Deadlines and Discounts for FRC teams

Good Morning Teams,

Second event registration opens tomorrow, Thursday, October 28 at noon ET. Veteran teams who competed at the 2010 Championship may register for the 2011 Championship at this time.   Just a reminder, when second event registration opens, if an event has already reached the open capacity, you will be put on a wait list with the teams already wait listed for that event.

If you plan to register for a Regional event in Texas, you should know there are a large number of Texas grants this season requiring Texas teams compete at Texas events.  In order to accommodate this requirement, Texas Regional events will be closed at second registration (i.e., all teams that register will be put on a wait list.)  We will move teams from the wait lists into the events once we determine there are spots available.  Priority will go to Texas teams with no other events. If we find there is significant interest, Dallas may go to a second event regional.

The NASA grant deadline to apply is this Saturday, October 30.  Get your applications in. 

I had a good time at the Science and Technology Festival in DC.  I spoke with a number of FRC team members that were visiting the event, I was there for Dean’s speech and Jon Dudas and I visited with current and potential sponsors during the weekend before flying home with an advance copy of The New Cool by Neal Bascomb.

I want to thank the following teams who helped out in the FIRST booth by demonstrating their robots on our mini field, making announcements over the microphone to the crowd, explaining FRC to interested students and parents, handing out literature and distributing stickers to everyone who walked by.  I appreciate all your efforts to spread the message about FRC.

• 111 Wildstang Schaumburg, IL
• 116 Epsilon Delta Herndon, VA
• 612 Chantilly Robotics Chantilly, VA
• 768 TechnoWarriors Baltimore, MD
• 1418 Vae Victus Falls Church, VA
• 1727 Rex Timonium, MD
• 2377 C Company Pasadena, MD
• 2914 Wilson TYBORGS Washington, DC

Last week I promised you information about travel discounts FIRST is negotiating with Avis, Delta Airlines and American Airlines.  Here it is. 

The Beta Test Teams (announced in the September 15th blog) are already hard at work.  You can see their results to date here.    The following 12 teams have been chosen to test the classmate hardware.

166    Chopshop    Merrimack    NH    USA
294    Beach Cities Robotics    Redondo Beach    CA    USA
1577    SteamPunk    Raanana    Israel    Israel
1718    The Fighting Pi    Romeo    MI     USA
1746    Forsyth    Cumming    GA    USA
1912    Combustion    Slidell    LA    USA
2261    CasaMESA Robotics    Longmont    CO     USA
2477    Rascals    Waipahu    HI    USA
2809    K-Botics    Kingston    Ontario    Canada
2846    FireBears    Roseville    MN    USA
2969    Cane - Anators    San Antonio    TX    USA
3017    The Patriots    Fresh Meadows    NY    USA

If you are (or know) a high school girl residing in the US (and territories), check out the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing.  The deadline to apply is this Sunday, October 31.

There is still time to vote for FIRST in the AMEX Take Part Social networking contest. 

73 days to Kickoff
See you then!

This week all roads seem to lead to DC

Good Afternoon Teams,

The GDC were here last weekend (Dean joined us Sunday before leaving for DC) and I’m glad to say we not only have a pretty good idea of how the game will play and how points will be scored; we’ve started work on the game manual and we’ve come up with a list of possible game names.  I’m hoping we can choose the game name and start work on the logo design sometime next week.   Little known fact: other possible names for Breakaway last year were FIRST Strike and Ridge Runner.

If you’re going to the Alamo, Autodesk Oregon, Boston, Florida, NE Utilities FIRST Connecticut, Peachtree, Seattle Cascade, Seattle Olympic, Smoky Mountain, Utah or Washington, DC Regionals, you’ll want to visit this link.  Steele Meetings has negotiated group rates for area hotels which will be available to teams starting Monday, October 25th.  FIRST is also working on discounts with American Airlines, Delta Airlines and Avis Car Rentals.  More information coming soon.

Reminder:  The NASA grant deadline is Saturday, October 30, 2010 – spread the word.  FIRST is currently involved in a NASA grant competition for more than $20 million dollars over five years.  Please do not reach out to any employee at NASA between now and December 3rd.  It is a grant requirement that we do not contact any NASA employee regarding future NASA funding, this proposal, or team grants between now and the conclusion of this grant competition.

My thanks and congratulations to team 341 Miss Daisy who represented FRC at the White House Science Fair this Monday Oct 18th in DC.

Gates Corporation is offering free belt drive components to FIRST robotics teams during the 2011 FRC preseason.   Visit www.gates.com/drivedesign to view catalogs, drive design manuals, and drive design tools, then fill out this form and email it to ptpasupport@gates.com, with your team name, number and the word “FIRST” in the email subject heading.  Parts will be ground shipped to the address you provide in the form free of charge. Gates does reserve the right to limit the style and quantity of parts provided to each team.  If you have any questions or concerns, please call Gates Product Application Engineering at 303-744-5800 and select Option 2.

I will be in DC this weekend at the USA Science and Engineering Festival on the National Mall.  Stop by our booth on 4th street between Madison and Jefferson and say hi.

Is your team registered for a Local Kickoff yet?

80 days to Kickoff
See you then!

FTC opportunity

Good Afternoon Teams,

FIRST wants your help to grow more North American FTC teams this year.  If your FRC team supports the development of a new North American FTC team between Nov 1, 2010 and Mar 30, 2011, the new FTC team will receive a $200 discount on the 2010-2011 season registration and your FRC team will receive a $500 credit on their 2012 FRC season registration (limited to the first 650 FTC teams, maximum 10 FTC teams per FRC team).  Creating a new FTC team in your area can benefit your program by providing more hands on opportunities for students.  (The FTC season kicks off in September and competitions run Nov-March.) Details are available here.

FTC is also looking for 20 new Event Organizers to host Official FTC events.  This is a great way to get a FTC qualifying event in your area.  For details go here

82 days to Kickoff
See you then!

NASA grants, Rookie vs. Veteran Kits of Parts and a few deadlines

Good Morning Teams,

Tell every team you know:  The NASA grant application process is now open.   I suggest you read the directions very carefully, the process is dramatically different this year.  Applications close Saturday, October 30, 2010.

Deadline alert:  If you need special shipping support to get your robot to a bag & tag event, you must inform FRCTeams@usfirst.org  by 12/15/10.  As always, the sooner you tell us, the better.  If you don’t know what Bag & Tag is, see my September 28th blog post.

The variations between the 2011 Rookie and Veteran Kits of Parts are listed below.  (Please note, not every item in the Kit of Parts is listed here, just the items veteran teams may need to reuse for the 2011 season.)  The table includes source information in case your team decides it needs additional or replacement parts.  For more detailed information about the parts listed below (part numbers, photos, etc), please refer to the 2010 Kit of Parts Checklist 

Remember, we discourage teams from purchasing items, especially high ticket ones, before Kickoff as the official game rules may significantly influence team purchasing decisions.  The one exception is buy your pool noodles now.



All other details about the 2011 Kit of Parts and robot rules will remain confidential until the 2011 Kickoff on January 8, 2011, at the latest.

In other news:

Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. (they donated the Microcontroller in your cRIO) is hosting a sensor video contest. 

Do you know (or are you) a tech-savvy High School girl?  The National Center for Women in Technology is offering an award for aspirations in computing.    Dead line to enter is October 31st.

The JCPenny contest deadline is rapidly approaching.  Winners will be announced next week.  You are invited to vote daily. 

The AMEX Member Project contest runs until November 30th.  You are invited to vote weekly. 

I’m headed out the door to attend the launch of Dean’s new Planet Green series “Dean of Invention” which will premier Friday, October 22nd at 10PM

87 days to Kickoff
See you then!

Why can’t I buy a Rookie Kit if I want to?

Good Afternoon Teams,

Operations has already received requests from veteran teams that want to purchase 2011 rookie kits.  Unfortunately, we’re not set up to accommodate custom requests for a number of reasons.

FRC kits are not off the shelf items.  They include a combination of elements currently used in industry and items manufactured specifically for FRC.  We do our best to forecast rookie and veteran team numbers in the late spring then spend the summer and fall soliciting donations, negotiating discounted prices and purchasing items we can’t get any other way. We have to start this process early due to long lead times for manufacturing and the volume of materials required.  The final number of rookie kits available in January is determined by the quantities of parts delivered to our warehouse at the end of this process.

Left over parts don’t go to waste.  After FRC kits are delivered to teams at Kickoff, the remaining kit items in our warehouse are packed onto the trucks to be lent as spares at competitions.  Suppliers who have surplus Kit of Parts elements in stock are encouraged to sell them to teams at reduced prices.  Contact information for those suppliers is provided each year in the “Where to get more” document posted with Section 10 of the competition manual.   (Please note that the current “Where to get more” document is from 2010.  The 2011 version will go live at kickoff.)

If your team plans to purchase additional kit items, I strongly advise you to wait until you know the 2011 challenge, the contents of the 2011 kit and the game rules before investing in additional parts.  (Purchasing pool noodles, however, is still a good idea. See my Aug 30th blog post.)  If we have kits leftover after the season, we will try to make those kits available to teams on a first come, first served basis. 

94 days to Kickoff
See you then!

Colorado Competition

Good Afternoon Teams,

It’s been posted elsewhere already, but in case you haven’t heard.  The Colorado Regional is week six in Denver, CO.

96 days to Kickoff
See you then!