Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

In past years FIRST has made the BOM (bill of materials) for the field elements available so that teams that wish to start construction of a field of play can buy the materials before hand, and start construction as soon as the as the game is announced. This is a big help for some teams that need to travel miles into town to get 'supplies.'

I remember when we all were scratching our heads over 'toilet bowl flanges,' and those darn magnets. Typically, the advanced BOM is released the Thursday before unveiling. Is there a link or plans to have the BOM ready this year?

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

I'm not sure where this could be found. What has it been like in previous years? A shopping list?:

3 Pool noodles
1 5x5 sheet metal

etc.

And do you have any further ideas on this?

Thanks

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Thanks, I'm compiling a .doc on anything helpful to our team in the forums. Do they usually get fired up when build season starts?

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

You mean ChiefDelphi?

Legend has it that Brandon installs the server in a bulletproof case shortly before Kickoff. That way, when the server explodes, the damage to surrounding things is minimal. ;)

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Ya know, after looking at last years list and knowing what we really needed. I'm just going to wait and buy the stuff after. I don't see why they had us buying a chain link, 3/4 pvc and 3/8 tubing etc... :confused:

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

We've been asked to bring $58 to our remote kickoff near Seattle to purchase a part that, as we were told, all teams will need. Those organizing the kickoff and, presumably, with access to the field bill of materials, have ordered these parts in bulk for a discount. The retail price is approximately $125.

I have no idea what it is, but that's what I was told. I don't know if other organizing parties have been able to do the same.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

quick everyone find everything in the whole world that sells for $125 so we can get an edge on our building 2 days before kick off.....ready...go! :D

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

My guess is that at $125 retail it's probably not a game piece, like a tetra or a ball. It sounds like it's something electronic with such a large profit margin. Maybe a sensor for the control system that is a last minute addition to the KOP?

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

interesting...I wonder if we (my team) is going to have to bring money also...if we do, I sure hope they tell us REALLY soon

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

How about a mailbox?

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

You think we're fired up now, wait until Friday night, or else regionals or even Championship (where losing your voice after only two days is normal).

Things helpful to a team: try whitepapers for a good overview. Hurry, you've only got 2 days!

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

You beat me to it! :rolleyes:

GO 1403!!!

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

I'm becoming concerned about the reaction time (or lack thereof) being displayed by my fellow CD travelers. I mean a whole 2 hrs & 27 min elapsed after Madison's post and this obvious response was still just waiting to be posted! Come on people, let's step it up! This is no time to be napping - Kickoff is just 2 days 4 hrs 20 min away!

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Actually, that would be kickoff day. The actual Kickoff event (at 10am) is about 2 days, 13 hours, 50 minutes away. :)

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

I'm relatively new to the CD site, but I'm doing some math in my head here. Almost everyone I see has 200 posts at a minimum. About what percent of the FIRST population has a login? Because if every FIRSTer has 200 posts... that's scary.

Also, how the 'eck do you accumulate 4100 or more posts? Thats well over a year of ten posts a day.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Or three and a half years of 3.39 posts per day like me. :)

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

*/STUNNED/*

Even during the off-season, or I guess you must be averaging?

Yablowza...

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Even during the offseason. (If you want to find out your post average and post count, click on your username. That'll take you to a page where you can see that sort of information.

As for what percentage of the FIRST population has a login...I don't know, but there are currently about 9,300 members, or an average of about 9 per team, which means less than half the membership for most teams. Maybe about a third of FIRSTers, give or take a large margin.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

I am on the team hosting this kickoff. We do not know what this $58 dollar part is either. We recieved this message from Kevin Ross, a pretty reliable source :)

Hello Teams,

There is a thing-a-ma-jig that every team FRC team is going to need this
year. By placing a bulk order, FIRSTWA was able to purchase this doo-hicky
for about half of what it would have otherwised cost. We went ahead and
ordered one for every team so we could get this bulk price.

At Saturdays kickoff, you will be able to pickup and take home this widget.
To do so, you will need to bring $58 with you. You can bring either cash or
a check made out to FIRSTWA. We will provide you with a receipt for $58 so
you can get reimbursed. We will be unable to accept purchase orders for
this.

If you elect not to purchase what we are offering, it will cost you
approximately $125 to get on your own. Please plan on taking advantage of
our offer on Saturday. That is once again on kickoff Saturday only! We are
sending you advanced notice so you can make arrangements for the $58.

Thanks, see you on Saturday morning.

Kevin

And aaeamdar,

I read a lot more than I post, so I only have 50 posts for 2.5 years. It just depends on your style.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

What I meant here was does that average keep up during the off season or does he average 12 posts a day during the season and 1/day the other times?

There are more like 1800 teams than 1000, so closer to 5 per team I think. Taking the average of 35 people on each team, thats 1/7 of all FIRSTers. /VERY/ roughly guessed.

Test: possible to fake quotes?

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

There are no where close to 1800 teams. There are maybe around 1800 numbers, or teams that existed at one point, but dramatically fewer active teams.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Phrontist beat me too it. More information on the team numbering system here

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

No it's not. It is 2 days, 9 hours and 42 minutes away. C'mon people! Let's be accurate out there! :D

-dave

(OK, lets see how long it takes for this to turn into the "kick-off count-down thread"...)

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

don't we already HAVE a working kickoff counter...at the top of the page?

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

That only goes to 12am on the day. We're counting till 10am. :D

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

alright then, looks like Brandon's got some work to do...c'mon, chop chop!

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

How about eight minutes? ;)

2 days, 9 hours, 30 minutes left.

Back onto topic, hopefully the Advance BOM will come out today, even if only to perplex us even more. :rolleyes:

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Actually, my clock which I just updated with NIST says 2 Days, 9 Hours, 30 Minutes, 30 Sec. :]

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Back to the latest news of a $125 item. I'm helping to organize the Kickoff at UC Davis, CA - and haven't heard anything about this. So this is not making sense unless someone has broken the cardinal rule of not opening the kits early or they're referring to a non-competition specific item. Maybe they got a good buy on software or cordless drills or something. Hmmm???

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

no word at San Jose State either

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

If this is true, my official guess at this time is 3 of the $40 wheels listed on this page here:

http://www.ifirobotics.com/robot-tra...eels-old.shtml

edit: w0w.. so many to choose from. ;)

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Why THREE??? maybe they're making the robot dimensions triangular or circular this year?

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

it says FIRSTWA which is FIRST of washington.. since no one has heard except the person hosting that kickoff and probably any teams going to that kickoff doug g is probably right it was probably something they found thats not competition specific.. its something that that organization is getting for the teams there but not everyone...

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

As a design challenge maybe, or a limited freebie?
For a design challenge, I know in 2002 they only let you use 3 drill motors I believe, so we made a gearbox for our Globe Motor to match the Drill's RPMs to make 4 wheel 4 motor Drive.

It worked out very well, I mean we won a regional and all with our kick-butt drive system.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

I'm having a hard time believing that a $125 part ($58 after discount) couldn't have been included in my $6,000 worth of kit and competition. What's up with that?

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Maybe it's so big it doesn't fit in the sealed kit bins?

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Yeah, I just talked myself into thinking that maybe this is a game piece like the Sterilite boxes from Stack Attack or the PVC and end-pieces from the tetras last year. $125 isn't too much to spend on that stuff. Also, pool noodles (if that's what it is), would be difficult to shove into one of the kit boxes.
Good idea, FIRSTWA. I wish they would have thought of supplying those to teams at my kickoff.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Is that a clue?

:D

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

I really hope they are not sending us cordless drills, for god's sake.

And seeing as he said "every team FRC team is going to need this
year" I firmly believe we really will need this, he has not let us down before.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Any chance this might be the cmu cam? maybe they are doing things like the old days where expensive items were only given to teams 1 year and then only rookies get it the next year. i have seen prices vary on the cmu cam from $109-$199 so it might be possible......2 days...19mins..9 secs

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Well, as soon as we know, CD will know.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Don't take this as "whining", but I find it peculiar that those setting up the the Kickoff in WA know enough about the game or what is in the kits to then help prep those teams by purchasing materials in advance for them at a discount. Why don't all the teams have that opportunity? Maybe they'll release an advance BOM today or something and we'll all go, "ohhhh". Although I still think they're referring to something that is non-game specific.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

One thing is for certain about remote kick offs, they sometimes have fields. I can guarantee that there are certain team leaders on Chief Delphi who can not contribute to this thread because of what they know about the game- people like Andy Baker and Kevin Watson. If I'm not mistaken Andy Baker helps out with the remote kick off in the Indiana area. Kevin Watson has prepared software for robots at the kick off.

At this point in time, I'm sure people like Andy Baker have received a game manual in the mail. Tomorrow he will probably go to the venue and put together the field.

EDIT: Andy Baker is not setting up the remore kick-off and hasn't for the last several years. So he probably doesn't know the game :o

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Actually, Andy's in NH for kickoff, since according to the FIRST Kickoff Workshop schedule he's giving a presentation tomorrow afternoon on chassis design with John Neun from team #20.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Point well taken...

My point of the post was to illustrate that FIRST relies on volunteers. Often times, those volunteers are involved with teams. Therefore, some people involved with competition teams already know what will be revealed to us regular folks on Saturday.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Last season we had a 'pre-meeting' a couple of days before the kick-off. One of our engineers said that we would all have a great time with the game. I asked how he knew and he told me that he had already built some game pieces for the kick-off at Stennis Space Center. It ended up he had built a handfull of tetras, a center goal and a regular goal. BUT, he couldn't / wouldn't tell us any of that and we didn't find out ANYTHING about the game until we got to Stennis.

I finally forgave him for keeping the secret. It wasn't until Atlanta for the Championships over a couple of drinks, but I did forgive. ;)

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Doug, if I understand correctly, Kevin Ross is not helping with the remote kickoff. I presumed he may be because he obviously knows something more than the rest of us, but that may be through some other circumstance. FIRSTWA is a part of the Seattle Robotics Society, with which Kevin is a member.

I wasn't sure if I ought to mention anything about the e-mail here at all, as I don't have good answers as to why this is available to this region, but perhaps no others. Though, that said, I don't believe that Kevin, SRS or FIRSTWA would do anything improper or underhanded; so though I don't know why we're able to have this chance, we are and I thought others might want to be prepared for a relatively significant expense -- $125 practically covers travel expenses for one student on our team, so we certainly appreciate the savings.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

a post on the game hint discussion mentioned that it said all teams. and they said maybe we will recieve info in the next email blast. probably when they release some of the bom and what not. i also just remembered that the person who recieved this info origianlly was a host of a kickoff.. they do need to know beforehand for setup purposes right? your right that would be improper for it to go just to them.. maybe they are the group purchasing it and then distributing it to others instead of first doing it??
something i just thought of!!
i think the fact that they are also stating that if we don't buy it then it will cost $125 means we WILL need it.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Again, Kevin -- the author of the e-mail -- is apparently not involved in Team 492's kickoff. See above. The message was sent from him to a mailing list and, once more, I do not believe Kevin would act with impropriety.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Please see http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...threadid=41189 for the FIRST E-mail blast regarding advance materials list for field elements.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

I have talked with our kickoff people who have talked to FIRST and they say they don't know what we are talking about.

Re: Early Release Field Elements BOM.
 

Please discuss the released Bill of Materials in the appropriate thread. I'm going to close this one in the meantime to keep things organized.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...threadid=41189