FIRST Chesapeake District Northern Maryland Event sponsored by Leidos Harford Technical High School March 18-20, 2016 1
District Event Team Overview This document is designed to provide teams with basic District Event information including: Event Specific Information General Logistics: Parking/Busses/Food Load in / Load Out Walk through of the event Tour of the areas Friday: Inspection Day Saturday: Qualifications Sunday: Playoffs 2
Table of Contents Page 4: Event location address and map Page 20: Veteran teams Page 5: Load in information with map Page 21-24: Inspection process Page 6-7: Event parking overview/map Page 25: Machine Shop Page 8: Event schedule Page 26: Practice field Page 9: Event layout Page 27: End of day Friday Page 10-11: Event food/concessions Page 28: Practice Rounds/Saturday Page 12: Friday event load-in Page 29: Field Connection Page 13: Cart wheel requirements Page 30: Qualification matches Page 14: Pit layout map Page 31: Awards and Judging Page 15-16: Pit power/size information Page 32-33: FIRST Stop Information Page 17: Who to bring on Friday Page 34: Sunday Load-out Page 18: Friday team registration Page 19: Word to the wise 3
Harford Technical High School 200 Thomas Run Road Bel Air, Maryland 21015 4
Directions for Load-In Please don t arrive before 5:30 pm Friday Doors won t open until 6pm. Teams will have access to pits and practice facilities only. Event setup will be ongoing in other areas. Pit Load In Area Field 5
Event Parking Friday: Parking at the school building begins at 5pm. We recommend only bringing a few team members for Friday load- in, pit setup, and inspection. Load in starts at 6pm. Saturday and Sunday: Parking at the school available. Overflow parking is located at the John Archer School next door. 6
Event Parking Map Parking Parking Parking Trailer and Bus Parking Parking Parking 7
Event Schedule http://www.firstchesapeake.org/images/downloads/2016/2016_mdblr_agenda.pdf 8
Event Layout 9
Event Food Concessions will be open Saturday and Sunday Teams are welcome to bring their own food and drinks Tables and chairs will be is available for your team s to eat their meals No food or drinks are allowed in the gym. Box Lunches Order forms are located here: http://www.firstchesapeake.org/events/district-events/northernmd Order by to be emailed by February 29th. Payment due by Saturday morning. Please clean up after yourself. 10
Concessions Information 11
Load-In and Inspection Friday 6pm 10pm Safety glasses are mandatory. You will not be allowed into the pits without them. Follow instructions from onsite staff. You may NOT park in the loading area. The driver MUST stay with the vehicle. Drop it and park in designated area. Staff your unload team appropriately to make this happen. Bring a cart! You will need a cart with at least 3 diameter wheels. Our cable protection bumps are 2 in height. We recommend 4 or larger wheels. (See Page 15) Pit setup is allowed. Your priority on Friday should be passing inspection! 12
Wheel requirements for carts, boxes, and anything rolling Our venues will have power cord covers (aka Yellow Jackets) Our yellow jackets are 2 tall Your FRC robot cart MUST have > 3 diameter wheels Wheels must be in good working order. No damaged or stuck wheels. Soft rubber. No hard plastic or steel tread wheels. Maximum weight for your carts, tool boxes, etc will be 50 lbs per inch of wheel size (1 cart, 4 x 3 wheels, 600lbs max) Under no circumstances will we allow wheels less than 3 in diameter on ANY equipment / boxes / carts Very high likelihood of damage to floors You won t clear our cable management equipment All wheels must be non marking rubber or synthetic wheels No steel wheels. No sharp wheels. 13
Pit Layout Map 14
Pit Power Information Pit power is limited. We are putting up to 6 teams on a single 20 amp circuit Power generator is shut down overnight Consider charging your batteries overnight at home / hotel (Remember: 12 matches may require several batteries) No compressors or other large motors Limit 400 watts per team, 2400 watts per 6 team Power Alliance Use low wattage lighting, if needed High school gyms have very little power You may NOT use any outlets in the gym/school The game equipment uses all available power We will remove and confiscate any equipment from gym/school outlets until after awards ceremony on Sunday. You have been warned! 15
Pit Sizes Expect your pit space to be 9ft. by 9ft. Consider traveling light! Less setup time More room in your pits Save the big pit displays for District Championship! Remember power limitations! 16
Who to bring on Friday You really want your drivers and core robot builders and mentors on Friday. Depending on your team s logistics, you might consider having a partial team on Friday and the whole team Saturday and Sunday. Friday is NOT a good spectator day It is ALL in the pits Friday. 17
Friday Team Registration: 6 PM Your lead mentor can visit pit admin starting at 6 PM. Bring required forms Team Roster printed from TIMS with hand written additions if needed. Consent forms for all team members (students and adults) who aren t in TIMS/STIMS Printed consent FIRST Chesapeake consent forms for all participants: http://www.firstchesapeake. org/images/downloads/2016/virginiafirst_consent_and_release.pdf 18
Word to the Wise Friday is no longer the final build day. It is now pass inspection day! Your team has 6 hours of robot access during the prior week. Use it VERY wisely. (Admin Manual, Section 5.5) Do not be bashful about asking for help. We have all been there before. 19
Veteran Teams Bring spare parts Please consider bringing unused sensors, motors, control units, bumper materials, and hardware for loan to other teams. COTS parts are not included in your withholding allowance Many teams need help with programming Please be ready to help out! 20
Friday Inspection Process: 6 PM Inspection involves 4 steps Request inspection at the inspection station (1 team rep) Weight and size only or Complete Size and weigh-in at the inspection station Control system programming at the CSA station (before starting inspection) Physical robot inspection at your pit starting 6 PM after size and weight checks Inspectors are your friends! Inspectors are here to help get you on the field safely and fairly and help you pass inspection. Do not wait to start the inspection process. Time is very limited. 21
Starting the inspection process Send a team rep to the Inspection Station after 6 PM to sign up for inspection Weight and size only or Complete A robot inspector will be sent to your pit as soon as one is available Please do not bring the robot up to the inspection station until requested by a robot inspector Send a team rep with the wireless bridge to the CSA desk to program it for the competition 22
WPA Key Assignment Every robot will be assigned a unique security key. This is in your registration packet at pit admin. The field REQUIRES you to set your WPA key. Everyone needs to follow carefully the instructions provided during registration 23
Inspection Tips It is rare for a robot to pass inspection on the first attempt. It is an iterative process. PLEASE: Get inspected early, even if you are not ready. Your robot might have an issue that takes time to fix. You MUST pass inspection to earn qualifying points. (RED card penalty for the alliance if an uninspected team plays a qualification match!) 24
Machine Shop We are unable to provide a machine shop at this location. Please come prepared. Use the build season and the withholding allowance to bring extras of any parts with expected high failure rates. 25
Practice Field Process The practice field will be available on Friday. Teams are required to have passed size, weight, and bumper inspections before gaining access to the practice field. Practice field will include official field defenses and a wooden goal on a carpet. Safety glasses are required while on the practice field. Teams will be able to secure one practice slot at a time to allow all teams access in a timely manner. 26
End of Friday The pits close at 10:00 PM on Friday. You MUST BE OUT OF THE BUILDING before 10:00 PM. The building closes at 10:00 PM. Same is true each evening at scheduled pit closing time. 27
Practice Rounds: Saturday 8:15 AM Practice matches will run from 8:15 AM to 10:30 AM It is common for teams not to be ready for their scheduled match in the mornings. There will be a fill in line. Check in with the Lead Queuer to get on the list. You must have passed inspection to get in the fill in line. 28
Connecting to the field: The Final Step If you run a practice match Saturday morning, that s the easiest way to make sure your field connection works. If you are unable to make a practice match, we are going to ask you to take your robot and control system to the field for a quick 5 minute test to insure your system can connect to the field. Your robot will not be on the field, we will simply connect it to the field while sitting on your cart. Many simple issues are solved by doing this on Saturday that would otherwise cause you problems when it really counts! Our goal is for you to connect to the field before opening ceremonies on Saturday. 29
Qualification Matches Opening ceremony is at 10:30 AM on Saturday. Qualifications matches start directly after at approximately 11:00 AM. The first three matches will be queued before the start of opening ceremony. Matches will continue until 7:00 PM on Saturday 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM on Sunday Be prepared for much quicker turnaround time 30 with these smaller events.
Awards and Judging All awards will be given during the award ceremony scheduled from 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM on Sunday. No award ceremony on Saturday Chairman s interviews will be scheduled at each event for qualified teams. Must have submitted for the award Must not have won a Chairman s award at a previous FIRST Chesapeake district event Interview sign ups will occur starting at pit opening on Friday at Pit Administration Dean s list interviews will occur at select events. Look for information from the Dean s List Manager, Mildred Porter. 31
Visitor program being utilized at all FIRST Chesapeake events. Teams encouraged to send the invitation to current and potential supporters, family and friends, and their community. Invitation can be found here: www.firstchesapeake. org/images/downloads/2016/firststop/invitation_2016_northern_md.pdf Walk ins are welcome though reservations are preferred. 32
Student Ambassadors: The success of FIRST stop is due to the student ambassadors who lend their experiences to their tours. Mentors are encouraged to sign interested students up here: https://docs.google. com/forms/d/151bze0a2dyr0uov_igqebzyo2y 33 TbyxXmUywbR7ABYbk/viewform
Student Singers Teams are encouraged to nominate students to perform the National Anthem during the opening Ceremonies on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Students will be expected to meet at the FIRST Stop table at 8: 30 AM on Saturday morning for practice. Sign up form is here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ugje1ir8tauxhz_ok9nxcgrla4_gdb5oo3hu6qnhic/viewform 34
Sunday: Load Out No parking in load out area. Load out will begin as soon as the alliance selection is complete. 35
Good Luck and Have Fun! 36