A good number of veteran teams contacted us after the Noon EST deadline to ask to be included in the Kit of Parts Drive System/Product Donation Voucher option. So many, that we’ve decided to extend this offer to midnight tonight, October 18th. If you are a veteran team and would like to receive the Product Donation Voucher from AndyMark instead of the standard Kit of Parts Drive System in your kit, email your request to frcteams@usfirst.org – you will not be able to use TIMS in this case. Get those emails in before the...
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Posted On:
Thu, 10/18/2012 - 13:37
Posted On:
Thu, 10/18/2012 - 09:55
Veteran teams’ ability to choose a Product Donation Voucher (PDV) over the standard Kit of Parts Drive System closes today at Noon EST! If you are a veteran team, and want that PDV, make your choice in TIMS now! More details here: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/blog-09-07-12
More soon
Frank
Posted On:
Thu, 10/11/2012 - 13:12
Second District Event Registration
Something I forgot to mention in my earlier blog. Second District Event Registration opens today, 10/11. Note this is for District (Michigan and MAR) teams only. Non-District teams will be able to register for a second Regional on 10/25, as indicated on the FRC Calendar of Events here: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/calendar/
Posted On:
Thu, 10/11/2012 - 11:08
Mentor Recognition
Show your team mentors you care! And get them plugged in to the FRC email blast at the same time, if they want that. Main and Alternate team contacts in TIMS can invite other mentors to sign up right within TIMS. Mentors registered in TIMS by Friday, 12/14/12 will receive a recognition certificate and pin during National Mentor Month in January. They also get the option to receive the FRC Email Blast directly.
Recruiting posters
Working to get more team members? Check out these great...
Posted On:
Wed, 10/03/2012 - 12:11
Motor Controllers
You may have noticed that traditional retailers of the Jaguar motor controller have either stopped selling Jaguar or have limited inventory. This blog post is to explain why and what you can expect going forward.
First, what I think you are most interested in knowing: the Jaguar will continue to be an available and legal motor controller for the 2013 FRC season. Please understand that full, detailed rules will not be disclosed until Kickoff, and supersede all other documentation – like blog posts. However, you can be assured that Jags will...
Posted On:
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 09:47
Team Counts
As of midnight last night, we had 1,289 FRC teams registered or waitlisted for events, up from 959 at midnight the first day of initial event registration last season. That’s a 34% increase. Is this the start of a trend? We’ll see. Also, our first rookie team number this year is 4450. If you’re at an event, and see a team number equal to or greater than that number, it’s rookie team. Go up and say hi!
Kit of Parts Drive System Reminder
Remember that veteran teams will have an option regarding...
Posted On:
Wed, 09/26/2012 - 09:52
Registration Opening
Initial Event Registration opens tomorrow, that’s Thursday, September 27th, At Noon EST. Still time to lube up those internet connections to get ready!
Bag and Tag
For the 2013 season, all FRC events (including District Events) in the USA and Canada are once again “Bag and Tag”, except Championship.
“Bag and Tag” means teams bring their robots to event venues themselves, rolling them in through the venue doors, sealed in a large bag with a security tag attached. Bags and tags...
Posted On:
Mon, 09/24/2012 - 14:57
Wild Card Slots II
My post Friday generated a relatively large number of comments. Rather than answer them individually, let me provide a little more insight here.
The purpose of the new system is to provide broader distribution of merit-based slots in situations where single teams win more than one Championship qualifying award over the course of several Regionals.
With the limited number of slots we have for Championship, we had to make some difficult decisions regarding how many specific situations we could cover while still notifying teams...
Posted On:
Fri, 09/21/2012 - 12:30
I think this is an exciting one.
We have many veteran teams in FRC who work extraordinarily hard year round to put themselves in a position of being able to attend several Regionals each season. These teams sometimes also do well when it comes to awards, occasionally earning Championship qualifying awards at more than one Regional. These teams absolutely deserve all the accolades they receive, and are rightly looked up to and respected. However, when a single team wins more than one Championship qualifying award over the course of several regionals, it does...
Posted On:
Thu, 09/20/2012 - 08:07
The 2013 Beta Test teams have been selected. Congratulations to the teams below! These teams will be helping the FRC Control System team review the software libraries and build new code to share with all teams. Thank you to the 159 FRC teams and 1 FTC team who offered to help with this project. All FRC teams will be able to communicate with the Beta Test teams on the forums.
Interested in seeing a map locating all these teams? Check it out here: ...
Posted On:
Tue, 09/18/2012 - 10:27
Blog Info
Lately we’ve been releasing some important season information via this blog. Some folks have expressed concern about knowing when key season information gets released.
Any important season-related information will get shared in summary form on the regular team email blasts we send out. We limit these email blasts to one – or at most two – per week to reduce the chance of email overload, but team Main and Alternate Contacts and any Adult Mentors registered in TIMS who opt-in to receiving email blasts should be receiving them. If you...
Posted On:
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 10:46
Hello Teams,
Here is the 2013 FRC Season Schedule.
Week One
February 28 – March 2
BAE Systems Granite State Regional - Manchester, NH
Central Valley Regional - Madera, CA
Finger Lakes Regional - Rochester, NY
Lubbock Regional – Lubbock, TX
Palmetto Regional – Myrtle Beach, SC
March 2-3
Hatboro-Horsham FIRST Robotics District Competition – Horsham, PA
Kettering University FIRST Robotics District Competition – Flint, MI
Traverse City FIRST Robotics District Competition – Traverse...
Posted On:
Fri, 09/07/2012 - 12:06
New FRC Calendar
If you haven’t seen them yet, check out the new FRC Calendars, available in both ‘Month’ and ‘List’ views:
http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/calendar/
http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/calendar/list
Kit of Parts Evolution
As FRC continues to grow, we continue to try to find ways to better serve our teams’ needs. Today, we have an exciting announcement regarding the Kit of...
Posted On:
Thu, 09/06/2012 - 09:59
2013 FIRST Championship Registration
FRC Teams may register for Championship in St Louis as shown below.
Registration for Pre-Qualifying Teams opens on 10/11/12 at noon. Pre-Qualifying teams are as follows:
• Hall of Fame teams
• Original and Sustaining teams
• 2012 Championship Engineering Inspiration Award...
Posted On:
Tue, 09/04/2012 - 15:44
Hello Teams,
My Responses
You may have noticed I’m occasionally responding to comments that are made on the FRC Blog. I won’t be responding to every comment – I just don’t have time – and I am more likely to respond to comments if I think the response will help clarify an issue important to the broader community. Asking a well-considered question also makes me more likely to respond. I don’t mind tough questions – I get them every day - but a well-considered question indicates to me the commenter has thought about the different sides...
