Dear Teams,
Enclosed are a batch of updated
attachments. Please share as much info as you can with students and
parents who may be coming. In the past people came up to the pit table
with little info so telling them the pit number in advance would be
useful.You will not be allowed in until 8 AM.
Team Info Sheet (attached)
When you arrive hand in your team info sheet to me. We ask for a count on how many children you have with you. We understand that sometimes upon arrival you may not be sure. Make your best guess and come back later if it changes. It is most efficient for you to have this ready for me rather than start filling it out in front of me with all the other coaches milling about.
WE DON'T KNOW YOU HAVE ARRIVED OFFICIALLY UNLESS THIS IS IN OUR HANDS.
Opening ceremonies at 9AM
Coaches Meeting
Rich Wong will hold a coaches meeting - near the playing field -
Robot Inspection
You must see Veryl Green to get your robots inspected.
Bring your mats and FSK if you want to practice.
There will be outlets at the pits. But no power at the judging. (So no projectors).
Watching your stuff
Over
all my 14 years of being involved I can recall only 2 or 3 instances of
something that went missing - a laptop, a tablet. But this is a free
entry area with no security so you need to consider how to protect your
property just in case.
Phones, tablets, laptops can be tempting targets.
There are hundreds or people milling around.
THERE WILL BE NO CHAIRS
And a reminder -- few if any chairs - so bring them or bring something to put on the floor for kids to sit on.
I have 3 chairs for me and the other volunteers at the pit table. KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF!
You might consider bringing your own chairs but keep an eye on them because everyone is looking for chairs.
You have room in the aisles to set up your field on the floor but table space can be tight.
And share with neighbors.
Food, Glorious Food
For
vets you know that upon arrival, the people at Javits frown at breaking
in your own food and might not let you bring it in. Thus we tell our
people to hide the food in bags and containers until you get to the pit
table. Then it's Katy bar the door as no one will check again. As for
lunch they never bother us so you can get pizza delivered if you meet
the delivery guy outside.
Rubrics
I
will be getting them in the afternoon but I cannot distribute them to
the coaches until AFTER the closing ceremonies. I know some teams leave
early so that becomes a problem. Check in with me either at the pit
table or at the closing ceremony table where announcements are made if
you have to leave. Only coaches, not students may pick them up.
Awards
If you leave early but get an award it will be sent to you.
Medals
I
will hand these out beginning at lunch time by calling your pit table
numbers over the mic. Please don't distribute to the kids until the end
of the day as they get lost if they come off the ribbon.
READ THE FOLLOWING FROM OUR ORGANIZERS ESPECIALLY CAREFULLY
General instructions and morning check-in
o
Please
wait for your team to be queued for performance and judging sessions – while a
schedule is being provided to you it is for reference purposes only
o
Upon
morning check-in , you will be given a packet which will contain
§ Full sheet of labels – this is for
your team memebrs to wear on their shirts throughout the competition and will
be used to identify the team. Note: there will be 2 labels marked Technical Presenter 1 and Technical Presenter 2 These must only be placed on the two kids who
will do the technical robot presentation for the judges
§ Half sheet of labels – these should
be given to your team when they go to judging.
The judges will peel off the appropriate judging label and put it on
their rubric
§ Full judging and match schedule – remember that this is only for reference purposes – your team must wait in the
pit to be queued for judging and performance rounds
§ Pit map and team list
§ Summary sheet showing the
approximate times your team is scheduled for judging and performance
o
Remember
to have your robots inspected in the morning by Veryl Greene (inspections to
occur near Pit Admin - there will be a specific area Veryl will be in - check in with me if you can't find her.)
o
Opening
ceremonies will begin promptly at 9:00 AM – please make sure your teams are in
the stands unless your team has been queued up for judging
· Practice Tables
o
Teams
will be allowed to practice on the competition tables throughout the morning,
however, tables must be left in competition-ready condition
· Judging
o
All
judging will be completed before lunch time
o
Teams
will have 5 minutes to present at each of the 3 judge stations (Research,
Technical, Core Values) and 5 minutes will be alloted for judge Q&A
§ This year, Technical Judging will be
done on the designated competition tables
o
There
will be no power provided in the Research judging booths. If teams are presenting on a laptop, please
ensure that it has adequate power to last through the duration of the judge
session
o
There
will be only 2 teams members allowed to present the robot during Technical
Judging
§ The whole team is allowed and
encouraged to present during Research and Core Values judge sessions
· Performance
o
Performance
rounds will take place for all teams following the judging session (starting
approximately at 1:00 PM). There will be
no overalp between judging and performance rounds
o
Each
team will have 3 performance rounds, from which the highest score will be taken
for performance rankings
o
Only
two team members are allowed to participate in during the 2.5 minute
performance rounds
o
Robots
must adhere to the maximum alowable materials rule when participating in
performance rounds. Robots must go
through Robot Inspections in the morning, prior to the start of the performance
rounds
· Pit Areas
o
Power
outlets will be provided in the pit stations
o
A
team representative must always be present at their pit station in case queuers
or any other volunteers need to locate the team
o Announcements
will be made in the pit over the PA system – please listen for important
instructions from the coordinators throughout the day
·
JFLL - ages 6-9 - exhibition area on your map-- stop by to visit.
FRC
It is important to make this a full learning experience for the kids and having some context will help.
There
is a concurrent 3 day tournament going on for the high schools and they
get a good deal of space. Try to take your kids to their pit
area - you should try to find some time to take
your team on a tour --- you will need safety glasses to get in -- they
loan them out at the entrance. Back there you will see how each FRC team
(some come from England and Brazil) has a shop set up to work on the
robots.
Watch a few rounds of the competition.
This is the FRC competition - with 6 robots on the field at a time.
Here is a link if you want to school your kids so they know what is happening -- http://www.nycfirst.org/
Most Importantly: Please remind your team to have fun throughout
the day. It is their day to shine and
let all of the hard work of the last few months be on display. Remind them about Gracious Professionalism
and about why they are participating in FIRST.
Also, please take your kids to see the High School competition
throughout the day.
