**FIRST EMAIL**/Early Control System Ship Final Details

[Mark McLeod]

Greetings FRC Teams,

The time has come! The 2009 FRC Control System has started to ship out to teams who have met the following requirements:

• Indicated in TIMS they would like to receive the control system early;
• Paid for their initial event;
• Provided FIRST with a valid FedEx or UPS shipping account number in TIMS,
• OR Received a NASA grant for the 2009 season.

REMEMBER!

• Control systems will be shipped via "Ground" service.
• Systems will ship to the Shipping Contact and Address you provided in TIMS. Please make sure this information is correct and up to date. Please note we cannot accept any shipping contact changes via email request. We pull data only from TIMS and once pulled that is where it is shipped.
• Team must be registered for an initial regional event with payment and shipping request received no later than December 5th. After this date Control Systems will be shipped to local Kickoffs for pickup with the rest of the Kit of Parts. All early control system shipment changes to TIMS must be completed by December 5th.
• All teams that received NASA grants will automatically receive the control system early as part of their grant regardless of what they checked off in TIMS.

NEW!

• Teams have three (3) days from the time they receive the Controls Kit to inspect and inventory its contents. If you find that you need any replacement parts or you find that certain parts are not working please email us at frcparts@usfirst.org.
• Teams can find mandatory software updates, the bill of materials, and additional resources, including links to NI and WPI, on the control system page: http://www.usfirst.org/frccontrolsystemPlease make sure your team visits this page.
• Shipping contacts will be emailed the shipment's tracking number once the carrier has picked up the shipment from Merrimack, NH.

The new control system and its early shipment would not have been possible without significant efforts from a wide range of FIRST supporters. We would like to thank the developers and designers, manufacturers, donors, testers, and trainers for their effort in making the new control system such an extraordinary reality. We hope teams will take advantage of this great opportunity to familiarize themselves to the new system and share their experience and knowledge with the rest of the FRC community. Good luck!

Go Teams!