**FIRST EMAIL**/Robot Transportation Call Tonight 7 PM ET/Inspections Before Eliminat

[Mark McLeod]

**FIRST EMAIL**/Robot Transportation Call Tonight 7 PM ET/Inspections Before Elimination Matches/Hotels/Safety Glasses
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Greetings Teams:

Upcoming Senior Mentor Calls: Don’t forget that the Robot Transportation Checklist Call is taking place tonight @ 7 PM ET. Additionally, the FRC Competition 101: Getting Ready for your Regional Call will take place on Thursday, 2/17 @ 7 PM ET. For call outlines and call-in information, please visit: http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/....aspx?id=10124.

**BE PREPARED FOR ROBOT SHIP/LOCK-UP DAY! CALL TEAM SUPPORT AT 1-800-871-8326 EXT. 0 TO ADDRESS ANY QUESTIONS ASAP. BEING UNPREPARED FOR ROBOT SHIP/LOCK-UP DAY COULD JEOPARDIZE YOUR TEAM’S PARTICIPATION IN THE REST OF THE FRC SEASON!**

Robot Ship/Lock-up Day: All teams must cease work on their robot on or before Robot Ship/Lock-up Day on Tuesday, February 22, 2011. Any team that fails to comply may jeopardize their participation in the rest of the FRC season.

Robot Removal Requests: If you would like to request to remove your robot from a traditional Regional Event rather than shipping it home, you must submit a Robot Removal Request to Team Support at frcteams@usfirst.org no later than Friday, February 25, 2011. Please refer to Section 5.5.2 of the Administrative Manual for full details and a request template.

Adhere to the 400 lb. Weight Limit: If you do not have a scale big enough to weigh your crated robot, weight each part separately to ensure that your team does not exceed the 400 lb. weight limit. Any team that does not comply with the weight limit will be responsible for any overage charges, and may incur other sanctions from FIRST HQ. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Shipping & Drayage Documents: These documents are now available by event. You need this information in order to ship your robot! http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...ts.aspx?id=430

Before you crate your robot – take a photo of your robot only and upload it to TIMS at: https://my.usfirst.org/frc/tims/site.lasso. These photos will be used for the judging booklets at competition.

For everything related to Robot Transportation, please refer to Section 5 of the FRC Administrative Manual.

2011 FIRST Robotics Conference- Call for Proposals: FIRST is seeking presentation proposals for the eighth annual FIRST Robotics Conference. 45-minute workshops on topics of interest to FIRST Robotics (FRC), FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) and FIRST LEGO League (FLL) teams, coaches, mentors, students and prospective leaders will be accepted. Deadline to submit is February 11th, 2011. For full details, please visit: http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/....aspx?id=18959.

Award Submission Reminders: Don’t forget that submissions for the Chairman’s, Woodie Flowers, and Website Awards are due by 2/17/11 at 11:59 AM ET in STIMS.
Additionally, Dean’s List Award submissions are due in TIMS by 2/17/11 at 11:59 AM ET. Read more about all FRC Awards.

Inspections before Elimination Matches: Please note that during all 2011 FRC Competitions (Regionals, District Events, State Championship, and Championship), robots will be subjected to a weight inspection and a brief safety inspection before being allowed to compete in elimination matches.

2011 Hotel Pilot Program for 10 Regional Events: If you’re going to the Alamo, Autodesk Oregon, Boston, Florida, NE Utilities FIRST Connecticut, Peachtree, Seattle Cascade, Seattle Olympic, Smoky Mountain, Utah or Washington, DC Regionals, you’ll want to check out the new FIRST Regional hotel page here: http://www.firstchampionshiphousing.com/Regionals.aspx.

Airline and Car Rental Discount Programs for FRC Teams: For information about these discount programs, please visit: http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/....aspx?id=18428 .

Autodesk Updates: We wanted to remind everyone that there are a few deadlines and updates for the 2011 Award for Excellence in Design:

• An updated character rig for Autodesk Maya was recently added to the 3D Animation toolkit. http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=frc2011_animation
• Deadlines – 3D Animation - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 5:00PM PST

3D Design – Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 5:00PM PST

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the Design First video, where MythBusters Grant Imahara discusses the importance of FIRST Robotics design.

There are also updates on the Autodesk Education Community related to the Kit of Parts for FRC, FTC Mini-bots and Field Elements. These will come in handy for the 3D Design competition (deadline mentioned above)! Please visit the Autodesk FIRST page for all of the information.

Reminder about Safety Glasses: As you know, everyone is required to wear Safety Glasses at all times in the Pit area at FRC Events. When you are packing up to go to your Event(s), please remember to pack Safety Glasses for every Student, Mentor, team and family member who will be visiting your team in the Pit area. FIRST has only a limited supply of extra Safety Glasses on hand, so we appreciate your efforts to supply enough Safety Glasses for everyone you bring with you!

Go Teams!