**FIRST EMAIL**/Important Season Deadlines and Updates

[Mark McLeod]

Greetings Teams:


With less than three weeks to go before Robot Ship Day, we'd like to share with you some friendly reminders before your robot leaves your hands on or before February 23rd, 2010.

• All Robot Removal Requests must be received in writing by Monday, March 1st, 2010. If your team plans to submit a request for FIRST's consideration, see Section 4.5.9 of the Manual.
• Shipping and Drayage documents are now available for most events. These documents supplement Section 4 of the 2010 Competition Manual by providing information specific to your event – like the address where you will ship your robot! You can find the Shipping and Drayage document for your event(s) by going to the Regional Events page and clicking on the event name: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...ts.aspx?id=430.
• Don't forget that there is a Senior Mentor/Expert Call on Robot Transportation taking place on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 @ 7 p.m. EST. For full details, click here: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr....aspx?id=16478.

And in other FRC News...

To help you better understand how the student application to team, electronic Consent and Release Form, team roster and awards submission work in relation to the Student Team Member and Parents/Legal Guardians system and the TIMS, click here http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles...s_Overview.pdf. This document will also be posted as Help in the TIMS.

Autodesk is offering FRC Teams have a great, new opportunity: You don’t have to wait to see them at Championship! You can blog right now with long-time FRC supporters and design technology experts Phil Dollan & Ted Boardman. Grab great info, ask all the questions you’ve got, get up-to-the minute tips on Autodesk Inventor and 3ds Max, or just kibbitz with Ted and Phil at http://tedandphil.wordpress.com/.

In case you didn’t notice when you unpacked your Kit of Parts, Freelin-Wade, the generous donor of all of the pneumatic tubing, is hosting a contest which ends soon. For more details, please refer to the information included in your kit, or contact Ron Miller at ronm@freelin-wade.com. Good luck!

The deadline to submit a presentation proposal for the seventh annual FIRST Robotics Conference is Monday February 8th, 2010. For full details about the conference; including how and where to submit your proposal, please visit: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr....aspx?id=16555.

This is a reminder: WPI, in partnership with FIRST, is conducting a study to understand how FRC student team members communicate, and we need your help! We’re interested in learning how students communicate within their team, how teams communicate with one another, and how student team members utilize social networking systems. Participation in the study involves completing a survey now (should only take about 20 minutes), and again at the end of the FIRST season. If you have not yet had a chance to participate, please visit: http://users.wpi.edu/~skorinko/FIRST.


Go Teams!