FIRST Robotics Competition Blog

 

 

Soooo Kickoff happened…

It was incredible to finally release RAPID REACT in to the wild.

It was motivating to hear the community’s reaction to it and other Kickoff content (regardless of if it was positive or… constructive).

It was invigorating to have the FIRST Robotics Competition community together again, even if virtually.

Internally, we sometimes refer to the Kickoff broadcast as the one time the community is together around the campfire (in an effort to help guide and curate its content) – even though that campfire was virtual this year, the warmth was palpable. Thank you for watching. Thank you for engaging. 

Y’all might not be feeling the same relief or release that many of us on the staff feel ‘cause we’re all…

That’s not completely accurate, we’ve got (hopefully minimal) fixes to make, volunteer trainings to deploy, fields to ship, Ted’s gotta practice his Terminal shots, daily Wordles to attempt, and more.

Empathy is important, and I want you know that I feel you - so I challenged myself to compile an array of gifs that include at least one gif to which everyone who reads this blog in the next day or so can relate. If you can’t identify with any of them, use the comments to tell me! I’ll find a gif for it.

Anyway… there’s some stuff we want tell/retell you…

Translated Manuals

While the English version of the manual will continue to be the official version, unofficial French, Spanish, Turkish, and Chinese manuals are also available on the Translated Manuals page. Team Updates will continue to be in English only, and those updates will not be incorporated in the translated manuals. The translated manuals will remain as they are initially published throughout the season.

Questions & Answers

The official FIRST Robotics Competition Q&A opens Wednesday, January 12, at Noon Eastern Time. The Q&A is the place to ask your questions about the game and event rules, awards, drawings, inspection, and get official answers.

Anyone can make their own account in the Q&A system to subscribe to questions and be notified when answers are published. To get “asking” permissions with your account (limited to 1 account/team), you have to attach your team’s authorization code to your account. An account isn’t needed to just read and search existing questions/answers.

Team Authorization Codes for the Q&A System are available in the Team Registration System to Lead Coach Mentors 1 and 2. To access, go to the ‘Team Options’ section on the left of your dashboard and click on ‘Payment & Product.’

Then click on ‘Passwords/Voucher Codes’ and you will find the code listed under FIRST/Q&A Key.

In the account you want asking questions, make sure it’s affiliated with your team:

Then, enter the authorization code retrieved from your team’s FIRST account:

Please don’t forget to search for your question first. You may find it’s already been asked and answered (and if it’s already been asked but not answered, you don’t need to ask it again – just follow that question, and you’ll see when the answer’s posted).

Special shout-out to Blake Bourque, owner of Techplex Labs, who created our Q&A system. Blake is an alum of FIRST Robotics Competition Team 2648, Infinite Loop, from Oakland, Maine, USA. Thanks, Blake!

Replacement Parts Reminder

Please inventory the Kickoff Kits you received at Kickoff! If you are missing any parts, first, we’re sorry about that, second, the deadline to let us know is 12 PM (Noon) Eastern time on Friday, January 14. The Kickoff Kit section of the Kit of Parts webpage has more information on how to do this.

FIRST Choice Round 2

Round Two of FIRST Choice closes at 12 PM (Noon) Eastern time on Thursday, January 20. Be sure your team’s priority list is set by then!

Take care of yourself, each other, and have a great build season!