FIRST Robotics Competition Blog

 

 

Kickoff for CRESCENDO^SM presented by Haas is fast approaching! Here are a few updates and reminders:

Payment Due Date

Initial registration payment due date is Monday, November 13. (November 13 is also the due date to select your local kickoff.)

If you miss paying by this date, don’t panic! Please continue to work with your local partner on funding opportunities available. Teams who miss the November 13 payment deadline won’t have their events dropped.

Paying your initial registration by this date makes sure that you’ll have access to FIRST^® Choice and the pre-Kickoff Virtual Kit items (details on the Kit of Parts webpage) when they both go live at noon eastern, Thursday, November 16. Teams have until November 30 (when Round 1 of FIRST Choice Priority Lists closes) to submit their FIRST Choice priority lists.

The next big milestone date is November 27. Teams who pay after this date may incur MySite shipping fees, as we may not be able to get their Kickoff Kits onto the shipments that go to local kickoffs.

You can find full payment terms on this page and a detailed walkthrough of the checkout process here.

Check out additional upcoming due dates on the FIRST^® Robotics Competition Calendar.

 

Awards and AI

FIRST COO (and team mentor) Chris Rake authored a post on the FIRST Community Blog regarding team use of Artificial Intelligence. We have also added language to the Submitted Awards page to help give guidance to teams and judges about how to credit AI use as part of award submissions. (And, submissions for the FIRST Impact Award, Dean’s List Award, and Woodie Flowers Award are open now!)

New this year! Teams who attend events in countries where English is not the native language can choose to submit for FIRST Impact and Dean’s List Awards in the event’s local language. Teams who win those awards and advance from the local event to the FIRST Championship will have one week (week 1-5 events) to resubmit the award in English for judging at the FIRST Championship. Recipients of these awards in week 6 events must resubmit the submissions in English the Monday immediately following their event.

• For FIRST Impact Award, please send the translated essays to frcteamadvocate@firstinspires.org with the event name in the subject line.
• For Dean’s List Award Finalists, please send the translated submission to deanslist@firstinspires.org with the event name in the subject line.

The Woodie Flowers Award submission must be completed in English.

 

Banners

We are excited to announce a new vendor for FIRST Robotics Competition teams to purchase Blue Banners. Teams have the option of purchasing a nylon banner (which is what is distributed at events) or a vinyl banner.

 

Let’s Get Excited!

With more than 12,000 views, you’ve likely already seen our “Backstage Access” video for CRESCENDO. If not, give it a look! Hopefully it gets you as amped for this season as I am!

 

 

And, be sure to keep an eye on our Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube page as we get closer to Kickoff.