What comes between week zero and week one?

Good Afternoon Teams,

Field 11 left the building yesterday bound for the New Jersey Regional.  Today the field for Israel and the two fields for the Michigan events are scheduled to leave our dock.  The field for Alamo is on deck, then Rochester and Manchester go out next week.    (The Hawaii field went out last week.)  By week three of competition we’ll have 15 fields on the road and one parked in Tennessee ready to go in case of emergency.

The two week zero fields are back in the building and are being prepped to turn around and go out to week two competitions.  The fields performed well and teams had a good time.  Dean, NH Senator Kelly Ayotte and Nashua Mayor Donnalee Lozeau visited the Nashua High School South event.  CT Senator John Kissel and CT Lt Governor Nancy Wyman visited the Suffield Shakedown.

We learned a few things at both events which will help week one competitions run more smoothly.  Be sure to read Team Update #13  for clarifications to game rules.  Also, not included in the update, we learned that some teams are under or overinflating their practice game pieces.  At events, we’re using templates to ensure game pieces are inflated consistently.  The triangle template has a 7” diameter hole which is used to measure in the middle of leg (between the two corners).  The template for the circle and square has a 8” diameter hole.

While your team is taking a breather and getting ready for your first competition, I’d like you to take a moment and consider Championship for me.  This year FRC Live will post podcasts so that teams that can’t make it to St Louis can still benefit from the discussions.  Last year the topics were “The History of Breakaway & What’s Next for the GDC”, "Upcoming Technologies:  What’s on the Horizon"? and "The Robot Ship Show – Why does Robot Shipping have to be such a challenge?”  What would you like me to discuss this year?  Send your suggestions for FRC Live topics to FRCTeams@usfirst.org.

I’m interested to know if your team has, or knows of, a phone app that is particularly helpful during FRC competitions.  I know about the FRC Scoring Calculator by George Marchant, FRC Spyder by DWAB Technology and the FIRST LOGO MOTION 2011 Scorepad by Fandastic Utilities.  Is there anything else I should load on my phone?  Send your suggestions for helpful apps to FRCTeams@usfirst.org.

Autodesk is now encouraging every team (whether they have created an animation or not) to view the animation entries for one regional and cast one team vote for their favorite.

National Robotics Week is holding a robot contest to encourage students of all ages to share their robots.  Entries are due March 20th

8 days until the week one events
See you then!

To answer your questions

Good Evening Teams,

I’ve heard from Operations that they are getting questions abou the withholding allowance:

• Yes, you may withhold up to 30 pounds of robot parts PLUS the operation console, mini-bot and batteries when you ship or bag your robot on Tuesday.
• Yes, you may continue to work on the 30 pounds of robot parts, the operator console and mini-bot after Tuesday.
• Yes, if you withhold any items, you have to hand carry them to the event yourself (no shipping).  Plan ahead if you have to fly.  Airlines may object to batteries in carry-on luggage.
• Yes this is all explained in the manual.  See R23, R24, R25 & R33.

Also, robot inspection videos are now available on youtube on the FRCTeamsglobal channel.  Initial inspection, pneumatic systems, power on check and mini-bot inspection are all posted.  The videos for mechanical systems and electrical systems are coming soon.

4 days to Robot Ship
See you then!

Robot Inspection Checklist

Good Afternoon Again Teams,

The Robot Inspection Checklist is now posted to our website under the 2011 Game Manual  Section 4 – The Robot. 

6 days to Robot Ship
See you then!

Week Zero is upon us

Good Afternoon Teams,

Here at HQ we’re preparing for two Week Zero events this weekend.  What are Week Zero events you ask?  On the last weekend before robot ship day, many veteran teams host scrimmages where FRC teams can test out their design in a competition like atmosphere and start planning game strategy. Find one near you. In past years, Suffield Shakedown has graciously allowed the FRC staff to use their event for a shakedown of our own.  We pack a competition field, transport it, set it up, run match play, then break down the field and head back to the workshop to review what we learned from the experience.  Over the years this has led to everything from better shipping crate design to elimination of issues before they were experienced at any competition events.

This year as part of our ongoing goal of making week one events look like week five events, FRC is hosting a scrimmage closer to home where more FRC staff can be on hand AND we’re sending a field and limited staff to Suffield.   This way we hope to get twice as much test information before week one events go live.  My thanks to the dedicated teams of volunteers in Connecticut and New Hampshire who are helping us bring you the best season ever.

While we’re getting ready for competition, your team should be preparing for robot ship AND submitting for awards.  The deadline for Chairman’s Award, Woodie Flowers Award, Website Award and Dean’s List are all tomorrow, February 17th at 11:59 am Eastern Time (that’s before noon).   We had a brief problem with a server last night, so if your team tried to submit for awards and ran into issues, give it another try today.  The system is back up and running fine.

I learned this morning that FRC is featured in an article on MachineDesign.com

6 days to Robot Ship
See you then!

What it looks like around here right now

Good Afternoon Teams,

Here’s how 200 Bedford Street looked this early this morning before the staff arrived.

Scoring grids just back from the welder wait to be sorted into fields.  Designing a new game every year means every year we have to build new elements for the competition fields.

We have 16 fields that will travel to the 59 FRC events this year.  (A seventeenth field is staged in Tennessee for emergency deployment in case something happens to put a field out of commission.) In an effort to keep things organized, each field worth of road cases is painted a different color.  Here, road cases are waiting on the third floor ready to be packed.

Engineering has to calculate the total amount of consumable supplies needed for each event, then order and distribute mountains of zip ties and acres of tape.  Trucks don’t return to HQ between events so each truck must contain enough supplies to support up to six weeks of events.

Every event has a volunteer coordinator who oversees the 100-160 volunteers needed to run an event.  Volunteer Development packs and sends supplies to each event to support their efforts.

The Kits of Parts Engineers divvy up remaining kit of parts materials into spares cases.  These parts are reused from event to event.

This is just a small part of what is going on in the building today.  These pictures make the building look almost serene, but during the day 200 Bedford street is a hive of activity as everyone gets ready.  The first truck leaves just two weeks from today.

12 days to Robot Ship

See you then!

That’s one fourth of your robot

Good Afternoon Teams,

Operations tells me they’ve been getting a lot of calls from teams asking if there will be an extension to the build season and/or wondering if the withholding allowance will be increased this year.  While I am sympathetic to teams facing weather related challenges, the answer is still no, FRC will not grant any extensions to the build season for weather related issues and no, FRC will not increase the withholding allowance this year.  I strongly advise teams to review the 2011 withholding rules in the Game Manual and plan the next two weeks accordingly.  Teams may withhold their operator console, minibot, batteries and up to 30 pounds of fabricated items on robot ship day R33 and continue development of those items R24 as they prepare for competition.

In other news, we have just confirmed with the venues that at every Bag & Tag regional, teams will be able to drop off their robots and equipment the day before the event starts.  (Drop off on Thursday in NYC, drop off on Wednesday everywhere else.) Each team may have up to five (5) members participate in the equipment move in.  Finalized Public Agendas with specific drop off times for each event will be published soon.

And yes, as of this morning, we still can’t consistently update the usfirst.org website.  I apologize for the inconvenience and assure you the IT department is working to resolve the issue.  Thank you for your patience.

We’re looking for teams to share their experience and knowledge with others at Championship.  If your team is interested in hosting a conference topic on Wednesday, April 27th in St. Louis, read the call for proposals   and submit here.

14 days to Robot Ship
See you then!

Where's todays team update?

Good Evening Teams,

If you're wondering what's happened to Team Update #8 wonder no more.  The content management system we use to update the FIRST website has been down all day. Until it gets back up, we've posted Team Update #8 and its supporting documentation on our forums at http://forums.usfirst.org/forumdisplay.php?f=1495. We will post it to the update page as soon as we can.  Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for your patience!

18 days to Robot Ship

See you then!

Robot Shipping de-mystified

Good Afternoon Teams,

Here’s why we have a 400lb limit for robot shipping:

Every year FedEx generously donates a total dollar amount that may be applied to FedEx services.  FRC chooses to earmark this donation for robot shipment by teams to and from events.  FRC pays for FedEx shipment of kits of parts to Kickoff locations; FRC pays for FedEx services utilized in the day to day operation of the organization; and FRC pays for all FedEx costs incurred by teams shipping robots after the total dollar amount of the FedEx donation is exceeded.

Every year FRC presents qualifying teams with FedEx bills of lading and requests teams comply with weight limits when shipping their robot to and from events.  The goal is to share the FedEx donation among as many FRC teams as possible without exceeding the total dollar amount of the FedEx donation.

For the past three years robot shipment by teams has exceeded the total dollar amount of the FedEx donation.

Here’s how Robot shipping really works:

Robots are not shipped to the venue.  Venues don’t have the facilities, or the desire to store a bunch of robot crates in the weeks leading up to our event.  Instead, robot crates are shipped to drayage warehouses. The drayage company delivers the robot crates to the venue the day FRC starts setting up for an event.

FRC earmarks the FedEx donation for use by teams shipping a robot from their location to the drayage site.  If a robot crate exceeds the 400lb weight limit, that crate eats up the donation faster than a robot crate less than or equal to 400lb and eventually FRC has to foot the bill for shipments made after the dollar amount of the FedEx donation is exceeded.  (Last year a team shipped a 1280lb crate using up more than three team’s weight allotment in a single shipment.)

FRC pays the drayage site to store the robot crates.  FRC pays the drayage site a fee to deliver the robot crates based on the assumption the crates don’t exceed 400lb.  If a robot crate exceeds the 400lb weight limit, FRC has granted the drayage company permission to charge the team for the overage.   This fee only covers the additional costs to the drayage company.  It is not applied to the shipment of the robot crate to the drayage facility from your location.

Here’s what your team can do to help:

Keep your robot crate at or under 400lb.  This allows FRC to share the FedEx donation among as many FRC teams as possible without exceeding the total dollar amount of the FedEx donation.

If you know for sure that the items you want to ship to your event will exceed 400lb, you have several choices.
 • Reconsider the tools and supplies you plan to bring to the event and look for ways to come in at or under the weight limit.
 • Distribute the tools and supplies among the team members attending the event and have them hand carry the items to the event.
 • Build a second crate, load the extra weight into that crate, pay to ship that crate to the drayage site and pay the drayage company to store and deliver it.

18 days to Robot Ship
See you then!

Build season week four part 2

Good Afternoon Teams,

I forgot to mention on Tuesday that the FTA training over the weekend went well.   40+ people were in attendance.  It was reassuring to see a lot of long time FTAs return and I’m excited about the new faces in the crowd who have come up through the ranks from teams and through other volunteer positions to get here.  The FTAs braved snow flurries to spend two ten hour days here at HQ receiving training in the mechanical and electrical aspects of the field, reviewing the game rules, driving test robots and playing LOGO MOTION.  I’m happy to report we have a really great bunch of FTAs this year who are prepared to bring their broad knowledge and enthusiasm to your competition.

We’re recovering here at HQ from another big snow storm which is a good time to point out there are no extensions to deadlines for snow days.  Robot ship day is nearly upon us.

I ‘ve been meaning to thank National Instruments, Texas Instruments, Oracle, WPI, and AndyMark for the massive amount of work they do on behalf of FIRST. Did you know these companies provide control system support and the FIRSTChoice pilot at no cost to FIRST?  They work with our staff on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis. Like so many volunteers, FIRST would not function without them. Thank you!

As your robot takes shape and increases in mass, please take a moment to review safe robot lifting practices with your team.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, or something like that.

As robot ship approaches and you wonder what to do during the lull afterwards, consider checking out the FIRST Green e-watt saver fundraising program.   Teams have already placed orders and are already raising funds for competition. 

We have a new landing page on the FIRST website celebrating Will.i.am’s visit to Kickoff and anticipating his performance during halftime at the Super Bowl.  To access our 'original' homepage, click on the FIRST logo in the lower left corner of the screen.   The splash page is not permanent.  We will return to the ‘traditional’ homepage sometime next week.

Information specific to all the FRC competitions is on its way.  I know teams want to start planning for events, but here at FRC we don’t want to post something prematurely and have important details change over time.   I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

19 days to Robot Ship
See you then!

Build season week four part 1

Good Afternoon Teams,

Please, please, please remember to keep checking FRC Team Updates for the official word from FRC HQ.  You don’t want to complete an aspect of your robot then realize too late that there has been a clarification to a rule that disallows your design.

If you want to help reduce the time spent waiting between matches at FRC competitions, take a close look at R53 in section 4 – The Robot.  If all FRC teams mount their radios in such a way that the diagnostic lights are visible to field personnel (without having to open flaps or remove covers) that will improve troubleshooting speed and get things moving more quickly on the field.  Save your team time and trouble, make sure your robot complies with R53 before you get to robot inspection.

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the FIRST robot design video staring Grant Imahara

Last week I reminded everyone of upcoming deadlines for awards.  I forgot to include Autodesk. Award information is available on our website and more details are available on the Autodesk website.
3D Animation Competition ends Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. PST
3D Design Competition ends Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 5:00p.m. PST

Please join me in thanking Woodie Flowers and Dave Lavery for their incredible service to the GDC. After twenty years and ten years respectively of brilliant contributions to the FRC game, both have chosen to resign from the GDC this year. Their sacrifices have been numerous and their leadership will be missed. While words alone seem insufficient, on behalf of all of The FRC community, we thank them.

While we will miss them at GDC, they continue to be extensively involved with FIRST. You will see them ‘out and about’ probably as much or more than you did before.  Both also serve on the National Executive Advisory Board which Woodie chairs.

When you see them at events, please remember to add your personal thanks.  In the meantime, the GDC continues its work in supporting the 2011 season and preparing for what’s next.

Will you be watching the Superbowl this Sunday?   Born and raised near Pittsburgh, I’m a Steelers fan.

21 days to Robot Ship
See you then!