[Ed Sparks]

OK, not that I'm saying you shouldn't work to take the whole team and your robot, but do you need to enter a robot to compete for the Championship EI award?

We are faced with a similar situation regarding our winning the Chairman's Award at Peachtree. We were not planning on attending the championship this year and have no funds to go. We contacted FIRST and found out that we don't have to officially enter a robot to compete for the Championship Chairman's award saving us the $5K entry fee. We're going to send a smaller group to present and represent but we will not be competing in the robotics competition. Our mini team plans on volunteering when they are not busy with the presentation.

Contact FIRST, you might be able to do something like this as a plan "B" (I hope plan "A" works out for you).