I have been getting a lot of emails about when the state grant recipients will be announced. I received this from Ashley Arras at the MDE Thank you for your patience as we work through the kinks of reviewing applications within the new system. A huge thank you to the program providers that have worked with us to verify the team numbers, types, and statuses. The Ed Tech team is now completing the program office review portion of the application process. After that is finished, we send the applications recommended to be funded and not funded for review by leadership and the state superintendent. AfterRead More →

EVERYBOT For those of you building Team 118’s Everybot,  you can now find everything you need (all the build instructions, CAD, and code, etc) here: https://www.118everybot.org/2022-resources The Comets, Team 3357 from Forest Hills, are hoping to begin releasing their Everybot build videos on our website this weekend, in this order: Chassis on Friday Hang Mechanism on Saturday Ball Intake on Sunday or Monday The Comets started creating the videos just as soon as the CAD drawings were released (rather than waiting until the build instructions were released), so there may be some slight variations. You should find them extremely helpful! If you are looking for an inexpensive bandsaw toRead More →

This season volunteers at the FRC FIRST in Michigan State Championship will be sponsored by the FCA Foundation, the charitable arm of Stellantis. We are launching a T-shirt design contest for the FRONT of the volunteer T-shirt to celebrate their sponsorship! FIRST in Michigan will take care of putting the FCA Foundation logo on the sleeve and on the back, so please don’t include the FCA Foundation logo on the front. CONTEST RULES Here are the rules of the contest: All entries must be a single color, WHITE, to go on a black T-shirt These are the elements that must be included in the artwork:Read More →

For those of you who plan to build Team 118’s EVERYBOT this season, tonight is the big unveiling of the robot. Tune into FIRST Canada LIVE at https://www.twitch.tv/firstcanada The show begins at 7:00 pm, with the EVERYBOT portion of the show starting around 7:35 pm. After the reveal, the EVERYBOT crew will be interviewed to talk about its design, followed by a Q and A. If you have questions, you can enter them in the chat during the show. If you miss the show, it will be posted to https://www.youtube.com/user/FIRSTRoboticsCanada/videos Starting this weekend or early next week, FIRST in Michigan will be releasing videos onRead More →

The MDE State Grant for FIRST Robotics is OPEN in NexSys!! THE GRANT CLOSES ON JANUARY 6, 2022 AT 4:30 PM. Note: This closing time is earlier than in prior years when the grant closed at 11:59 pm. Here are a few details: WHERE IS THE GRANT LOCATED? The grant this year is in NexSys which replaced MEGS+. WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE GRANT? The name of the grant is “99h: Robotics Competition Grant.” Scroll way down. Grants starting with a number are below those starting with a letter. WHO IS ELIGIBLE? Any MDE recognized public or non-public school/district may apply for the grantRead More →

Clarification: The MDE grant in NexSys is not yet open. They are still working out some technical issues. Stay tuned. Gail Alpert 248-425-4148 gail@firstinmichigan.orgRead More →

Just a quick note on two fronts: 1. MDE grant opens today in NexSys, not MEGS+. It will stay open until Jan 4. 2. MDE sent out an email earlier about their Technical Assistance Webinar which is today at 3:00pm via Zoom: November 22, 2021 3:00-4:30 p.m. The slide deck will be posted on techplan.org on their grants page sometime after the webinar. Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81365427791?pwd=T09sWkJ0cXB4VEJMakFiYTJxS21SUT09 Meeting ID: 813 6542 7791 Passcode: wk2TeB One tap mobile +13126266799,,81365427791#,,,,*371631# US (Chicago) +16465588656,,81365427791#,,,,*371631# US (New York) Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (WashingtonRead More →

Third Event Lottery I have been getting lots of inquiries as to how teams can sign up for third event slots in Michigan. As in past years, Michigan will hold a lottery one evening in late January to fill any open spots. The cost to attend a third event will be just $500. If you want to be included in the third event lottery, you can go into your events in the dashboard and select the new entry we just put in today: “I want to be on the third play lottery list for Michigan” I will send out a general email too as weRead More →

I was just informed that they are looking to fund projects that are less than $2,000. If yours is higher than that, go in and scale it back quickly! Also if you are not a full-time teacher at the public school or public charter where your school is located, find a teacher there who is. I asked and was told it’s fine for them to set up your project. Again just be sure to put FIRST Robotics Competition in the description as much as possible. Thanks! Gail Alpert gail@firstinmichigan.org 248-425-4148   The MDE grant is a bit behind as they are moving to a newRead More →

As part of Careers in Energy Week, DTE has put out several challenges that allow your team to win up to $1,500. But you have to hurry. The challenge ends at 12:01 AM Oct 21! You can find all the details on our facebook page https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2037137759770845&id=145679775583329 Challenge 1- ROBOTICS ROCKS! Make a short video pitch (can use a cell phone) on Why FIRST Robotics Rocks! 30 second- 1 minute long 1st place $1,500 2nd place $1,000 3rd place $500 Form and details here https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=_tVhjkl3dk6I7m2Hma6BQ87cDz3ZAshJhENPkLJLAltUN0ZFUlNMMlE3UTk5TVU1SDRWNjVDOEkwWS4u&fbclid=IwAR3AwSrdq-zEA9yaIfvz58b49JQz7d2D3hwALPf5_JBbcpu0Sr9T-lTxksg Challenge 2- DTE COMMUNITY FIRST TEAM AWARD Mentor on your team that is a current or retired DTE employee nominates yourRead More →