This is my team’s rookie year, so i dont really understand why we ship the bots early…
i just now thought that maybe they want to test them, but i’m not entirely sure…
-Leav
The reason you have to ship them after 6 weeks is part of the challenge. It’s been like this for my 6 years and probably longer.
There are some regionals about a week or so after ship, yet there are also regionals over a month after we ship our robots out. The idea of shipping your robot to a dryage company makes it a fair playing field. Otherwise teams in the later regionals would have an incredibly unfair advantage over other teams.
FIRST doesn’t open the crates at all, once you seal it in your shop, it won’t be opened until you get to your regonal(s) and open it up yourselves.
This attempts to level the playing field between the teams that compete the first week of Regionals and those who compete the last week. It provides a means to have equal build time for all.
The robots are not tested or inspected. They just sit in the dark in their crate 
The ship date definitely provides a clear milestone around which the team can focus. The robot has to be done by then. At the regional, there really isn’t time to “build,” just one day for practice then 2 days of competition. So make sure you get it done before shipping!
I think the 6 week deadline also contributes to the wow factor by making it obvious that the teams did an “impossible” job (strategizing designing and building) in an “impossibly” short amount of time. If the time factor were taken away it wouldn’t seem so amazing.
Below is an old quote from Dean Kamen (from 1998 kickoff) that describes some of the thinking behind ship here, compete there:
"One of the problems is that we live in a media age, and only things that happen on a national scale work. Well, when science fairs happen, its a plastic paramecium on a bridge table in the basement next to the gym. Then they go home and flip on the Super Bowl.
If we did this event and the winners didn’t go to Disneyland, if we did this event and there was no “super bowl” for the kids to think about, if it wasn’t really competitive, if they weren’t watching the world’s best technology people the way they watch Shaquille, it wouldn’t have an impact.
So I know its expensive on a per student basis that you touch. And why do they have to build it here, fly over here, fly over there? The point is not even the giant companies individually, all of whom have great philanthropy programs, can impact the kids because they’re competing with things that have national scope. And when you put all of these giant companies together, your companies, and allow these things to develop the same kind of scale as these distractions that kids see, the hope is, those kids will work harder, the kids around them will see it, the infrastructure which we now see is starting to develop will build around the country. These kinds of stories will happen more, and the result will be a change in the culture of the United States."
end quote
You should note that now we have a lot more regionals, so there is less flying than there was way back in 1998. And of course, we no longer have the Championship at a built-up stage at DisneyWorld, its in an arena in Atlanta.
Ken
ahhh…
you see here in israel there are only 12 teams, so everyone competes in one day 
i didnt even think about the possiblity of having the regionals not at the same time globaly…
so now i have a different question:
how does FIRST know that the robot confirms to the rules?
-Leav
Before the official competition matches start, your robot must be inspected by volunteer inspectors. They have a check list to check for compliance with electrical, pneumatic, etc rules. They request an inventory of all the parts used on the robot and their cost. Finally, your robot is taken to a scale and a large measuring box to check if it fits size and weight requirements.
At some regionals (I have not seen this myself), inspectors perform random spot checks throughout the competition because it would be possible to modify your robot illegaly after the first inspection.
Once you arrive at the competition and unpack your robot from its crate then there will be an inspection which you have to pass before you’re allowed to compete. The inspection checklist is posted before the ship date so it’s not hard to ensure that you’re in compliance.
Leav send me a message in msn/icq/here, I want to talk to you.
Leav,
I recently posted a white paper which goes over the basic competition structure in FIRST. Some things will be condensed for the Israel one day competition but it should help give you an idea of what competitions have been like here in the past. You can get that tip sheet here. I hope this will help. Let me know if you have any questions.
say a team got sponsered by UPS and you got different shipping would that cause any problems?
I don’t believe so, but generally most teams ship with FedEx I think, because there’s so much volume in such a short period of time, so FedEx gives out some “freebie” ships to teams (usually it’s been to one event and back will be free for one crate).
However, I know my old team would drive our robot to the dryage company, because our local regional was 15 minutes away and the dryage company 10 minutes away. Saved us a lot of money.
It doesn’t matter how you ship. What does matter is a signed form showing that the robot was out of your hands by the deadline. Last year was 5:00 pm. It can be picked up from you at 4:59 and that is good but not 5:01 that’s bad. You can also drop off as long as the drayage company has before 5:00. Rules may change this year but not very likely.
Anne, this is most helpful! i’m sure you had this in mind when you decided to write the whitepaper, but i’ll say it anyway:
rookieteams really have no way of knowing whats going to go on!
i mean we know theres a competition, and theres a team, and objectives, but beyond that we are really stumped (for example just the other day i was informed that damaging the carpet on which the robots drive will automaticly disqualify you… this meant discarding an entire design, on which other designs were based, because it might damage the carpet!)
Thanks again,
-Leav
Trust me, everyone’s gone through this. The task becomes how well you handle being dropped into an arena full of robots and buttons and helpful people.
I’d advise you to read up on last year’s rules. There is no guarantee that these rules will remain the same next year, but FIRST seems to keep most of the safety and don’t-break-the-field rules the same. Just remember to read the 2005 manual!
thanks that clears up a couple of issues.
Leav, this is a great place to ask any of those questions. You also have an assigned team in the States that is your “mentoring” team and you should be in contact with them soon if you haven’t already. Be sure to ask for help, as you will receive lots if you ask.