2013 Minneapolis Kickoff

Registration opens October 4 underway for this year's Kickoffs! Visit https://my.usfirst.org/frc/tims/

January 5, 2013 - 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM CST

University of Minnesota
Coffman Union
300 Washington Avenue, S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0110

FRC Teams 1816 – The Green Machine and 2220 – Blue Twilight welcome you to the 2013 FIRST Kickoff Event in the Main Hall of the Coffman Memorial Union at the University of Minnesota. Registration opens at 8 AM, light refreshments will be available before the NASA broadcast. After the broadcast, GO FIRST offers teams workshops and brainstorming sessions (POKO). Need more information?  Email Regional Planning Chair Mark Lawrence, or Regional Assistant Director Ken Rosen.

It is very important that you and your team attend the Kickoff venue you indicated in TIMS! Your Team’s Kit of Parts will be shipped to the Kickoff location you select in TIMS.As it gets closer to Kickoff, be sure to verify that the above information hasn’t changed! 

Tentative Agenda

Coffman Union Main Hall Doors open: 8:00 A.M.
Local Kickoff Speakers Begin: 9:00 A.M.
FRC Game Reveal Broadcast Begins: 9:30 A.M.
FRC Game Reveal Broadcast Ends: 11:00 A.M.
Kit Of Parts Distribution: Immediately following Broadcast conclusion

GO FIRST Post Kickoff Event (for attending teams): 11:30 – 3:30 PM 

Registration

All FRC Teams must submit a Team Roster to be considered registered and eligible to receive the KOP. This team roster must list all students and mentors. It also must state whether the students and mentors have submitted the FIRST 2013 Consent and Release Form online or are submitting paper consent forms. If the consent forms are submitted online, the names will appear on the team roster. However, if students and mentors are submitting paper forms, team leaders must write in the names of those students and mentors on the Team Roster. Please staple all paper forms to the Team Roster.

Team leaders: Ahead of Kickoff, please log into TIMS and print out your team’s roster. Check that all of your mentors and students are listed and write in the names of all students and mentors that did not file a consent form online. Write your Team Number on the roster! Attach paper consent forms to the printed roster for those mentors and students that did not file their consent form online.

Click here for the FIRST Consent & Release form.

After turning in all Consent Forms and the Team Roster, the designated team leader will be given a Kit of Parts (KOP) receipt. Do not fill out the KOP receipt until after you have received all of the KOP boxes. This receipt must be reviewed and turned in before you leave the Kickoff site with your KOP. The Kit of Parts will be given out only after the broadcast concludes.

Kit of Parts

If you are properly signed up for the Kickoff, your Kit of Parts will be shipped to this location for you to pick up after the kickoff broadcast is complete. No Kit of Parts will be distributed before the end of the broadcast.

If your team is signed up but not able to attend Kickoff, please arrange for a surrogate team to handle your Kit of Parts pickup. You must contact FIRST Headquarters before (December 30^th). We cannot and will not release any Kit of Parts without proper authorization from FIRST.

The Kit of Parts includes several heavy containers, totes and other materials. We highly recommend a hand truck or cart to stack the totes and other materials.

Post Kickoff Event (POKO)

GO FIRST, the FIRST student alumni group at the U of MN, will host its 2nd annual Post Kick Off Event immediately following KOP distribution in the Coffman Union’s Great Hall. POKO Participants will analyze the 2013 game in order to better understand the rules for the season and review the design process to give teams a place to start thinking about the robot they'd like to build.

Here is the tentative POKO agenda:

11:30 am-12:30 pm – Lunch. Each team is expected to bring $5/person for lunch.

12:30pm -3:30 pm - Teams will analyze the 2013 FRC game, review a build schedule and timeline of the 2013 season, go over the standard industry design process, and then begin a list of requirements with their group.

The event will end at 3:30pm. Teams are expected to exit the building no later than 3:50pm. Please plan ahead and make ride arrangements if necessary. The Union will close immediately at 4 PM.

Should your team wish to participate, contact GO FIRST by December 28th. Your confirmation RSVP is due January 4, 2013, stating the number of students you will bring to the event. Teams must pay for the number of reservations made. Additional tickets will be able on-site.

Contact: gofirst@umn.edu. Please include your name, team number, and a phone number so that we may contact you with additional information.