Team Leaders, as you would expect during build season, there is plenty going on. Remember as you go through the season and need any kind of assistance, please contact us through the Community Resources links on the FUM home page (https://firstuppermidwest.org
FIRST in Upper Midwest (FUM) practice fields awarded
Through a $100K grant from the MN Dept of Employment and Economic Development, FUM has awarded AndyMark regulation fields to 5 hubs around the state. The fields will be delivered in late February.
Competitive Practice Facilities will be established in:
• Becker, MN: Central Minnesota Robotics Hub (Alex Jurek, lead contact)
• Byron, MN: Byron Public Schools/Byron Robotics (Aaron Nepstad, lead contact)
• Duluth, MN: Duluth Robotics Inc./Arrowhead Robotics Coalition (Doug Frisk, lead contact)
• Minneapolis, MN: Minneapolis Public Schools/Minneapolis Urban Robotics Alliance (Tim Dirr, lead contact)
• St. Paul, MN: Hmong College Prep Academy (Ryan Lester, lead contact)
Additional details can be found on the FUM pages News link (https://firstuppermidwest.org
Event Volunteers needed
We’re in need of additional inspectors for your event, particularly, Northern Lights in Duluth on Thursday and Friday, March 5th and 6th. We’re hoping you would have a technical mentor that could step up and volunteer with us.
Volunteering as an inspector helps the event succeed, while also giving you a chance to talk with other teams and dig into their robots to see how they work – and to help them work better! Your knowledge and experience can help those teams avoid problems and succeed on the field – something we want every team to do! If you have any questions about inspection, please don’t hesitate to reach out to LRI Jon Stratis – jonathan.stratis@gmail.com. Please include your team number and event(s) attending as well!
Team Q&A call-in
It’s a critical time of the build season where your decisions can make or break your season! The FUM Team and Mentor Support Committee will be hosting a video conference Q and A to help address the challenges that you and your team are facing. A panel of experienced FRC mentors will be available to answer questions and provide support to get you over the mid-build season hump.
All questions are fair game. The panel will help to answer anything that your team is struggling with, ranging from specific questions regarding robot rules to broad opinions regarding how Infinite Recharge will play out.
The Q&A session is Monday, Feb 3rd , 7:30 – 8:30pm. Here is a link for the session (https://tinyurl.com/uec37tf ). This is a Microsoft Teams link that will open in your browser or with the Teams app. The stream will also be archived and available to watch later. If you miss the call, feel free to reach out to Ryan Swanson at ryan.john.swanson@gmail.com to connect about any questions you have.
Thanks,
The Team and Mentor Support Committee
FIRST in Upper Midwest (FUM)
During build pre-inspection
Want your robot pre-inspected before you get to the competition, then come to SpecCheck. SpecCheck is scheduled for February 7 from 5-9PM. See flier at this link for more information. (https://sites.google.com/frc4
Week 0 Scrimmages
There are now several events posted under Pre-Regional Events on the FUM website (https://firstuppermidwest.org
Week 3 Scrimmages
Keep watching the Pre-Regional Events links for scrimmages that will be held during the competition season. The first one that has been announced is the Battalion Bootcamp on Saturday, March 14. It is hosted by FRC 7028 at STMA High School. Cost is $200. Please see this page for details and signup (https://7028robotics.com/boot
Regards, Mark Lawrence
Chairman, MN FIRST Regional Planning Committee