Just a few days until Kickoff!

In just a few short days, we kick off the season and unveil REEFSCAPE^SM presented by Haas.

Season Dates

We know that things move quickly after Kickoff so here are some important dates to be aware of:

• January 4^th – FIRST^® Robotics Competition Kickoff on YouTube! (noon, Eastern)
  • REEFSCAPE game revealed!
  • Kickoff Kits distributed
  • Encryption key posted & unencrypted game specific content posted
  • Replacement parts system opens (1pm, Eastern)
  • FIRST^® Choice Round 2 opens (1pm, Eastern)
  • New Virtual Kit items posted on the Virtual Kit section of the Kit of Parts webpage
• January 8^th – Official Q&A opens (details to be posted shortly after Kickoff)
• January 10^th – Missing/damaged Kickoff Kit item replacement part requests due (noon, Eastern)
• January 13^th – FIRST Choice Round 2 ends, priority lists locked (noon, Eastern)
• January 16^th – Digital Animation Award Deadline (due 11:59PM ET)
• January 22^nd – Payment due for additional events (5:00PM ET)
• January 24^th – FIRST Choice open ordering begins (noon, Eastern)

Teams can also visit the FIRST Robotics Competition Season Calendar and add individual events to their own calendar by clicking on ones that you’re interested in and clicking “Add to Calendar.”

Kickoff Kits

Who is allowed to pick up a Kickoff Kit at a Kickoff?:

• Lead 1 or 2 mentor for the team with photo ID
• Any mentor on the team over 18 (you may log in to your FIRST Dashboard as proof) with photo ID
• A person over 18 that is listed on the Surrogate Kit Pick-up Letter with photo ID.
  • If a team is unable to pick-up their Kickoff Kit at the Local Kickoff selected, a surrogate may be designated to do so but the form must be submitted at least 2 days prior to Kickoff by the lead mentor 1 or 2 or a team administrator

MySite Teams:

If a team is not attending a local Kickoff, they have the option to be a “MySite” team and have their Kickoff Kit shipped, after Kickoff, to an address of their choice. If a team is a MySite, it will be shipped (only after payment has secured) directly to the location provided in the team's Dashboard. Once the Kit has shipped, the tracking number will populate in the Dashboard under their Kit Shipping Address.

Sizing Info

Each team attending a local Kickoff receives their set of Kickoff Kit items. Items in a set vary from team to team, but everyone will get the Season Specific box.

We’re giving a deliberately vague “heads up” about the sizes and weights to expect for the different items so you can make accommodations to get the goods back to your build space. This information is also published in the “Kickoff Kit” section of the Kit of Parts page.

• Each team receives a “Season Specific” box (~23 in. x 11 in. x 8 in., ~8lbs)
• Teams that did not opt-out of the Kickoff Kit receive a Black Tote (~27 in. x 17 in. x 15 in., ~34 lbs.)
• Teams that did not opt-out of the Drive Base Kit receive a box (~7 in. x 7 in. x 33 in., ~28 lbs.)
• New (“rookie”) teams also receive a Gray Tote (~27 in. x 17 in. x 15 in., ~60 lbs.)

What if something’s missing or damaged?

We strongly recommend that one of the first things you do after Kickoff is to inventory your Kickoff Kit. If anything is missing or damaged 1) we’re so sorry! and 2) you need to let us know and we’ll make it right.

The process we use to get information from you is built into the registration system and is available from 1pm (Eastern) on January 4 to noon (Eastern) on January 10.

Please know and understand that we will not process requests that don’t use this system for teams who received their Kickoff Kits on or before January 10, 2025 (If you’re a “MySite” team who received your kit after January 10, please email us at frcparts@firstinspires.org within 2 business days of receipt of your Kickoff Kit with any missing/damaged items.)

To report anything missing or damaged:

1. Your lead mentor 1 or 2 logs into the FIRST Dashboard.
2. Click on the “Payments and Product” drop down menu and select “Order Replacement Parts”
   
3. Enter the shipping information for where you’d like the replacement parts sent.
4. Use the “Subkit Container” filter to navigate to the parts you need to report.
5. Click the “Add” button for the item that’s missing/damaged.
6. Specify the quantity missing/damaged, include an explanation, and click “Save.”  The list will auto save when you add an item, so you can come back to it later.
7. Once your list is complete, hit “Submit Request.” You can only submit once, and you must Submit before the deadline for your request to be processed.

FIRST Choice: Round 2

FIRST Choice opens for Round 2 of Priority List orders on January 4 at 1pm Eastern and closes on January 13^th at 12pm ET. Emails with what each team is getting will be sent by AndyMark after priority lists are processed. We’ll be employing the same Priority List Process used in Round 1 and issuing additional credits to each team’s account. Any unused credits from Round 1 are carried over. Details on all this are on the Kit of Parts page.

Pre-Kickoff Downloads

Download encrypted files for the 2025 REEFSCAPE season before Kickoff then unlock them with the code that’s revealed at the end of the main section of the broadcast. You can find the files you’ll be interested in listed below. Items are likely to automatically download, and all files are smaller than 100 MB. To decrypt encrypted zip files, you will need a dedicated extractor like 7-Zip, PeaZip, UnzipLite, etc. (the extractor built into many operating systems will fail).

Team Update 00 is provided as a quick reference of evergreen rule changes. The approach taken in this Team Update is to describe changes to content only. Editorial changes to verbiage, rule and section references, game specific examples that relate to evergreen content, and formatting changes are not described. As always, it’s important to read the whole manual at least once and become an expert on sections of the manual that directly relate to your role and responsibilities on your team.

• REEFSCAPE Game Manual (links live on the Season Materials page)
  • 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition Game Manual
  • Team Update 00
• Kickoff Kit Checklists (links live on the Kickoff Kit section of the Kit of Parts page)
  • Season Specific Box Checklist
  • Black Tote Checklist
  • Gray Tote Checklist
  • Drive Base Kit Checklist
• KitBot Documentation Package
• REEFSCAPE Field Details (links live on the Playing Field page)
  • CAD Models (SolidWorks)
  • CAD Models (STEP)
  • Drawing package (includes field & layout marking diagram, evergreen, and game specific drawings)
  • Team Elements (wooden mockups for use in creating lower cost versions of official field elements)
  • Game Pieces (Drawings, SOLIDWORKS CAD, STEP CAD)
  • Photo Album
  • AprilTag User Guide & Images

Control System

Documentation – The official Control System documentation is hosted by Read the Docs and is found at https://docs.wpilib.org. Users can download a copy of the docs for offline use, as either PDF or HTML, using the Read the Docs menu at the bottom left of the page (direct PDF link). A local version of the docs is also included in the WPILib C++\Java installer.

Control System Software – All core FIRST Robotics Competition Control System software has been posted (NI LabVIEW for FRC, NI FRC Game Tools, and WPILib) and is available unencrypted for download and use. Vendor libraries targeting the Kickoff release will likely be posted over the next couple days. You can find a quick guide to what to grab for installation later from the WPILib Offline Installation page.

Good luck teams as we make a splash this season!