In this Edition

Week 1 Recap & Tips

ICYMI: FRC Season Updates

Call for Volunteers

The Path to FIRST ® Championships 2025

Exciting Resources For Your Team

⚙️Tuesday, Mar. 18 at 7:00 p.m. ET⚙️

FIRST Chesapeake FRC Championship Overview

Virtual - on Youtube

What's going on, FRC Family?

I hope everyone is doing well in REEFSCAPE so far. Week 1 at Glen Allen was a blast.

There were a few delays, but nothing could stop the excitement this weekend. I want to give a special shoutout to our gracious hosts this weekend, FRC 1086 Blue Cheese. Thanks for opening your doors to us for another event. From set-up to tear-down, they held us down this weekend. Thank you! And, they are the Impact Award Winners weekend.

Let's celebrate our tournament winners as well. First, our Event Finalists came from the Alliance 2, composed of 2106 Junkyard Dogs, 8592 Newton². and 339 Kilroy Robotics.

The winning alliance was Alliance #1, composed of alliance captain 1731 Fresta Valley Robotics Club, 449 Blair Robot Project, 4505 McDonogh Robotics, and 10370 Squatch Watch!

Congratulations! All of your hard work paid off this weekend.

Good luck to everyone competing this weekend at Chesapeake High and Churchland High. Thanks to FRC 2377 C Company and FRC 3359 Royal Robotics for hosting Week 2 events.

After watching a few matches this past weekend, here are a few pointers that are worth sharing.

1. Coral is heavy! Coral dropped onto a few robots and did some damage, especially coming from L4 of the reef. In one round, a piece of coral from the Coral Station hit a main breaker and shut off a robot during the match. Make sure your electronics are protected and your main breaker is safe from accidental shut-offs.
2. The cages are also pretty dangerous. The deep cage has a lot of room to swing to hit robots (and people!!!). The Game Manual has rules around making the cage swing, but even an accidental bump can give it some serious momentum. Be careful when navigating around the barge.
3. Speaking of the barge, counterbalancing is very important again this year. Depending on how your "cage-grabber" is designed, you may end up leaning heavily to one side. It's time to make some weight reductions and focus on the weight distribution of your robots.
4. There wasn't a lot of algae being scored. Once most teams removed the algae, it tended to just be on the field. There might be a missed opportunity here.
5. Make sure you are ready for the judges when they arrive. Check out this Event Award Prep sheet from FIRST.

Team Update 16 was released on March 4. In it, there's a revision to the inspection checklist, as well as changes to sections 6, 7, & 8 of the Game Manual.

6.5.1 SCORING ELEMENT Scoring Criteria

A CORAL is scored in the trough (L1) of the REEF if it is not in contact with a ROBOT on that ALLIANCE, not scored on any other level of the REEF, and

A. contacting the trough, or

B. directly supported (either fully or partially) by a CORAL in contact with the trough. 

7.4.5 Human

G429 *No wandering. A DRIVE TEAM member must remain in their designated area as follows:

C. a HUMAN PLAYER may not contact anything outside their ALLIANCE AREA or their PROCESSOR AREA, and...

8.6 Power Distribution

R609 *Connect main power safely

No additional devices or modifications shall be permitted with the following exceptions:

E. Monitoring circuitry permitted by R625

F. SB-50 to SB-120 adapters, provided they have been presented for Inspection

G. Termination of wires with appropriate cable lugs

R620 *Only use specified fuses in PDP/PDP2.0/PDH. The only fuses permitted for use in the PDP/PDP2.0/PDH are mini automotive blade fuses with the following values: … 

P.S. - Forward this link to other team mentors to make sure they stay up-to-date for the season.

It's our volunteers that make the magic of FRC happen, and we need you to join their ranks. This year we are currently short on a variety of roles. We currently need judges at most of our events, as well as some more robot inspectors. There's a more detailed breakdown below.

Glen Allen (Week 1 Feb 28-Mar 2)

It's a wrap! Thank you to all of the volunteers who supported us!

Pasadena (Week 2 Mar 7-9)

All set! Thank you!

Portsmouth (Week 2 Mar 7-9)

Emcee

Field Reset

Game Announcer

Official Scorer

Queuer

Safety Manager

Bethesda (Week 3 Mar 14-16)

Field Reset

Official Scorer

Judge (especially at an event your team is not attending!)

Severn (Week 3 Mar 14-16)

Robot Inspector

Judge (especially at an event your team is not attending!)

Blacksburg (Week 4 Mar 21-23)

Emcee

Pit Admin Supervisor

Official Scorer

Judge (especially at an event your team is not attending!)

Alexandria (Week 4 Mar 21-23)

Quiet Room Attendant (Half day shifts)

As teams battle their way through the competition season, the journey to FIRST Chesapeake District Championships at ShowPlace Arena in Upper Marlboro, MD (April 3-6) and the FIRST Championships in Houston, TX (April 16-19) is heating up! In case you missed it, FIRST released another update on their FIRST Worlds Hotel Program in order to address more of the community's questions.

On March 18 at 7 PM, we are hosting a webinar to help teams prepare for championship season. This webinar will cover important details about District Championships, the path to Houston, logistics, expectations, and how to make the most of your experience.

📢 Don't miss this chance to get ahead on the Road to Championships! Stay tuned for details on how to join.

Intentional Innovation Foundation is once again coordinating a shared semi trailer to the FIRST Championship. With the help of very generous logistics partners Showbest Fixture Corporation and FIRST Chesapeake, the truck is making stops in Richmond, VA and Savage, MD.

Sign up and make a fully-refundable deposit to reserve your spot on the waitlist; your early sign up also helps strengthen our application to bring a trailer to the event.

As we look ahead, I know some challenges lie before us. The seas may not always be smooth, but overcoming the waves is part of the journey. Together, we have the strength and resilience to navigate whatever comes our way. Let’s embrace these challenges as opportunities for growth and learning. As we DIVE deeper, remember to come up for air.

Peace and Blessings

Isaiah Marriner

"Success is failure turned inside out - the silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

and when you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems afar;

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit - it's when things seem worst, you must not quit."

An excerpt from "Don't Quit"

by Edgar Albert Guest

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