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This was sent to all of the VCU attending teams:
Hello, all!
We haven't caught many breaks this season, have we? With about 48
hours to
go, many of us are caught with our robots unfinished and no way to get
them
to drayage. What are we going to do?
We will get an official word from FIRST tomorrow, but my instinct tells
me
that some arrangements will have to be made either online today or by
phone
first thing tomorrow to get the robots picked up. If you have your
crates
ready by the time you specify on the pick up order (which MUST be
before 5 pm
on Tuesday), then you have made a good faith effort to comply with the
"out
of hands" requirement. If the shipper cannot pick up the crate, then
it
should not count against you.
BE CAREFUL! Your three free FedEx shipping labels can only be used for
one
regional, the Championship, and back to you. If you are going to more
than
one regional, these are not to be used for that, your team will have to
absorb that cost. If you were planning to transport your robot to
drayage
yourself, in order to take advantage of the free shipping for the
second
regional, then it looks as though you will also have to absorb the
additional
cost.
But, as I said, the official word will come from us tomorrow.
All efforts to complete your robot must now be turned toward getting it
ready
for pick up. I know it is hard for the new teams to understand, but it
is
really only the most seasoned veterans who run robots in the last match
that
is exactly like it was when it came out of the crate. There are
usually12
hours of modification/completion/tweaking on Thursday, plus endless
adjustments between seeding matches.
And there will be lots of folks willing to offer advice/aid/assistance.
Keep your chins up!
Dee Tomczak
Assistant Coordinator
NASA/VCU/FIRST Robotics Competitions
So basicly, expect a formal FIRST announcment tomorrow along with instructions on what to do.
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