Bill Blogged - Yes, I’m already counting down to kickoff 2012

5/5/2011 Bill Blogged - Yes, I’m already counting down to kickoff 2012

Good Afternoon Teams,

We’ve unloaded five of the seven trucks from Championship and the last two are scheduled to arrive next week. The FRC staff will spend the off season following up the final details of the 2011 season, cleaning and repairing the reusable field components, and preparing for 2012.

I have a number of notes for teams below, but first, I want to welcome the three newest members of the GDC. I mentioned during FRC Live at Championship, that the GDC is taking steps this year to complete development of the 2012 game before the end of the summer. Then the GDC will turn its attention to the 2013 game in an effort to get game development a year ahead. If we are successful, this will give the FRC staff more time for field preparation, manual development and testing and as a result improve the week one competition experience for teams. Because of the additional workload, the GDC has welcomed two FRC staff members, Collin Fultz, Kit of Parts Engineer and Ryan Foley, Software Engineer to the team, and has decided to add an additional Rotating Member position. Hall of Fame team mentors and Woodie Flowers Award Winners were invited this spring to apply for this position and on Saturday night, after finals, the GDC formally invited Linda Wallace from team 191 X-Cats to be the first person to serve in this new role. Linda has more than 25 years of professional engineering experience and has been a member of the X-Cats for 12 years. Welcome Linda, we’re all looking forward to working with you this year.

Now, on to my notes from championship.

At the LOGO MOTION Championship in St Louis:

  • 9 FRC fields were shipped into St Louis for the Championship. If you counted fields, only 8 were set up (Including practice fields and the Collegiate Aerial Robotics Demonstration) which means we had one extra field on hand for emergencies.
  • 490 people volunteered for FRC event roles at Championship (and more walked in to help during the weekend.)
  • Robot inspectors inspected 352 robots and approximately 650 minibots for a total of over 1,000 robot inspections.
  • 678 total matches were played.
  • The highest combined match score was 131-122, on Newton
  • Highest individual alliance score was 146, also on Newton. (This is one ubertube short of the perfect score of 158.)
  • 136 trophies, 2710 medallions, and 20 banners were awarded to teams. Teams can order additional trophies, medallions, pins and buttons from the 2011 season here . Deadline May 19th.
  • National Instruments introduced the new cRIO FRC2 which will be included in the 2012 rookie kit of parts and which will be available for purchase sometime in the fall. The cRIO FRC2 chassis will be less than $300. The new upgrade kit which includes 3 modules and the cRIO FRC2 chassis will be less than $550. All existing cRIO modules are compatible with the new cRIO FRC2.
  • CNN was in the house filming for ‘Don’t Fail Me’ which will air May 15th at 8pm on CNN. The tv special features Team 842, Falcon Robotics from Carl Hayden High School, Phoenix, AZ; Team 1403, Cougar Robotics from Montgomery High School, Skillman, NJ; and Team 3675, Eagletrons from Seymour High School, Seymour, TN. Soledad O’Brien talks about the special here.
  • Morgan Freeman stopped by. He did some announcing on Archimedes and visited with teams. The video he made to promote FIRST is here.  
  • FRC live videos are available on the FRCTeamsglobal youtube channel  
Now that we’re in the off season:
  • Dean’s Homework was "spread the word about FIRST and sell light bulbs". To help teams with that aim, light bulbs are now available in 10 bulb packs. Details here. 
  • Please complete the Kit of Parts survey (sent to your team main contact) and the FRC end of season survey (coming soon). The FRC staff read all your responses and take your input into consideration as we strive for continuous improvement. FIRST also has another Brandeis study underway. If your team is invited to participate in this confidential survey, please make every effort to participate. The data Brandeis collects is invaluable in promoting FIRST to sponsors and donors.


As we look to the future:

  • Expect fields in pits at Championship next year. As the FIRST family of programs grows, we need to ensure all programs are represented at Championship. In order to give FTC and FLL fields equal prominence in the Dome, the decision was made this season to reduce the number of FRC fields in the dome. (Believe it or not, this decision was made long before will.i.am committed to hold the ‘half time’ show.) Rather than eliminate Einstein entirely or move one division into the pits and have those teams not compete in the dome, we went with having two fields in the pits and developed the plan to ensure all teams had time in the dome. We’re going to be reviewing pit/dome layout this summer and working to find ways to resolve some of the crowding and noise issues in the pits, but as our other programs grow, don’t expect FRC to have 5 fields in the dome next year.
  • This summer we’re going to be taking a long hard look at the future of Championship (CMP). At the current rate of growth for FRC, we are going to face a space crunch at CMP in a few years. Consider this. At each regional, six teams earn a space at CMP (the winning alliance, the Engineering Inspiration winner, the Chairman’s Award winner and the Rookie All Star team). This year we had 48 regionals. Add eighteen teams from the Michigan State CMP (When the District pilot began, the State CMP replaced three Regional events.) and you get a total of 306 teams. 352 teams competed this year. Not every team who qualifies to come to CMP can make it, so there are always a few empty slots, but as we continue to add new regionals each year, we are eventually going to run out of room. In the short run, there will be fewer and fewer spaces for non-qualifying teams at CMP. In the long run, we’re going to have to figure out a new system for determining which teams come to CMP.


It’s going to be an interesting summer as we prepare for the next few years. I’m looking forward to the GDC meeting this weekend and will be sure to let you know how it goes.

247 days until the 2012 kickoff
See you then!