Jack and Kathie Kentfield Starting an FRC Team?  Resources to Help! Jack and Kathie Kentfield

Don’t Be Afraid! What is FRC? (We Can Help!) What is FRC? What’s “Gracious Professionalism” and “Coopertition”? What’s involved? What’s the time commitment? How do I recruit people? How should the team be organized? What is FRC? The FIRST Robotics Competition challenges teams of young people and their mentors to solve a common problem in a six-week timeframe using a standard "kit of parts" and a common set of rules. Teams build robots from the parts and compete in games designed by Dean Kamen, Dr. Woodie Flowers, and a committee of engineers and other professionals. What’s Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition? What's involved? You'll need professional engineers, adult mentors, high school aged students, sponsorship, a meeting place, access to tools and free time during the build and competition season.  Season Overview  The official FRC season starts with event registration in the fall, proceeds from the Kickoff in early January through the six-week robot design and build period, and continues to the robot shipment deadline in late February.  The Regional events occur late February through early April, culminating at the FIRST Championship, which will be held in St. Louis from 2011 through 2013. Event information is available via the What's going on in my area map found on the upper right corner of each web page. Teams typically meet two times in September, then weekly in October through December depending on the projects they are working on. After kickoff teams will meet 3-4 days and Saturdays during the build season. Some teams meet year-round. What is the structure of an FRC team? There is no typical or FIRST mandated team structure.  FIRST does require each team to assign adults to the official team roles of Main, Alternate and Shipping Contact – other than that, you are free to structure your team as best suits you! Most teams comprise 25 students (there is no maximum) and can be made up of one or more high schools or youth organization(s). We also have home-schooled teams that compete. 

Plugging in Contact your local Regional Director Register your team in TIMS Read documentation First Steps: Contact Regional Director Register team in Team Information Management System (TIMS) Read documentation

Official resources FIRST Website: www.usfirst.org FRC Team forums: http://forums.usfirst.org Team support at frcteams@usfirst.org, 1-800-871-8326 x0 FIRST Website - www.usfirst.org: Specifics and a season over view are available in the How to Start a Team Flyer: http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Robotics_Programs/FRC/FRC_Communications_Resource_Center/Flyers/FRC_HowToStart.pdf Information about team structure is available in the FRC Team Handbook: http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Community/FRC/Team_Resources/FRC%20Handbook.pdf Season Calendar which includes DEADLINES: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/content.aspx?id=454 Registration fees: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/content.aspx?id=460 $6,500.00 U.S. FRC 2011 Rookie teams: Includes: participation in one 2011 Regional Event, the Kit of Parts, associated materials and support. Payment due to FIRST by Friday, December 3, 2010. Mentor Resources Library: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/content.aspx?id=14034 Conference, kickoff presentations: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/content.aspx?id=1108 Last year’s game manual: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/content.aspx?id=452 Scholarship information – over $14M in scholarships this year! http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/scholarships.aspx?id=508 FIRST Press Releases, info about other FIRST programs, logo usage FRC Team Q&A Forums: http://forums.usfirst.org Team Support at frcteams@usfirst.org, 1-800-871-8326 x”0” TIP: To search the FIRST website go to Google, type “site:www.usfirst.org keyword”

E-mail Blasts, blogs, etc. Register in TIMS; main and alternate contacts will get FIRST e-mail blasts Team will receive semi-weekly Updates during Build and Competition Season FRC Program Director Bill Miller’s Blog frcdirector.blogspot.com Regional Director, Regional Planning Committee or local organization e-mails Once the team is registered in TIMS, the Main and Alternate Team Contacts will begin to receive FIRST E-mail Blasts. These can also be found on the FIRST website under FRC  Game & Season Info  Updates. Be sure to “whitelist” any e-mail coming from a “usfirst.org” e-mail address – they often go into spam/junk folders! Also, provide an alternate e-mail address that you can get into when school is not in session. You may wish to create a gmail account just for FIRST e-mail. Teams will receive Rules Updates twice per week during Build season Sign up for the RSS feed for Bill Miller’s blog – http://frcdirector.blogspot.com E-mails or newsletters may also come from local sources.

Build It Mentor Resources Library – section III – Building a Robot Brainstorming and Design Process including CAD & Autodesk What comes in the Kit of Parts What programming languages can I use? What tools do I need? What’s a Control System? How does our robot get to the competition? Mentor Resources Library – Section III – Building a Robot http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/content.aspx?id=14040 (a) Design Process (b) Kit of Parts (KOP) (c) CAD & Autodesk (d) Weight Management (e) Programming & Software         1. General         2. C/C++         3. LabVIEW         4. Java         5. VxWorks Libraries         6. Source Control (f) Mechanical (g) Pneumatics (h) Control System (i)  Electrical/Wiring (j)  Sensors (k) Tools (l)  Crates and Shipping (m) Parts Vendors (n)  Building a practice field 

Fundraising, Eating and Other Important Stuff Raising the money Organizing the team Communications 101 Feeding the troops Working together We’ve got spirit, how about you? Are we there yet? Finances: 501©3 vs school funds – need quick access to it Write a Business Plan Personal and Team fundraising Sponsors Grants Team Organization: Memo of Understanding Team Handbooks How will you Communicate? Who is Cooking Tonight? Teambuilding Ideas Team Identity, team spirit Traveling to Competitions – transportation, hotels

We Are Not Alone Identify a Mentor team Boston Regional Mentor Group Chief Delphi forums NEMO white papers Work with your Regional Director or FIRST Senior Mentor to identify a veteran team willing to mentor you, even if it’s not close by Boston Regional Mentor Group will be assisting teams attending the Boston Regional Competition www.chiefdelphi.org for forums, white papers. NOT OFFICIAL INFORMATION NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization) www.firstnemo.org MOEMENTUM Team in a Box Workshops and Conference presentations

Contact Us: Kathie : kkentfield@usfirst.org Jack: resqjak@comcast.net