Kickoff

Kickoff is the event that signifies the start of the yearly FIRST Robotics Competition season and includes the release of that year's challenge. The game, playing field, robot rules, and kit of parts items for that year are released at a mix of physical and virtual events. In the early days, kickoff was a single physical event that team representatives would attend to pick up the kit of parts and see the playing field hands-on. As FIRST grew, local kickoff events and internet broadcasts became more common, with animated game explanations and encoded game manuals released as part of the event. After kickoff, teams traditionally have six weeks to develop and build their robots before competition season begins.

1997

The 1997 Kickoff event was held on January 11, 1997 at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire. Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers were both in attendance.

Gallery

Additional photos on the FRC Archive
The crowd watching the kickoff presentation [1]
Dean Kamen and the control system on stage [2]
The 1997 playing field at kickoff [3]

1998

The 1998 Kickoff event was held on January 9, 1998. At the reception, videos from several previous seasons were shown, and Dean Kamen read out the New Miracle on East 55th Street letter from Team 120.