FIRST Robotics Competition Blog

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Your source of season information for the FIRST Robotics Competition.

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2018 FIRST Robotics Competition Season Teaser

Sep 14, 2017 Written by Frank Merrick

OK. We’ve been trying to keep this quiet.* But at 8 PM Eastern Time today, we’ll be releasing the teaser for the upcoming season.

2018 Beta Testing and 2017 Usage Reporting

Sep 13, 2017 Written by Kevin O'Connor, FIRST Robotics Competition, Robotics Engineer

This year we are once again looking for 90 teams, 30 for each software language, to help us test the 2018 FIRST Robotics Competition software. A small number of teams have been invited to bypass the application process based on past performance in Beta testing. 

Teaser, DLC Packs, and Event Registration

Sep 12, 2017 Written by Frank Merrick

Oh, man.

It’s like you walk into the kitchen, and someone has a big ol’ pot of chili cooking, not quite ready, but almost. One whiff and you can say hasta mañana to any free will you thought you had. Of their own volition, your legs walk themselves over, bringing along, just for the ride, your now-useless grey matter and anything else that happens to be attached. 

Event Data Improvements – Don’t be a Dinosaur!

Sep 11, 2017 Written by Alex Herreid and Chuck Harris, FIRST Robotics Competition Software Engineers

Today we wanted to remind you about some features and functionality of the FRC Events website and API. At all official events, the Field Management System (FMS) sends data about the event to FIRST’s servers in real-time and we make that data available on both our webpages and our API. 

More on Volunteer Roles... Even Though You Didn’t Ask :)

Sep 08, 2017 Written by Fiona Hanlon, FRC Volunteer Resource Coordinator

Hi FRC Teams and Volunteers,

By now, many of you have read my last blog about the updates to our Volunteer roles. Here’s a little more information about why, and how, we added some of these important age requirements!

The Teaser and More

Sep 08, 2017 Written by Frank Merrick

A teaser for the 2018 FIRST Robotics Competition, you shall have. If things go as planned, we’ll be releasing it broadly at 8 PM Eastern Time on Thursday, September 14th, on YouTube, FaceBook, and Twitter, at a minimum. If things don’t go as planned, you will hear about it. Then we’ll hear about it.

Making Volunteering for FIRST Even Better

Sep 05, 2017 Written by Fiona Hanlon, FRC Volunteer Resource Coordinator

The Volunteer Resources Department has been hard at work this summer improving many resources to enhance our volunteer’s experience with FIRST. At the Championship events, we held feedback sessions with our volunteers to find out how FIRST could improve and one of the things we kept hearing was that the volunteer roles did not accurately represent what the responsibilities were.

Event Preferences - More Q, More A, and an Unnecessary U

Sep 01, 2017 Written by Frank Merrick

We’ve answered a few more questions that have popped up in response to our blog announcing the move to a preference system for event assignment. We also added detail to one of the original answers that was incomplete. You can find this information in an FAQ document posted here.

Pool Noodles!

Aug 30, 2017 Written by Frank Merrick

You will need pool noodles to construct robot bumpers for the 2018 game. Among other things, this enhances the buoyancy of your robot.*

Event Preferences – Some Questions, Answered

Aug 24, 2017 Written by Frank Merrick

Last week, we blogged about the upcoming shift to a preference model, away from first-come-first-served, for FIRST Robotics Competition team event assignment.