In just a few days, we will kick off the 2022 season. Things happen quickly so we want to make sure you are prepared.

Here are some January dates you don’t want to miss:

• January 8 – FIRST Robotics Competition Kickoff presented by Ford on FIRSTtv! (noon, Eastern)
  • RAPID REACT^SM presented by The Boeing Company game revealed!
  • Kickoff Kits distributed
  • Encryption key posted & unencrypted game specific content posted
  • Replacement parts system opens
  • FIRST Choice Round 2 opens
  • New Virtual Kit items posted on the Virtual Kit section of the Kit of Parts webpage
• January 12 – Official Q&A opens (details to be posted shortly after Kickoff)
• January 14 – Missing/damaged Kickoff Kit item replacement part requests due (noon, Eastern)
• January 20 – FIRST Choice Round 2 ends, priority lists locked (noon, Eastern)
• January 27 – Digital Animation Award (due 11:59PM ET)  
• January 28 – FIRST Choice open ordering opens (noon, Eastern)
• January 31 – Payment due for additional events (5pm, Eastern)

Kickoff Kit – Sizing Info

In addition to finding out 2022 season details on Saturday, each team attending a local Kickoff will also receive this year’s Kickoff Kit items. We’re giving a deliberately vague “heads up” about the sizes and weights to expect so you can make accommodations to get the goods back to your build space. This information is also now published in the “Kickoff Kit” section of the Kit of Parts page.

• Every team receives a Black Tote (~12 in. x 27 in. x 17 in., ~28 lbs.)
• New (“rookie”) teams also receive a Gray Tote (~12 in. x 27 in. x 17 in., ~68 lbs.) and a set of separate items (6 in. x 6 in. x 48 in.)
• Teams that did not opt-out also receive a Drive Base Kit (~7 in. x 7 in. x 33 in., ~28 lbs.)

Kickoff Kit – 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 available from 1pm (Eastern) on January 8 to noon (Eastern) on January 14.

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 11, 2022. (If you’re a “MySite” team who received your kit after January 11, 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 coach/mentor 1 or 2 logs in to your team’s account.
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 noon (Eastern), January 14 for your request to be processed.

FIRST Choice: Round 2

FIRST Choice opens for Round 2 of Priority List orders from January 8-20 (noon Eastern). 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 in the FIRST Choice section of the Kit of Parts page.

Pre-Kickoff Downloads

Download encrypted files for the 2022 RAPID REACT^SM presented by The Boeing Company season before Kickoff then unlock them with the code that will be revealed at the end of the main section of the kickoff. You can find the files you’ll be interested in listed below. Items are likely to automatically download, and large files, greater than 100 MB, are noted. 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).

• Revised Event Rules (V1, unencrypted)
• RAPID REACT Game Manual (link lives on the Season Materials page)
• Kickoff Kit Checklists (links live on the Kickoff Kit section of the Kit of Parts page)
• RAPID REACT^SM Field Details (links live on the Playing Field page)
  • Full Field
  • Individual Assemblies: Complex versions are close approximations of the official field assemblies and contain most of the important features of the official field at full scale. Simple versions are designed to reduce assembly time and cost. Simple versions typically focus on one or two important features of each field assembly or are scaled down in size to reduce material usage (these designs accommodate robots that focus on doing a specific task rather than all tasks. Each download is a zip file including drawings, CAD, STEP, pdf, and a Read Me.
• VR and Other Field Assets (links live on the Playing Field page)

Control System

Documentation – For 2022, the official Control System documentation continues to be hosted via 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. Documentation for other Kit of Parts items will remain on Screensteps for 2022.

Control System Software – Some FIRST Robotics Competition Control System software has been posted (NI LabVIEW for FRC, FRC Radio Programming Tool, and Classmate Images) and is available unencrypted for download and use. You can find a quick guide to what to grab for installation later here. The remaining software is expected to be posted Friday afternoon and will be linked on that page when available.

Good luck this season!

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