The cheesecake issue wasn’t whether or not labor had to be entered on the BoM: the answer was clearly that it was free, as the labor was provided by “members of other teams”. The question was whether or not items provided by another team **during an event **(whether manufactured before or during) could be used on the robot at all. The initial ruling on Q461 from the GDC, in accordance with the rules as written, was no, no, no, and no (it was a four-part question). CD was in uproar for the next 24-48 hours until the rule R14 and R17 were changed/added by team updateon 17 March and the Q&A answers modified to yes, yes, yes, and yes.
I’d like to thank everyone for their concern - in all regards - but I feel I need to clarify my original post. I am trying to register on TIMS so I am able to pick up the KOP on kickoff, not to be a full time mentor. Last season, Mentor #1 on our team had to pick it up, effectively missing a large portion of the team’s kickoff. (Mentor #2 was otherwise occupied.)
I’ve read the threads advising against first-year college mentors and I’ve read the threads advising against mentoring your old team. I started this thread to find out if I can register on TIMS at 17 and see if anyone else has been in my position.
Thank you again for looking out for me, and I don’t mean to sound unappreciative of anyone’s input. I am looking forward to staying involved in FIRST through college organizations and volunteering at events, not mentoring my high school team full time.
There is another alternative, if you can’t get TIMS to register you as a mentor. With appropriate prior arrangements (letter, contacting appropriate parties, etc.), it is possible for one team to pick up another team’s KOP. If you’ve got any local teams going to the same kickoff, it may be worth while to make those arrangements.
Thank you very much!
You should definitely start by contacting the local planning committee in charge of the kickoff in question. Let them know what the issue is, how you would prefer to solve it, and ask them what steps you and your team need to take to make sure there won’t be any issues picking up the kit. Ultimately, they will need to be aware of and buy into whatever solution is decided upon, as they’ll be the ones at kickoff distributing the kit you need to pick up!
Your best bet is to email First and ask them directly. Realize a lot of stuff written on the first web site is poorly written & is not their actual policy.
The requirement is the first and second contacts be 18. The permission form in TIM apparently has provision for under 18. Once you are registered in Tims one of the primary mentors will have to associate you with the team.
This may not solve your problem since the 2015 rule was an adult mentor has to sign for the KOP. Might be something to do with under 18s cannot sign binding contracts in states. (slight simplification) The ruledid not seem to apply to a surrogate team pick up. So once again you are back to asking First for their true policy.