Week 2, Week 3, and Championship Waitlists
March 14, 2017
Each year, FIRST® Robotics Competition partners with a local team to host the official “Week 0” event. This is an opportunity for the FIRST® staff to put the field through a test event prior to the season. A huge thanks to Team 811, Wild Cards, for hosting this year’s Week 0 event, the 29 teams for a great competition, and the team of staff and volunteers for making the event happen.
This game is so much fun for all involved and we can’t wait to see how it evolves throughout the season. If you didn’t watch it live, you can watch match videos from the event via the FIRST Robotics Competition YouTube playlist or via the FRC-Events page for the event. Thank you to all the teams and volunteers for their flexibility as the plan for the event adjusted due to the weather!
Overall, we think the event went really well! We also found some bugs and areas for improvement that were good to have identified prior to Week 1 events. We’re using what we learned at Week 0 to help ensure teams and volunteers have a positive event experience regardless of what week they compete. Below are a couple of notes we want to remind teams of:
Robot Reminders
The weight of Fuel can add up fast! Make sure when you’re pre-inspecting your robot (using the inspection checklist) that it still complies with all sizing and extension restrictions, even when filled with fuel. The weight of the Fuel can force robot surfaces to flex, causing violations of either R106 or R404.
Fuel Exiting the Field
As a reminder, when you’re driving your robot on the field you should be mindful of where that Fuel ends up and trying to prevent Fuel from exiting the field. Additionally, anyone standing around the field (including your Drive Team) should be aware of what’s going on as fuel may leave the field. With over 500 scoring elements and six robots on the field things move fast!