Kibutz Ein Shemer Israel LabVIEW
1714 MORE Robotics 108 11th Avenue, South Milwaukee WI c/c++
1718 The Fighting Pi Romeo MI LabVIEW
1746 Forsyth Cumming GA LabVIEW
1754 Nitro Knights Boston MA LabVIEW
1758 Technomancers Florence SC c/c++
1764 Dirty Gears Liberty MO LabVIEW
1816 The Green Machine Edina MN c/c++
1831 Gilford High School Screaming Eagles Gilford NH c/c++
1860 Cephatron São Paulo Brazil LabVIEW
1872 Yellow Fever Rio Piedras Puerto Rico JAVA
1876 Beachbotics Hilton Head SC c/c++
1908 Shorebots Eastville VA LabVIEW
1912 Combustion Slidell LA LabVIEW
2169 KING TeC Savage MN LabVIEW
2175 The Fighting Calculators Woodbury MN LabVIEW
2200 MMRambotics Ontario Canada c/c++
2261 CasaMESA Robotics Longmont CO JAVA
2410 Metal Mustang Robotics Leawood KS LabVIEW
2472 The Centurions Circle Pines MN LabVIEW
2477 Rascals Waipahu HI JAVA
2502 EP Robotics Eden Prairie MN c/c++
2504 The Governors Honolulu HI LabVIEW
2577 Pingry Robotics Martinsville NJ JAVA
2648 Infinite Loop Oakland Maine ME JAVA
2660 The Pengbots Tulalip WA c/c++
2723 Atomic Shock Oklahoma City OK LabVIEW
2757 Built And Dangerous (B.A.D.) Longwood FL c/c++
2761 IronHorse Fresno CA LabVIEW
2809 K-Botics Ontario Canada c/c++
2817 Bluff City Bots Memphis TN JAVA
2846 FireBears Roseville MN JAVA
2943 RoboDynamics Dallas TX LabVIEW
2969 Cane - Anators San Antonio TX JAVA
3017 The Patriots Fresh Meadows NY c/c++
3286 The Rocket Surgeons Yakima WA LabVIEW
3339 BumbleB Kfar-Yona Central Israel LabVIEW
I mentioned in an earlier blog that this season will be the 20th anniversary of FIRST. Due to a number of extenuating circumstances, including the challenges involved in moving to a new Championship location, FIRST is postponing the celebrations until the 25th anniversary. This year we’ll be presenting the 20th unique FRC challenge and I’m proud to be a part of this tradition, even if we aren’t having a big party.
Do you know a female high school student computer whiz? Encourage them to apply for the National Center for Women & Information Technology Award for Aspirations in Computing before October 15th.
The GDC will be back in Manchester this weekend for the next onsite meeting. I’ll let you know how that goes.
115 days to Kickoff
See you then!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Beta Day Results
Beta Day results
Good Afternoon Teams,
My thanks to the 14 teams listed below who traveled to Merrimack, NH this weekend to help us test improvements to the Field Management System.
40 Checkmate from NH
151 Tough Techs from NH
166 Chop Shop from NH
175 Buzz Robotics from CT
228 Team Gus from CT
238 Cruisin Crusaders from NH
811 Cardinals from NH
1071 Team Max from CT
1517 P4 from NH
1922 OzRam from NH
2016 Mighty Monkey Wrenches from NJ
2648 Infinate Loop from ME
3074 New School Robotics from ME
3183 EPIC from CT
With the teams’ help, we tested new radios, we tested mixing new and old radios in the same match, and we tested various forms of potential field interference all to great success. David Price, Granite State Regional MC was on hand, Woodie Flowers winner Chris Fultz stopped by for a surprise visit and I understand the team from NJ met up with some Pirates in the park after the event was over. We were able to capture all sorts of data to help us prepare for 2011. Thank you one and all for your patience, input and support.
117 days to Kickoff
See you then!
Good Afternoon Teams,
My thanks to the 14 teams listed below who traveled to Merrimack, NH this weekend to help us test improvements to the Field Management System.
40 Checkmate from NH
151 Tough Techs from NH
166 Chop Shop from NH
175 Buzz Robotics from CT
228 Team Gus from CT
238 Cruisin Crusaders from NH
811 Cardinals from NH
1071 Team Max from CT
1517 P4 from NH
1922 OzRam from NH
2016 Mighty Monkey Wrenches from NJ
2648 Infinate Loop from ME
3074 New School Robotics from ME
3183 EPIC from CT
With the teams’ help, we tested new radios, we tested mixing new and old radios in the same match, and we tested various forms of potential field interference all to great success. David Price, Granite State Regional MC was on hand, Woodie Flowers winner Chris Fultz stopped by for a surprise visit and I understand the team from NJ met up with some Pirates in the park after the event was over. We were able to capture all sorts of data to help us prepare for 2011. Thank you one and all for your patience, input and support.
117 days to Kickoff
See you then!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Are you ready for Kickoff?
Good Afternoon Teams,
Regional Directors and Regional Planning Committees are preparing for Kickoffs! Local Kickoff Coordinators are looking for venues large enough to host teams during the live broadcast, they’re negotiating with area businesses to find loading docks to accept delivery of the kits of parts (not shipped until just days before kickoff), and they’re recruiting volunteers to host workshops and build field elements (plans not released until mid-December). As Kickoff Coordinators make arrangements and get commitments from venues, businesses and volunteers, their Local Kickoffs will be listed here. Teams won’t be able to register for Local Kickoffs until October, but you might want to visit the listing to see if a Local Kickoff has been scheduled in your area.
If your team is interested in hosting a Local Kickoff of your own, please read Section 16 of the Regional Planning Committee Guide located here then contact your local Regional Director to get started. Not sure who your Regional Director is? Go here
As I’ve mentioned in earlier blog posts, we’re looking closely at expanding the Bag & Tag program. (Don’t know what that is? Look at section 4.8 of the 2010 FRC Manual ) The changes for 2011 aren’t final yet, but we’ve learned some interesting things about round trip team travel in 2010 in the process that I want to share.
122 days to Kickoff
See you then!
Regional Directors and Regional Planning Committees are preparing for Kickoffs! Local Kickoff Coordinators are looking for venues large enough to host teams during the live broadcast, they’re negotiating with area businesses to find loading docks to accept delivery of the kits of parts (not shipped until just days before kickoff), and they’re recruiting volunteers to host workshops and build field elements (plans not released until mid-December). As Kickoff Coordinators make arrangements and get commitments from venues, businesses and volunteers, their Local Kickoffs will be listed here. Teams won’t be able to register for Local Kickoffs until October, but you might want to visit the listing to see if a Local Kickoff has been scheduled in your area.
If your team is interested in hosting a Local Kickoff of your own, please read Section 16 of the Regional Planning Committee Guide located here then contact your local Regional Director to get started. Not sure who your Regional Director is? Go here
As I’ve mentioned in earlier blog posts, we’re looking closely at expanding the Bag & Tag program. (Don’t know what that is? Look at section 4.8 of the 2010 FRC Manual ) The changes for 2011 aren’t final yet, but we’ve learned some interesting things about round trip team travel in 2010 in the process that I want to share.
- Most miles logged by an FRC team in 2010: 38,766 (Team 3132 from Australia went to Granite State Regional Week 1, then attended the Championship.)
- Average distance teams traveled to regional events (excluding CMP and District events): 201 miles
- Average distance teams travel to Bag and Tag regionals: 127.6 (B&T pilot locations were selected last year partly based on the number of teams located nearby)
122 days to Kickoff
See you then!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
A Day Late Due to the Heat
Good Morning Teams,
Kate Pilotte, our Kit of Parts Manager and FTA, just returned from Israel. FIRST Israel gathered teams to play an off season event on the same field used for the Israel Regional. This gave Kate, FIRST Israel and local volunteers an opportunity to troubleshoot the steps involved in setting up, running and breaking down both the field and the Field Management System. The event went well and Kate returned delighted by the graciousness of the students she met who went out of their way to help her overcome the language barrier. (Their English is so much better than her Hebrew.) Go Israel teams!
Back here in the US, all the logistics are in place and we’re ready to hold Beta day on September 11th in Merrimack, NH. 18 teams are scheduled to help the FRC staff test improvements to the Field Management System and Robot Control Systems in a competition environment. My thanks to the teams who are lending a hand.
If your team is not participating in Beta day in NH, you can still help FRC prepare for the 2011 season. We need Beta test teams to review the software libraries and build new code to share with all teams. A few Beta test teams will be asked to work with new hardware (we’re limited by the amount of hardware we can get our hands on early) and I’ve been thinking about asking beta teams to test a few other things I can’t list here. The deadline to apply is this Friday.
Have you pre-registered your team in TIMS yet? Have you noticed that adult members of your team may opt into receiving the FRC Team Email Blasts? The Main and Alternate contacts on your team will continue to receive the blasts automatically due to their role on the team, but anyone and everyone else registered in TIMS may now opt into (and out of) receiving the email blasts at any time.
Also, new this year, adult members of your team will be able to sign an on-line consent and release form (just like students could last year). Adult team members will be included in the electronic rosters printed out for events saving time, energy and trees.
Thank you to everyone who voted (and voted and voted) for FIRST in the AmEx Members project. Unfortunately we came in second. There is a new contest in the same location, so when you get a chance, please vote for FIRST.
128 days to Kickoff
See you then!
Kate Pilotte, our Kit of Parts Manager and FTA, just returned from Israel. FIRST Israel gathered teams to play an off season event on the same field used for the Israel Regional. This gave Kate, FIRST Israel and local volunteers an opportunity to troubleshoot the steps involved in setting up, running and breaking down both the field and the Field Management System. The event went well and Kate returned delighted by the graciousness of the students she met who went out of their way to help her overcome the language barrier. (Their English is so much better than her Hebrew.) Go Israel teams!
Back here in the US, all the logistics are in place and we’re ready to hold Beta day on September 11th in Merrimack, NH. 18 teams are scheduled to help the FRC staff test improvements to the Field Management System and Robot Control Systems in a competition environment. My thanks to the teams who are lending a hand.
If your team is not participating in Beta day in NH, you can still help FRC prepare for the 2011 season. We need Beta test teams to review the software libraries and build new code to share with all teams. A few Beta test teams will be asked to work with new hardware (we’re limited by the amount of hardware we can get our hands on early) and I’ve been thinking about asking beta teams to test a few other things I can’t list here. The deadline to apply is this Friday.
Have you pre-registered your team in TIMS yet? Have you noticed that adult members of your team may opt into receiving the FRC Team Email Blasts? The Main and Alternate contacts on your team will continue to receive the blasts automatically due to their role on the team, but anyone and everyone else registered in TIMS may now opt into (and out of) receiving the email blasts at any time.
Also, new this year, adult members of your team will be able to sign an on-line consent and release form (just like students could last year). Adult team members will be included in the electronic rosters printed out for events saving time, energy and trees.
Thank you to everyone who voted (and voted and voted) for FIRST in the AmEx Members project. Unfortunately we came in second. There is a new contest in the same location, so when you get a chance, please vote for FIRST.
128 days to Kickoff
See you then!
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