FIRST Robotics Competition Blog

Kickoff Hype!

Dec 19, 2022 Written by Collin Fultz, FIRST Robotics Competition Senior Program Director

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Kickoff

Saturday. January 7, 2023. Noon ET! It’s the FIRST® Robotics Competition Kickoff presented by Novelis, and I am so excited to get this season officially underway! Join us live on FIRSTtv. Think you might forget? You can sign up for a tune-in reminder on our Kickoff page.

Kickoff is streaming live exclusively on Twitch. We recognize many schools block Twitch on their networks. Kickoff locations at those schools will need to request Twitch be unblocked for that day or use other means (within school rules, please) to access Twitch, such as wireless hot spots. We will begin streaming content on the feed beginning around 11:45 am ET, and you can use that time to check your connection.

The broadcast will last approximately one hour, and we cannot wait for you all to see this year’s game. A huge thanks in advance to the folks from the FIRST® community that have contributed to the show!

Teaser

If you haven’t already watched it 1000 times, be sure to check out the teaser for CHARGEDUPSM presented by Haas! Or, if you’ve already watched it 1000 times, why not go for 1001?


Wood Field List of Materials

The team versions of the field elements (i.e. low cost wood designs teams can use to mock up field elements in their space) will be available after Kickoff on the season materials webpage. We will not be releasing the wood field materials list prior to Kickoff because none of the items on the list should be difficult to acquire quickly (and there may have been a game hint tucked into the materials list).

Update December 22, 2022: The language used to describe why the shopping lists were omitted from the 2023 season set of assets was not  complete. In addition to the reasons originally stated in the blog, the creation (and proofing) of this content adds to the burden placed on the engineering team in preparation for Kickoff and field shipping. This, combined with the fact that recent team surveys show little actual use by teams (and for those teams that did use it, frustration due to their good faith investment in materials that don’t accurately reflect those of the official field), caused FRC leadership to remove this from the list of to-do items. This decision is not a permanent one, and may or may not, persist beyond the 2023 season. I apologize for my omission and the resulting confusion and frustration. 

Official Field Elements & Game Pieces

Shortly after Kickoff, AndyMark will have a selection of elements from the official field available for purchase. The elements available for purchase will not be full assemblies of field elements, only those pieces that would be difficult for most teams to manufacture on their own.

A set of game pieces is included in the Season Specific box included in each team's Kickoff Kit, and more game pieces will be available in FIRST Choice round 2. AndyMark will also have additional game pieces available for teams to purchase.

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Comments

Submitted by Mike Chamberlin (not verified) on Mon, 12/19/2022 - 5:49pm
Last year's upper hub assembly left a bad taste on my mouth. Its was difficult to replicate the bounce out properties of the hub without access to an actual hub. The managing bounce outs was an important part of last year's game. And one that teams were hard pressed to understand and mitigate unless they could commit $1000 to a one time use item. This a complaint about degree, not kind. I'm ok with the fact that different team have different resource levels, and overall First does a great job of managing this and ensuring that teams of all resource levels can come together for a meaningful and valuable competition. In this case, I found it too expensive, too important to the game, and too disposable.

Submitted by Collin (FIRST) (not verified) on Thu, 12/22/2022 - 2:06pm

Thanks, Mike. We agree that the team versions don’t always replicate every field feature/property important to all teams. The effort is made to mitigate or eliminate those instances, and we understand we may not catch them or assign a different priority level than some teams do. For that, we apologize.

Submitted by David Ebersol (not verified) on Mon, 12/19/2022 - 7:24pm
Having a list of 2x4s, 1/2" plywood sheets, and 3/4 plywood sheets that we could buy ahead of time would allow our team to get a head start on the CNC and cut lists while the other team members leave to buy the rest of the ommited "game hint" materials after the game reveal. Could this be possible?

Submitted by Collin (FIRST) (not verified) on Thu, 12/22/2022 - 2:07pm

I think you’ll find a pretty consistent mantra within the FIRST staff that “anything is possible!” Due to the reasons stated above and higher priority demands on the engineering team at this time, it’s not something we’ll be publishing this year.

Submitted by David Ebersol (not verified) on Mon, 12/19/2022 - 7:43pm
Having a list of 2x4, 1/2" plywood sheets, and 3/4" plywood sheets that we could buy ahead of time would allow our team to get a head start on the CNC and cut lists while the other team members leave to buy the rest of the ommited "game hint" materials after the game reveal. Could this be possible? It would save our team hours on kickoff.

Submitted by Ryan (not verified) on Mon, 12/19/2022 - 8:58pm

If there was a game hint "tucked into" the wood field material list, couldn't that entry simply....be removed?

If the material list were to be "Ten sheets of 3/4" plywood, eight sheets of 1/2" plywood, twelve 2x4s, six door hinges, four 10' iron pipes, two door knobs, and a lawn flamingo (game hint)", simply removing the game hint item(s) and informing teams on the rest of the materials would be much more advantageous than keeping them completely under wraps until Kickoff. There are many teams that begin construction of their practice fields as soon as the Kickoff broadcast is over, and being able to acquire materials prior to the start of the build season has been a luxury that we have all quite enjoyed and appreciated during the past several years. Even if "none of the items on the list should be difficult to acquire quickly" (which is a rather subjective declaration that may vary significantly in accuracy on a team-by-team basis), is there any harm in granting teams the ability to obtain said items in advance?

As others have eloquently stated elsewhere online, "The game secret is so much less valuable than equity of access to a well equipped facility for STEM exploration." I am regrettably disappointed by the decision to withhold the wood field material list until Kickoff, and I respectively request that FIRST reconsiders this choice for the benefit of all teams.

Submitted by Collin (FIRST) (not verified) on Thu, 12/22/2022 - 2:08pm

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and concerns. Due to the reasons stated above and higher priority demands on the engineering team at this time, it’s not something we’ll be publishing this year.

Submitted by Collin O (not verified) on Mon, 12/19/2022 - 9:56pm
I know nobody can make absolute statements but is the lack of a early wood field materials list a change that will be continued for years or is this a onetime change?

Submitted by Collin (FIRST) (not verified) on Thu, 12/22/2022 - 2:09pm

This decision was specifically for the 2023 season; it may or may not persist past that.

Submitted by Ian McTavish (not verified) on Tue, 12/20/2022 - 4:47am
Coming from a school that has Twitch blocked it is frustrating that that is the only streaming option. Even with requesting unblocking we can't guarantee it is unblocked and being on a Saturday there is no one available to unblock it!

Submitted by Michael Andrews (not verified) on Wed, 12/21/2022 - 3:03pm

We have the same problem with Twitch access at our sponsor's location where we hold kickoff.  For the past two years, we've had to setup a Wifi hotspot with one of our mentor's phones to watch the event.

Submitted by Collin (FIRST) (not verified) on Thu, 12/22/2022 - 2:10pm

We understand this challenge, and we’re sorry to hear that there isn’t a quick/reliable work around for your team. The broadcast will be uploaded to YouTube after it ends, where it can also be viewed.

Submitted by Tom Lockwood (not verified) on Tue, 12/20/2022 - 11:52am

It's difficult to gather all of the materials, have them delivered, and get them loaded into the school and ready to go (and our lumber yard does not deliver on the weekend). So please consider providing a list of dimensional lumber, screws etc. If there is anything that provides too much insight into the game just leave it off the list. We have help to build things for kickoff weekend and have been working this offseason to get people to show up to start our field build - we need that weekend. Thanks.

Submitted by Collin (FIRST) (not verified) on Thu, 12/22/2022 - 2:11pm

Hi Tom - Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and concerns. Due to the reasons stated above and higher priority demands on the engineering team at this time, it’s not something we’ll be publishing this year.

Submitted by Rod Shampine (not verified) on Wed, 12/21/2022 - 5:12pm

We normally have parents building field elements while the kids dream the game; we often have -something- in place by the end of the day!  What you've done here is ensure that we -can't- do this!
Could you PLEASE at least tell us the list of 2x4 and plywood???  If we have that on hand things can -start-!
PVC pipe is quick and easy to get; I'm OK with that not getting announced...  But, come on, wood isn't a hint!

Submitted by Troy Brindle (not verified) on Wed, 12/21/2022 - 7:51pm

Wouldn't it be possible to provide just the lumber and cut list? leave off any "game hint" that may give away anything. 

We have a lot of mentors at kickoff to help start building field elements. 

Thank you, 

 

Submitted by Jim Jackson (not verified) on Fri, 12/23/2022 - 12:21pm

We have to purchase everything through a PO.  This process takes over a week to run through the system.  Without the list ahead of time, we will be 2 weeks into the build season before we can even start to get the materials to build the field elements.  

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