Team Leaders, welcome to the Northern Lights and Lake Superior Regionals.  The events are held at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center (https://decc.org ).   Lots of information on lodging, team meals, and event schedule can be found on the event webpage (https://mnfirst.org/duluth-regionals/ ).

The Duluth competitions are held in the DECC (Duluth Entertainment Convention Center) which has vendor contracts that prohibit the public from bringing their own food and drinks to an event.  This rule applies to teams and spectators.  Your cooperation in getting this message out to your team and all the spectators is greatly appreciated.  Team members are encouraged to bring empty water bottles, as there will be refill stations around the venue.

Team lunch forms can be found at (https://mnfirst.org/frc/duluth-lunch ).  The deadline is this Thursday, Feb 22nd.

The Thursday Team Feed at Grandma’s Sports Garden (RSVP deadline is March 1st) and the Friday Team Social at the DECC (RSVP deadline is February 22nd).  Team Social signup is on the Team Lunch form.  Details for those events can be found at (https://mnfirst.org/frc/duluth-team-social ).

Junkyard Robots are back for the 7th year (https://mnfirst.org/frc/duluth-junkyard-robots ).  This is a great tradition that teams have a lot of fun with.   For our planning purposes, you must register by March 2nd.

Regional Event Ambassadors are student that help guide invited guests and other attendees through our events.  Each team is invited to have one student submit for consideration to be a Regional Event Ambassador.  Applications should be made via FIRST VIMS (https://login.firstinspires.org/core/login?signin=d68a40717b684d82bab89c8138290671 ).  Questions, please write to Laurie Shimizu, lshimizu@firstinspires.org.  Ambassadors will be called upon throughout the event and immediately after the Invited Guest Luncheon on Friday at 1:00pm.  Training for this position will be on Thursday in the Split Rock 2 room at a time to be announced.

One of our long time Duluth sponsors, Grandma’s, has a special ticket price for the Adventure Zone (http://www.adventurezoneduluth.com ) and $2 from each ticket goes to help fund the events.  The ticket price is $10 (normally $17) and includes unlimited Laser Tag and Mini-golf.  Tickets must be purchased at Grandma’s Sports Garden (http://www.thesportsgarden.com ).

Please review the Rules & Expectations for FIRST Robotics Competition Events (https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/frc/event-experience ) manual.  It details team conduct and many of the “to-do’s” for before and during the event.

Early Pit Setup is Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The Early Pit Setup section of the Rules and Expectations for FIRST Robotics Competition Page (https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/frc/event-experience ) will govern.  On Wednesday night from 6:00pm to 9:00pm, teams will unload their trailers at the appropriate door for your regional event (see map: https://mnfirst.org/frc/duluth-directions ).  A driver must stay with the vehicle at all times. When curbside drop-off is complete, the vehicle must be moved.  Only 5 people (one must be an adult) will be allowed in the pit for setup.  For safety purposes, robots will be directed to a holding area so that they are not in the pits during pit setup.  Once a team’s pit setup is complete, the robot can be retrieved from the holding area and returned to the team’s designated pit.  Teams are not allowed to work on their robots until 8:30am Thursday morning.  The pits close promptly at 9:00pm on Wednesday night.  Teams loading-in on Thursday morning will follow the same procedure beginning at 7:45am.  When a team’s pit setup is complete, the setup crew must leave the pit area and not return until 8:30am on Thursday morning.  Please tell your students and appropriate mentors about this procedure. Also at load-in, Junkyard Robots will be directed to a holding bin and team banners will be collected.

Don’t forget to create a team banner.  Banners will be collected at load-in and will hang in the DECC lobby.   The banner should be made of durable material, be 2ft x 2ft, and have 2 grommets at the top from which to hang the banner.

There will be two fields worth of carpet that can be distributed to teams after the event during teardown.   Please contact me if you’d like a piece of carpet (markl56821@aol.com ).

If you have mentors or parents who would like to volunteer, there are still open positions in each event.  Please have them sign up through VIMS (https://www.firstinspires.org/ways-to-help/volunteer ).

Regards, Mark Lawrence
Chairman, MN FIRST Regional Planning Committee