Team Leaders, welcome to the North Star Regional and the 10,000 Lakes Regional presented by the Medtronic Foundation. Here are some helpful links:
10,000 Lakes Regional presented by the Medtronic Foundation (https://www.firstinspires.org/team-event-search/event?id=37402 )
North Star Regional (https://www.firstinspires.org/team-event-search/event?id=37408 )
FIRST Minnesota website (https://mnfirst.org/minneapolis-regionals/ )
Important Team Update 14
There is a new, required RoboRio firmware version, 2019_v14. Teams should come to the event with it already downloaded on their laptops so they can install it once they have access to their robot.
https://firstfrc.blob.core.windows.net/frc2019/Manual/TeamUpdates/TeamUpdate14.pdf
Mentors, We Need You!
Our inspection crews for this year’s regional events are understaffed. If your team has ever waited an hour or more for an inspector, just imagine how long the wait will be if we only have half as many inspectors available! By volunteering as an inspector, you can help reduce those wait times and ensure every team at the event performs to the best of their abilities – whether they are on your alliance or playing against you!
Worried that your team needs you in the pit? The great part about inspecting is that you’re still in the pits – they can find you and ask questions throughout the event! You’ve spent all season training them and getting them ready for the big show – it’s time to give them room to prove themselves, while still being nearby in case they really need help.
Please join us as a robot inspector* at our Minnesota and North Dakota Regional events! Registration is via firstinspires.org. Log into your FIRST account and follow the prompts to Event Volunteer. We look forward to having you join our crew and lessen the line!
*Position comes with a cool volunteer shirt and free meals! Other positions are available, too, just ask!
Your friendly LRI crew,
Jon (Great Northern)
Nick (Northern Lights)
Matt (Lake Superior)
Katie (10,000 Lakes)
Mike (North Star)
Team Lunches and General Food and Drinks
The Universitys arenas have vendor contracts that prohibit the public from bringing their own food and drinks into an event. This applies to all teams and spectators. Please dont try to sneak in food or drinks. To enforce this rule, robot inspectors will be monitoring load in. Please encourage your students to bring a water bottle. Beverage coolers will be placed around the venue for refilling bottles. Concessions will be open. Please review event rules with your team members:
https://firstfrc.blob.core.windows.net/frc2019/EventRules/EventRulesManual.pdf
Note that this document does not specifically say food because the rules apply also to district events.
Team lunch forms can be found here (https://mnfirst.org/minneapolis-regionals/minneapolis-lunch/ ). Due date is March 22nd.
Load in/out
Note the location for your event for load-in/out. Load-in hours are Wednesday night 6:00pm to 9:00pm and Thursday 7:45am to 8:30am. Directions can be found here:
https://mnfirst.org/minneapolis-regionals/minneapolis-load-in/
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 teams pit setup is complete, the robot can be retrieved from the holding area and returned to the teams 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 teams 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.
Scouting for All!
For teams looking to be competitive, scouting is a key part of their strategy. Last year, Falcon Robotics (5434) piloted sharing our scouting information with all teams at the competition. Overwhelmingly teams were supportive of our efforts. At NORTHERN LIGHTS and 10000 LAKES this year we’d like to take SCOUTING FOR ALL! to another level by engaging other teams in our efforts. It is our hope that this will reduce the strain on any one team for scouting, increase the accuracy of information, and make the competition more fun for everyone. We are looking for teams interested in helping us scout using a system integrated with google forms. Teams that participate will have access to the raw spreadsheet of all scouting information in realtime at the event. On Saturday of the event we’ll be sharing a filtered version of this scouting with all teams. To participate teams will need 3-6 students able to scout every match with smartphones. For more details, contact Jason Engbrecht at engbrech@stolaf.edu.
Team Seminars
If your team would like to host a seminar, please send me a (MarkBLawrence @gmail.com). Seminars are held on Thursday afternoon and typically 50 minutes in length. I cant guarantee that all seminars will be held because of time and space limitations.
SWEet Eats
The Robettes (2177) are teaming up with the U of M – Twin Cities chapter of Society of Women Engineers (SWE) to host this FIRST Ladies networking luncheon. Female students and mentors can relax, meet other women in FIRST & STEM, and chat with the SWE members about what it’s like in STEM fields beyond high school
When: Friday, March 29th, 12pm noon
Where: Mariucci Arena Concourse
RSVP by March 22 by emailing SWEetEats@therobettes.com with the following info:
Team Name
# of Ladies Attending (student/mentor)
Any dietary restrictions we should be aware of
For more info, please see (https://mnfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2019-SWEet-Eats-Flyer.pdf )
Space is limited, so RSVP soon!
Thank you,
Mary and Fae
Outreach Leads
Team 2177 The Robettes
U of MN Robotics – You’re Invited!
University of Minnesota Robotics (formerly known as GOFIRST) would like to invite teams to our first Spring Social on March 27th, from 5pm-9pm! One part food, one part educational, one part social, and all parts fun, this event is geared towards showing students what their futures could look like in STEM as well as offer some time to meet new friends and hang out with old ones before the start of the competition. The evening will start with dinner and presentations from several professionals in the STEM fields who will share their educational and professional journeys. This will be followed by social time where we will provide games and a movie. We will also have a display about University of Minnesota Robotics where students can learn about other robotics opportunities as well as how to continue with FIRST after graduating high school. This event will be held on campus at the University of Minnesota and teams can come and go as they need to. We look forward to seeing you there! More information including event cost, location, and how to RSVP can be found at (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeXI2PCvhCPBIf9qZBJsfekIR_6hMhTcf94uRnCRBq1MXrs2A/viewform ). Be sure to sign up soon as space is limited! If you have any questions, please contact Laura Irvine, U of M Robotics Director of Programs, at robotics@umn.edu.
Thanks!
Laura Irvine