New Zealand VEX

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

I'm gonna play others' minigames XD and sleep, yeah lol
and play more hockey

We havent done fees yet but are looking into 20-25 a term i think. and our shirts were $10 lol (we got cheapies, new ones will be more)
Tim where did you guys get ur shirts made/printed etc?

NO BATTLE BOTS!!!
I reckon we should just have the schools keep hosting VEX events in the off season personally

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

ah darn my question just got answered lol

no theres no FRC ergo no boot camp

[BrentJ]

There is no FIRST this year.

But there will be some off season Vex comps and in August we will kickoff with the new Vex game for the 2009-2010 season.

Also there will be a lot more teams from outside Auckland joining Vex so the Nationals in March 2010 should be really challenging.

Check with your mentor/teacher in charge for more details.

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

thanks brent

[Trueliez]

Originally Posted by SCROSSLEY-GCEC

and our shirts were $10 lol (we got cheapies, new ones will be more)

Yeah, $10 per shirt and over 20 hours of my time screen printing them all by hand =P

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Originally Posted by Trueliez

Yeah, $10 per shirt and over 20 hours of my time screen printing them all by hand =P

I told you, i'd have helped if i'd known you were doing it ><

[Trueliez]

Originally Posted by SCROSSLEY-GCEC

Winning Alliance - GC/EC

Best day ever =]

(for those of you wanting to put a face to a name, that would be me in the middle haha)

[NoahTheBoa]

Originally Posted by usif

Also are we having that boot camp this year?

To the best of my knowledge, we are not holding a boot camp like last year, but we will be hosting an unofficial FRC regional July 9-10. That is the latest information that I have heard. We have been in continued contact with Johan Potgieter at Massey University to try and get this unofficial Build Season/Regional planned. As far as I know there is going to be an unofficial regional.

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

You need a who am i pic Giselle =]
Good intro time!
Tim, meet Giselle. (Badge + Logo Designer)
Giselle, meet Tim. (Onehunga Builder)
you've both heard about each other =D

More Photos in a min~
[Or a few hours - upload glitches]

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Originally Posted by NoahTheBoa

To the best of my knowledge, we are not holding a boot camp like last year, but we will be hosting an unofficial FRC regional July 9-10. That is the latest information that I have heard. We have been in continued contact with Johan Potgieter at Massey University to try and get this unofficial Build Season/Regional planned. As far as I know there is going to be an unofficial regional.

Actually the Regional has been cancelled. they couldnt afford it. we were informed a few days ago

[NoahTheBoa]

Originally Posted by SCROSSLEY-GCEC

Actually the Regional has been cancelled. they couldnt afford it. we were informed a few days ago

That is really unfortunate, I'm sure we'll be doing something though if possible.

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Originally Posted by NoahTheBoa

That is really unfortunate, I'm sure we'll be doing something though if possible.

They're using the money they will have left over to fund 4 VEX teams to World Champs instead of the winning two.
Also will be doing the new VEX game in August(?) out of the same fund

If we did FRC they were going to have to cancel just about everything robotics for like 3 years (apparently)

With the economy crashing down around us, NZ just aren't in a position to do much more at the moment :S it sucks

[Trueliez]

Originally Posted by SCROSSLEY-GCEC

They're using the money they will have left over to fund 4 VEX teams to World Champs instead of the winning two.
Also will be doing the new VEX game in August(?) out of the same fund

If we did FRC they were going to have to cancel just about everything robotics for like 3 years (apparently)

With the economy crashing down around us, NZ just aren't in a position to do much more at the moment :S it sucks

Expanding on Steph's comments a little...

Holding an FRC Regional in New Zealand would have cleaned out the New Zealand FIRST Trust completely leaving no money for future robotics endeavours until we found new sponsors, which in this financial climate is difficult to say the least.

I believe the aim of NZ FIRST at the moment is to continue working with VEX to expand and start up regionals in other parts of the country and include more schools. I don't think that any FRC competitions will be happening here for a while, unless we gain a lot of long term funding soon, and/or until the profile of FIRST has been raised.

Correct me if I'm wrong haha =]

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Originally Posted by Trueliez

Correct me if I'm wrong haha =]

Right minus some?
as far as i'm told - there were a lot of issues even before the economy started crashing (with getting sponsorship) especially cos of that financial-planner-ish guy... Tim knows what i'm talking about.

It costs a lot of money to run FRC even in America, and 150% that in NZ at the best of times. I believe it was a struggle even before the conversions changed. I don't think it was ever practical to try and start FRC in NZ in such a small amount of time.

[usif]

Tim, I have got only around 4-5 People in the team, but its really only me and this other guy that do all the work.

I have decided against uploading any of my photos or videos, because I cant speak for the other teams, and they may not agree with me posting their robots on the internet. Its only fair.