Bills Blog: A few more details on control system and 2010 beta test

Technical Control System
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Bill Miller posted a new blog

Good Morning Teams,

In my travels this week, I’ve heard a few questions from teams. To answer what I can:

* Kickoff will be January 9th.
* Robot Ship will be February 23rd.
* The competition season will be 5 weeks long.
* Championship will be April 15-17th.
* FIRST does not plan to share the list of items teams may reuse from the 2009 kit just yet. I should have more details for you in September as we finalize agreements with some of our kit of parts suppliers.
* I’ll also be able to tell you where to purchase additional quantities of the reusable items then.
* Yes the cRIO will still be available at the discounted price.
* The classmate included in the kit of parts is being built especially for FRC. I’ll give you more information once Beta Testing starts.

I want to remind everyone who is busy with their calculator that the FRC Registration fee is not tied dollar for dollar with the Kit of Parts. FRC registration fees also go toward game development and prototyping costs, competition field construction, shipping Kits of Parts to Kickoffs, Kickoff production and a host of other hidden costs.

We’re almost ready to Beta Test elements of the 2010 control system. An email blast will go out to teams soon, but if you’re interested in helping FRC over the next few months, apply here.

Heads up, Section 4 of the competition manual (Robot Shipping) may change this year. FRC is working with a FedEX packing engineer to review our current crate criteria in an effort to improve efficiency in shipping.

Do you want to get the FIRST newsletter? Subscribe here.

149 days until the 2010 Kickoff
See you there!

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Thanks again to all Beta testers for the 2009 season - you folk were fantastic to work with!

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What’s better than beta testing? MORE beta testing!*

More credence is being given to the “Classmate as new Driver Station (that won’t repeatedly fail) theory”, it seems. Large, vibrant screen on the driver station? Count me in.

Being able to stock up on more cheaper cRIOs should be nice too.

*(disclaimer I have no idea on my team’s intentions on applying again to be beta testers I merely thought it would be funny to make this joke)

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Filled out and submitted :slight_smile: Hopefully this time more beta testers will be around in different regions so everyone has a chance to show what their teams are capable of.