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

First!

 

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!

 

 

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.

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.

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.

For the sake of curiosity, are hydraulics allowed?

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/.

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?

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.

Is there a way to import models from unity into the virtual field for size comparison purposes?

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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?

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).

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.

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

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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