Out to New England FRC teams...

NE FIRST Things FIRST

Week of September 7, 2015

FRC Registration Opens Soon!

Registration for the 2016 FRC season opens on Thursday, Sept. 24 at noon, which is in only two weeks! Be sure to update your team's profile and contact information in TIMS ASAP to ensure that you receive all important communications. Any new Main or Alternate contacts will need to clear YPP before the team is able to register, which can take up to 30 business hours to process. Once logged in, main and alternate mentors can click on the "Team Summary" button to access the team's profile. An "X" indicates that a section in the profile must be completed. Sections can be completed by clicking on the "Edit/View" buttons.

The NE FIRST District Event schedule is now available on the official event page. Additionally, check the FRC calendar periodically to make sure you don't miss any important deadlines!

Pre-Rookie Team Support

There are several resources, initiatives and grants available to teams competing in FRC for the first time. Be sure to connect any potential rookie teams that have reached out to you with your local Regional Director and encourage them to pre-register through TIMS. Your local RD can help these teams, as well as your team, prepare for the upcoming season.

Second Annual Robot Rodeo

FRC 4041, the Gardiner Iron Tigers, are hosting the second annual Robot Rodeo on Saturday, Oct. 17 at Gardiner Area Middle School in Gardiner, ME. Instead of competing on a field, teams will run through an obstacle course using elements from Recycle Rush. Additionally, teams will have the opportunity to complete "Locked Room" logic puzzles and compete in a fashion show/30-second autonomous dance-off. Registration for the event is $60. Teams can register and get details for the event here.

Save the Date: Boston NE FIRST University Day

The Boston NE FIRST University Day, hosted by FRC 125, will be held on Saturday Oct. 10 from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. The event will take place at the Behrakis Center at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. Seminars will be held in rooms 310, 315, 320, and 325.

More information about the event will be coming soon!

FRC Blog Updates

The following posts come from recent updates to the FRC Blog:

Software Beta Testing

FIRST is looking for 90 teams, 30 for each software language, to help test the 2016 FRC software. Make sure to fill out the application found here by Monday, Sept. 14 if you're interested. Beta teams will be asked to upgrade their 2015 robots to the 2016 software, perform some specific tests, and help educate other teams about the changes for 2016.

FRC Community Sponsored Awards

FRC Community Awards are those awards that are supported, judged, and managed by groups in the FRC community, rather than officially by FIRST. There are so many opportunities to succeed in FRC that it would be impossible for FIRST to officially recognize all the amazing work that gets done!

We know there are awards out there that are sponsored for FRC Teams, and you're invited to provide information about those awards so they can be recognized, too. Check out the new Community Award page, which will list community awards that have already been submitted. If your team sponsors a community award, add it to the list by sending an email to frcteamadvocate@usfirst.org.

Inter-District Play for 2016

In the 2015 season, Districts collaborated with FIRST HQ to fill any "open" district event spots with teams from other districts. An "open district spot" is defined as a spot that remains open after all teams in a district have had the opportunity to sign up for their two events plus any additional plays they desire. In 2015, seven district teams took advantage of this new opportunity and play inter-district.

Here are the changes to inter-district play in 2016:

The event will be considered an "additional event" regardless of when it actually occurs. Teams will only be able to earn points within their own districts.
Out-of-district team will not be eligible for the three Culture Changing Awards: Chairman's Award, Engineering Inspiration Award, or Rookie All Star. These may be earned only at events within their home district.
Out-of-district teams will be eligible to win all other awards but they will not earn points for these.

Important Dates:

In-District additional play registration will open Thursday, Nov. 5, the same day as unrestricted registration for regionals.
Inter-District registration will begin 1 week later, Thursday, Nov. 12.
Registration closes & payments are due from the teams on Wednesday, Nov. 23.
All teams registering inter-district will be put onto the waitlist.Teams will be notified shortly after Friday, Dec. 11 as to whether or not a slot is available for them.

The cost to register for an additional play at a district event outside a team's home district is still $1,000.

Please send feedback on possible changes to inter-district play for the 2017 season to frcteams@usfirst.org and your local regional director.

Society of Women Engineers News for FIRST Students & Teachers

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) a FIRST strategic alliance, provides benefits to members of the FIRST community. FIRST girls (and boys who wish to help advocate for girls in STEM) can join SWE for free! Student membership, call SWENext, is available students can take advantage of the benefits that come with membership.

Additionally, SWE is pleased to offer membership to full-time K-12 educators at a special reduced rate of $20. SWE's mission includes encouraging more women to become engineers, and teachers can support that mission by helping to reach girls. A SWE membership provides valuable K-12 outreach tools and support including:

Access to SWE K-12 outreach resources and activities locally, nationally and internationally
SWE's monthly e-newsletter, All Together and Award-winning SWE Magazine
Access to SWE's outreach community
Unparalleled networking opportunities with SWE members: Collegiate, professional and corporate members
K-12 outreach webinars

Take advantage of it here.

New England Pre-Season Event Updates

Bash at the Beach

Bash at the Beach will be held on Saturday, Oct. 3 at Lyme-Old Lyme High School in Old Lyme, CT. Registration is capped at 24 teams and will open by Sept. 15. More information will be coming soon.

River Rage 19

Registration is open for River Rage, the longest running off-season event in FIRST! River Rage 19 will take place on Saturday, Oct. 17 at Manchester Memorial High School in Manchester, NH. River Rage is hosted by FRC 131, 238 and 501. Pits open at 7 a.m. and the event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Halloween themed decorations/costumes are encouraged on both the robot and team, so long as it doesn't damage or interfere with game play. The registration fee of $250 is due on or before Tuesday, Oct. 13 and teams can register here.

Battle of the Bay

Registration is also open for Battle of the Bay, hosted by FRC 319. The event will be held on Saturday, Nov. 14 at Prospect Mountain High School in Alton, NH. Pits open at 7:30 a.m. The registration fee is $125 and registration and volunteer sign-up are open.

New England FTC Kickoff Events

There will be four FTC Kickoff events in New England this Saturday, Sept. 12:

Connecticut

Please join i2r robotics, FTC 6081, at noon on Saturday, Sept. 12 at the Westport Public Library for the FTC 2015-2016 Game Reveal and Kickoff. The event will be held on the main floor of the library, just outside the MakerSpace. We expect to have a set of game elements and a demonstration robot running with the new control system. The kickoff stream will be projected. Contact Terry Sauer at rtsauer@optonline.net with how many people will be coming if your team plans on attending.

Massachusetts

The Massachusetts FIRST Tech Challenge 2015-2016 kickoff will be held at Needham High School (609 Webster St, Needham Heights, MA 02494) from 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Schedule:

8:30 Workshop Registration
9:00-9:15 Opening Ceremony
9:15-10:15 Workshop Session 1
10:15-10:30 Break
10:30-11:45 Workshop Session 2
12:00-1:00 Game Reveal

Please register here prior to Friday, Sept. 11 to reserve a space for your team. Contact Loretta Bessette at massftc@gmail.com with any questions.

New Hampshire

The New Hampshire FTC kickoff will be held at the University of New Hampshire - Manchester (88 Commercial Street, Manchester, NH 03101) starting at 10 a.m. Directions can be found here. Contact Loretta Bessette at massftc@gmail.com with any questions.

Rhode Island

The Rhode Island FTC kickoff will be held at the New England Institute of Technology (One New England Tech Boulevard, East Greenwich, RI 02818). Contact Erin Flynn at 401-739-5000 or Eflynn@neit.edu with any questions.

Upcoming Deadlines

BAE Systems Grant

Deadline: Monday, Sept. 14

The 2015-2016 BAE Grant application can be found here. Questions about the application can be sent to bae.firstrobotics@baesystems.com.

PTC Grant

Deadline: Friday, Sept. 18

Notification: Friday, Oct. 16

PTC will provide two levels of grants, $1000 and $2500, to FRC teams for the 2015-2016 season. For organizations/affiliations with multiple FRC teams, only one team per organization/affiliation is eligible for a PTC team grant. The application and requirements can be found here.

UTC Grant

Deadline: Wednesday, Sept. 30 at 5 p.m.

United Technologies is now accepting team grant applications for all four FIRST programs in the upcoming competition season.To qualify for a UTC grant, teams must have at least one mentor who is an employee of UTC or a UTC business unit. Additionally, teams must compete in at least one official FIRST event during the 2016 season. The grant application can be found here.

NASA Grant

Deadline: Friday, Oct. 2, 1:59 a.m. (Thursday, Oct. 1, 23:59:59 PDT)

NASA is offering three types of grants for FRC teams for the 2015-2016 season. Teams may only apply for one type of NASA sponsorship per year:

Regional Challenge Grants: In conjunction with the sponsorship of Regional Competition events, NASA is making Regional Challenge Grants available to teams that participate in these specific events. The grants provide funding to cover the registration costs for selected events. The event list is still TBD.
Program Growth Grants: Program Growth Grants are being offered to teams in their first two years of participation in the FIRST Robotics Competition and are awarded for up to two years. Priority will be given to second-year teams that received a NASA Program Growth Grant as a rookie during the 2015 season. Any remaining resources may be applied to applications received from teams that will be rookies during the 2016 competition season.
Sustaining Grants: Sustaining Grants are intended to help teams on the verge of dissolution, and are not intended as funding for participation in second or third competition events. To qualify, teams must document that they have lost one or more of the primary financial sponsors that they had during the 2015 season, explain how this loss of sponsorship affects the potential for survival of the team and describe their plans for recovery of long-term sponsorship.