Bill Blogged - How Many Days?

02/08/12 Bill blogged - How Many Days?

Good Afternoon Teams,

We’re less than two weeks from Stop Build day.  Are you ready? 

  • Make sure you review the Robot Transportation Section of the 2012 Administrative Manual now so that you will be ready then.
  • For teams that have been calling Operations to ask about building a robot crate.  All North American FRC Competitions with the exception of the FIRST Championship are Bag & Tag.  Teams attending Bag & Tag events must bring their equipment and the robot in its bag in by hand through the public access entrance (please no robot crates).  If you requested and were granted a Bag & Tag exemption, yes, definitely get started building your crate.  If you are already registered for Championship, yes, you can build your crate anytime.  Otherwise, teams attending events in North America will only need a crate if your team earns an invitation to Championship.  If that happens, bag your robot at your final regular season event, take your robot home in the bag, build a crate, pack your bagged robot inside, and follow the shipping instructions in the FedEx packet you were handed when you won the Rookie All-Star Award, the Engineering Inspiration Award, or were on the Winning Alliance.
  • Before you bag your robot, be sure to run through the Robot Inspection Checklist.
  • Complete the Inspection Bill of Materials available in the Tournament Section of the 2012 Administrative Manual.
  • Make plans for last minute challenges and delays.  There will be no build season extensions granted this year.  If bad weather is predicted for your area, plan accordingly.
  • Look for a week zero event in your area.  On the last weekend before Stop Build Day (February 18-19 this year), many veteran teams host scrimmages where FRC teams can test out their design in a competition like atmosphere and start planning game strategy.  Contact the hosting team to find out if your team can participate.

Week One competitions start in just over three weeks.  Are you ready?

  • Public agendas and other information for individual FRC Events are being posted to the event information page as they become available. 
  • If you don’t have hotel reservations yet, you should be aware the on-line Hotel Reservation system has a three week cutoff date for most hotels.  Check now if you still need a hotel.
  • The Senior Mentors are hosting a team training call entitled Getting Ready for Your Regional.  You are invited to join them 2/23/12 at 7PM ET.  1-866-951-1151 Conference Room 9533018

In other news:

  • My congratulations to teams  254 The Cheesy Poofs from San Jose, CA; 111 WildStang from Schaumburg, IL; 973 Greybots from Atascadero, CA; and  1311 Kell Robotics from Kennesaw, GA who sent representatives to yesterday’s Second Annual White House Science Fair.  Thank you for making sure FIRST and FRC were represented to the President and the Press at this event.
  • FIRST is looking for presentation proposals for the ninth annual FIRST Robotics Conference at the FIRST Championship. 45-minute workshops on topics of interest to FRC, FTC, and FLL teams, coaches, mentors, students and prospective leaders will be accepted.  Deadline to submit is February 17th, 2012. Full details.  Submission Form 
  • NASA has an interesting opportunity for female High School Juniors.  Deadline to Apply February 15th, 2012. 
  • Submissions for the FIRST Future Innovator Award presented by the Abbot Fund are pretty thin on the ground which gives any team that applies by the deadline March 16th, an advantage. Details available here.

13 days until Stop Build Day
See you soon!