I’m sure many of you have been following the world-wide news about the new coronavirus, 2019-nCoV.
Based on travel advisories and information from local partners – and with the safety of our community top priority – we are postponing the FIRST Robotics Competition events that had been scheduled in Beijing, China for March until after FIRST Championship. This is unfortunate but necessary given the impact of the virus on local and regional activities. We have reached out directly to currently registered teams impacted by this decision, letting them know their options. We will be doing our best to take care of those teams who are most affected by this unexpected challenge. You can find the email we sent those teams here.
A few other notes:
- We know teams may be scrambling to pay for their 2nd (and beyond) events by the January 31 deadline. We’re extending this deadline to February 7th for all teams to give them more time to take this new information into account as they make decisions about the season.
- Given the dynamic situation with the virus, we can’t yet say when the rescheduled events will be, but they will be held after the 2020 FIRST Championship.
- Our intent is to have the rescheduled China events earn slots to FIRST Championship like the original events would have, even though, in this case, they would be earning slots to the 2021 FIRST Championship. This may sound strange, but a handful of teams (for example, Engineering Inspiration Award winners) already earn spots at the following year FIRST Championship for something they did in the current year. We’re just extending that concept in this very unusual situation. How the slots for the rescheduled events will be structured is TBD.
We will be keeping the community updated as we learn more and decisions are made regarding the rescheduled events.
Frank