[techhelpbb]

I just finished speaking with US FIRST about this.

Basically here's the deal:

A project could be started to make an approved electronic speed control. There are 2 ways this can play out.

1. It could just be approved, if you want to use them you need to go get them yourselves. The process FIRST outlines will try to insure a supply chain healthy enough to make the product available.

2. It could be included with the KOP. This would mean that FIRST might ask for them to be donated or offer up some cash if it's vital to the KOP. There's ambiguity here so let's assume we might have to donate it. This wouldn't stop you from getting more from outside the KOP.

In order to achieve this basically here's what would need to be done:

A. A sample as close to production as possible (preferably) would need to be presented to the US FIRST KOP team no later than the end of August. This will need to have with it essentially a business proposal that describes the business aspects of what is planned and should consider both possible outcomes above.

B. If somehow the end product is selected to go into the KOP then deliverable products need to make their way to US FIRST by October for distribution. Otherwise, you can't disclose the approval of the product until January because you will very likely be prohibited by an NDA. So you can sell it, build it, play with it....but even if you know it's approved you have to keep a zipped lip about it.

C. If this is a community project (and that means we have a bunch of people contributing) this would mean that you'd better basically be ready to make something fundamentally ready for production by the end of August at the very latest. Sooner if you're smart about it. So basically the time to brainstorm needs to roll to a close in probably 30-60 days from now (now being defined as mid-April). A modular design would enable later changes to those modules but they might not get approved for use as part of the electronic speed control system until next year.

So if you plan on trying to do this yourselves you need to realize that FIRST will expect a level playing field for COTS. So you must have an accepted plan to make these things and deliver them to teams all over the world for use at the very least. At the most you might get FIRST to feed funding if the the product is so outstanding that it becomes vital to get it into the hands of every team from the time the KOP is opened.