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Before we return to our bite-sized content provided by an FRC mentor for FRC mentors, I have some housekeeping items to share with our teams.
Model of Play Proposal - No New Updates
There are no new updates regarding the FIRST Wisconsin Model of Play Proposal. We're patiently waiting to provide an update to our teams. Remember to subscribe to the FIRST Wisconsin Newsletter since any new information will be shared via the e-newsletter and a blog post here.
Watch the Kickoff Celebration:
Teams can watch the FIRST® Robotics Competition 2025 season kickoff celebration January 4, 11:00 a.m. CT on the FIRST Robotics Competition YouTube Channel. Be sure to tag FIRST Wisconsin on Facebook or Instagram and share your excitement for #REEFSCAPE.
Brian, Author of Brian-Bytes, and mentor from FRC 930 had these short and friendly reminders for FRC mentors this season!
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Kickoff is right around the corner! Soon we'll learn the details of REEFSCAPE and dive into another exciting game!
Wisconsin Teams Participating in the Open Alliance:
One great resource I wanted to highlight that teams should check out is the Open Alliance. This initiative is made up of teams who post regular updates during build season showing off their work, including robot CAD & Code, strategy decisions, competition prep, etc. This is a great example of Gracious Professionalism, as the Open Alliance teams help others who can reference their work and use it as a springboard to accomplish more.
There are over 50 Open Alliance teams for 2025, including some big names such as 6328 Mechanical Advantage, 4481 Rembrandts, and 3487 Spectrum.
We also have some great teams representing Wisconsin in the Open Alliance this year:
Team 1792 - Round Table Robotics (Oak Creek)
Team 5826 - Avis Automata (Chippewa Falls)
Team 6381 - Red Raider Robotics (Sheboygan)
Team 6421 - WarriorBots (Muskego)
The links above are to the confirmed 2025 Open Alliance teams so far (we have had a few other Wisconsin teams participate in the past, and will post an updated blog if more teams join). While it isn't feasible to keep up on all 50+ OA teams, I encourage everyone to look at the various build blogs on Chief Delphi during the season (especially of our fellow Wisconsin teams).
We have used these a ton in the past, especially early in the build season when everyone is prototyping and learning new things about the game pieces. You can save a lot of time by watching a prototype video from another team, learning what worked best for them, and then iterating from there.
Unsure of how to Maximize Week One? - Start Here!
Take Advantage of the Resources Available to Teams:
The KitBot shopping list is already out, and design information will be released on kickoff.
FRC 930 has rookie students build KitBot using an old swerve drive chassis, and it makes for a great drive practice robot (or demo robot) while our competition bot is still being designed.
The FRC Blog has key info about the game and season, and will be very active after kickoff (you can subscribe to get emails when new FRC blog posts come out).
And of course, the FIRST Wisconsin Blog right here has lots of info and reminders, especially helpful during the busy season!
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As always, thank you, Brian for your posts!
Renee
PS: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that the second you make your second contribution as a contributor to the FIRST Wisconsin blog you receive a catchy-branded title.
These are "Brian Bytes!" - Short and friendly reminders for FRC mentors during the season.
(P.P.S. Other blog post contributions are welcome, feel free to submit them in our contact form!)
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