Posted to the FRC Blog today:
We’re currently at 2,328 teams registered for events, and several dozen waitlisted for events. This means we’ve already exceeded our total team count from last year! It’s shaping up to be an exciting season.
KoP Early Option – More Details
Some commenters have asked good questions on my post regarding the Early Option. Here are a few more details:
Teams will be able to place multiple orders in FIRST Choice, limited only by how many FIRST Credits they have available and component availability. So, a team could use some of their credits before Kickoff, some after. Keep in mind teams pay for shipping.
Some items in FIRST Choice will be ‘blacked out’ until after Kickoff, because they are game-related. You won’t be able to order these items until after Kickoff
As I noted in this blog: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/blog-10-03-12, IFI is generously donating 2 Victors and 1 Jaguar for each Rookie Kickoff Kit, and a motor controller Product Donation Voucher for two motor controllers to all teams for the 2013 season. Veteran teams will not be receiving any IFI motor controllers as part of the Kickoff Kit, but now have the option of choosing Victors or Jaguars with their PDV.
Early ordering is available only to teams who have registered and paid for their first event. This is the same payment that would allow you to get your kit in the first place. Payment for additional events you may have signed up for is not required to get access to the kit, or this early ordering option.
It’s safe to assume that if you see a robot component in FIRST Choice when it opens for “window shopping” on November 12th, it will be legal for teams to use in the 2013 season. Please don’t go all ‘lawyer’ on me with this one. Use good judgment. If you see a plasma cutter available in FIRST Choice, you should not think you’ll be able to put it on your robot. (Spoiler: There will be no plasma cutters available in FIRST Choice).
I’ll blog again soon.
Frank
