FIRST Robotics Competition Blog

You’ve Got Questions, We’ve got Answers, and Team Updates

Jan 09, 2018 Written by Frank Merrick

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Q&A

The FIRST Robotics Competition Q&A opens tomorrow Wednesday, January 10th, at Noon Eastern Time. The Q&A is the place to ask your questions about the game and get official answers. You can also use it to ask questions about the Event Rules.

Team Authorization Codes for the Q&A System are available now in the Team Registration System. Lead Coach Mentors 1 and 2, you can 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.

Use your code to create your account now so you’ll be ready to ask questions when the system opens! Each code lets ONE person from your team ASK questions. However, anyone can make an account in the Q&A System to subscribe to questions and be notified when we publish answers. And users don’t need an account to just read and search existing questions.

You will find some helpful enhancements to the system this season. Search has been improved, and when you start typing in a title to your question the system automatically searches on key words to see if a similar question has already been answered. You may find you don’t even have to ask that question!

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

Team Updates

We start to publish team updates today. Updates are published Tuesdays and Fridays. You can find them here.

It’s critically important for all teams to read all updates. These updates include changes and clarifications to the rules. The last thing you want to do is show up to an event not understanding how FIRST POWER UP is played because you missed an update.

Frank

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Comments

Submitted by me (not verified) on Tue, 01/09/2018 - 8:01pm

First!

 

Submitted by Victor Desmeules (not verified) on Tue, 01/09/2018 - 8:24pm

Hi, can the robot be more than 71" in height (55" from initial and 16" , from what we understand, that can extend during play)? Thanks!

 

 

Submitted by Sam Fuchs (not verified) on Sat, 01/13/2018 - 10:05am

No, there is no height limitation throughout the match. Your robot must be less than 55” tall before the match, as dictated by the starting configuration, but once the match begins, it can extend outside of that to any height. The 16” limitation applies to mechanisms extending horizontally beyond the frame perimeter, not vertically.

Submitted by kpilotte on Thu, 01/11/2018 - 9:02am
Hi Victor, please search the Q&A for an answer to your question. If you don't see it already asked, feel free to submit a question of your own. Instructions are above.

Submitted by Aubrey Grundy C... (not verified) on Sat, 01/13/2018 - 2:28pm

We were wondering if the height can be 55 inches or the perimeter of the robot, because in the manual it says both. We are not sure if it is talking about 55 inches starting during the competition or can it extend up to the perimeter of the robot.

Submitted by Jacob Barba (not verified) on Mon, 01/15/2018 - 1:26pm
For the sake of curiosity, are hydraulics allowed?

Submitted by kpilotte on Tue, 01/16/2018 - 8:20am
Hi Jacob, You can find the complete rule set (see Section 8 for rules specific to robots) at https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/frc/competition-manual-qa.... Teams can ask questions about them using the official Q&A system at https://frc-qa.firstinspires.org/.

Submitted by Fiona Chau (not verified) on Wed, 01/17/2018 - 4:35pm
If we are not hanging, and both bots are on top of us, and we use levitate, does this count as 3 bots climbing. Do we have to have atleast one bot hanging from the scale or is having bots above the blocks enough?

Submitted by kpilotte on Thu, 01/18/2018 - 8:36am
Hi Fiona, please search the Q&A, https://frc-qa.firstinspires.org/, for an answer to your question. If you don't see it already asked, feel free to submit a question of your own. Instructions are above.

Submitted by Cameron (not verified) on Thu, 01/18/2018 - 12:16pm
Is there a way to import models from unity into the virtual field for size comparison purposes?

Submitted by oidc_generic_0e... on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 8:18pm

Hi,

If a robot feeds a powercube to a human player for use for powercubes, and the human player is unable to determine the most beneficial powerup to invest the cube in, is the player allowed to store the cube for later use? I don't expect the answer to be yes, but it would help to know. Thank you.

Submitted by kpilotte on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 9:35am
Hi. Please search the Q&A, https://frc-qa.firstinspires.org/, for an answer to your question. If you don't see it already asked, feel free to submit a question of your own. Instructions are above.

Submitted by Hannah (not verified) on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 11:42am

Out of curiosity, is the 16 inches cumulative, or can you extend 16" on two sides at the same time?

Submitted by kpilotte on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 11:52am
Hi Hannah. Please search the Q&A, https://frc-qa.firstinspires.org/, for an answer to your question. If you don't see it already asked, feel free to submit a question of your own. Instructions are above.

Submitted by Mark Best (not verified) on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 7:35pm

Our team would like to use pneumatic spring on our bot, like those used to hold up the hood of your car or a hatchback. These really don't act as an Andy Mark pneumatic component but i cant find anything else that might qualified as?

Submitted by kpilotte on Wed, 01/24/2018 - 8:46am
Hi Mark. Please search the Q&A, https://frc-qa.firstinspires.org/, for an answer to your question. If you don't see it already asked, feel free to submit a question of your own. Instructions are above (and we recommend reviewing Section 1.6 of the Manual for information about what makes an answerable question.

Submitted by Brett Roth (not verified) on Tue, 01/30/2018 - 2:32pm

Is there any limitation in regards to time for when we can touch the rung? I know you can only extend past the 16" of your frame perimeter in end game but can we touch the rung before then?

Submitted by kpilotte on Wed, 01/31/2018 - 8:30am
Hi, Mr. Roth. Please search the Q&A, https://frc-qa.firstinspires.org/, for an answer to your question. If you don't see it already asked, feel free to submit a question of your own. Instructions are above (and we recommend reviewing Section 1.6 of the Manual for information about what makes an answerable question).

Submitted by oidc_generic_2c... on Wed, 01/31/2018 - 12:28pm

Hi,

I'm new to this site and I have some questions about this site and Q&A. My first question is how do I search Q&A? The layout is very new to me so I'm not really sure how to navigate it. My next question is: What are some of the organizational rules in terms of where I'm supposed to post certain questions? (basically, are there Q&A categories where I'm supposed to ask about different subject matter?). And finally, how do I make my questions private so that only certain people can see them? If this is possible, I would sometimes like to ask questions that are related to a team strategy that I don't want other teams to use against me. I would very much appreciate someone answering these questions.

Thanks.

Submitted by Jacob Craig Arm... (not verified) on Sat, 02/01/2020 - 1:53pm

How will the tape targeting in inner port affect the outer tape and where will it be?

Submitted by Jamee Luce on Mon, 02/03/2020 - 11:31am

Hello Jacob! Please submit your question to the official Q&A here: https://frc-qa.firstinspires.org/

Thanks!

Jamee Luce

Team Advocate, FIRST Robotics Competition

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