[DFTF] Paying the Piper

[Pjohn1959]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

While I am thinking about it. It seems like FIRST could send out a lot of the rookie kit as soon as they got the check -- the control system, the pneumatics, the batteries, etc. Do they? If not, why not?

I really like this question. Why not allow the rookie teams to get their controls systems early? After all, they have to pay that $6500 entry fee (really?????? ) for their first regional event.

[Mark McLeod]

The control system won't be ready until Kickoff.
The Beta teams get it first, then error corrections/improvements get wrapped back into the system and tested again before it goes out to all of us.

One of the changes is the Beta program where FIRST involves teams in Beta testing the control system each Fall.

Originally Posted by Pjohn1959

Why not allow the rookie teams to get their controls systems early? After all, they have to pay that $6500 entry fee (really?????? ) for their first regional event.

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

The control system won't be ready until Kickoff.
The Beta teams get it first, then error corrections/improvements get wrapped back into the system and tested again before it goes out to all of us.

One of the changes is the Beta program where FIRST involves teams in Beta testing the control system each Fall.

To further elaborate, I don't even think all of the beta teams are getting beta hardware this year. I'll have to see if anythings changed, but the last I heard for us was that the beta kits would be distributed as evenly as possible based on the supplies they had.

-Brando

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Pjohn1959

I really like this question. Why not allow the rookie teams to get their controls systems early? After all, they have to pay that $6500 entry fee (really?????? ) for their first regional event.

When you stop and tally up how much stuff the rookies get, $1500 is a steal!

Joe, I would recommend looking into the Nasa, JCPenney, and BAE Systems grants as a great start! Corporate sponsors are a little harder to attain but for your area you have a great opportunity with how many companies are around you compared to a suburban neighborhood.