FRC At Home FAQ

It depends on what you're trying to get in to- there's two different parts to the FRC at Home competitions that require access information.

• This website, the At Home Portal: Lead Coach/Mentors 1 or 2 of each team can retrieve their team access code from the Team Registration System. In the Team Dashboard, go to the 'Team Options' section and click on 'Payment & Product.' Then click on 'Passwords/Voucher Codes' and locate the 12 character code listed under FIRST/At Home Key that begins with "F". Access Code is not case sensitive. Here are some photos of the relevant Dashboard pages (the top photo is your Dashboard as a Lead Mentor for a team, the bottom is the voucher/codes page):
  
  
  
• Entry Submission System (external website): Log in to the At Home Portal for your team and look for the team-specific email and password that can be used to access the Entry Submission System. There's also a "Log me in" button if you prefer to not have to deal with the additional login process at all!

For the integrity of the system and entries, there are automatic logout and security features built into both the FRC at Home Portal and Entry Submission System. In most cases, you'll never see this process. If an automatic (or security) logout happens, you'll be redirected to the log-in page and a message may be displayed with more information. Regardless, simply logging in again should be all that is needed. You should try to keep your typical session to about 30 minutes, if you think you'll need more than 30 minutes, make sure to click the "save" button or switch between pages to make sure your session remain active.

No problem- just follow the corresponding directions below based on which site you're unable to access.

• This website, the At Home Portal: To regain access, follow the directions above under the How do I get my access code? question, available to Coach/Lead Mentor 1 and 2.
• Entry Submission System (external website): Log in to the Portal (this website) and use the "Reset my Credentials" link to regenerate your team-specific login, or use the button inside the Portal to log in automatically if you prefer to not have to deal with the passwords at all!

If you are seeing the above message when you log in, your Entry Submission System account has been deleted. Not to worry though, it can still be recovered. If you are a judge (volunteer), please contact your HQ representative or the chief judge advisors for help with regaining access to your account. For all other users, please contact us via email and we'll do our best to help you.

If you are seeing the above message when you log in, your Entry Submission System account has been deleted. Not to worry though, it can still be recovered. If you are a judge (volunteer), please contact your HQ representative or the chief judge advisors for help with regaining access to your account. For all other users, please contact us via email and we'll do our best to help you.

The text on the landing page of the Entry Submission System will always say "Entries are Closed" since FRC requires you to opt-in to competitions via this website, the At Home Portal. Once you opt-in, as long as the deadline specified in the manual has not passed, we will create and entry for you even though the text says Entries are Closed. Simply refresh the page to see it once it has been created via the At Home Portal.

Official deadlines and dates can be found in Section 1.11 of the At Home portion of the Game Manual. Team's can opt-in to competitions and enter their results upon the opening of the system on February 4th and continue to edit entries all the way until the deadline or until clicking "Submit" on a particular competition's entry.
Please note that the Entry Submission System will be completely unavailable during the group splitting process, which begins upon the first closing date/time on March 4th and runs until March 8th, at which point only the Skills Competition component will re-open (and groups will have been assigned for all competitions).

Your entry cannot be submitted while an upload is in progress. Make sure to leave plenty of time for uploads to complete if you are working near the deadlines! If the deadline passes while a file is uploading, you will not be able to submit and your entry will be incomplete.

No, the submission systems for the traditional awards and FRC at Home Competitions are separate, and as such, the role of "Student Award Submitter" (and similar roles or permissions in the FIRST Dashboard) do not apply to the FRC at Home Entry Submission System.

Scores are only calculated for the Skills Competition challenges (see Section 2.4.10.3 of the FRC at Home Game Manual for full scoring information). A score is calculated for each Skills challenge the team submits scores for, but only the highest scoring challenges are used to tabulate the Overall Score for a team.
If you would like to simulate a calculated score based on raw scores collected take a look at the score calculator, available below. Please note that this is for demonstration purposes only, official scores for each team are posted under each group's page here on frc.events.

You can check the status of your entry by logging in to the FRC at Home Portal and taking a look at the status information for each competition you are participating in.

Please note: There is a delay between actions taken in the Entry Submission System and the status reflecting here in the Portal. Information is synchronized a couple of times per day. This delay generally only affects data coming from the Entry Submission System, not the other direction.

You can also check the status inside the Entry Submission System. Look for the Status column on the landing page upon successful login (marked below in red).



If the Status says "Submitted and Locked" then the entry is completed and valid, even if it is not yet reflected in the Portal here on frc.events. If the Status says "Pending Submission" then it must be submitted by the team prior to the deadline in order to be scored or judged.

The Unable to Save message shown above happens when an entry is open in multiple windows, or by multiple people. The other possible cause is the name of your entry was changed from the initial value. Make sure that only a single user, in a single browser window, is editing the entry. Refresh the page to continue editing, but be sure to capture locally any changes you have made before refreshing the page as they are lost when the page is reloaded.

Each team will have a row with an entry title similar to what is shown above- and this is expected. This is used to track status information for data moving between various systems, and there is nothing you need to do in regards to this entry. It will not affect eligibility for awards or prevent the submission of other competition entries.

Log in to the Portal (this website) and click on the Competition you wish to participate in (or opt out of). Click the corresponding opt in/out button and read the warning message. The process will begin upon agreement with the terms, and usually completes within a few seconds. It may take, at most, a few minutes for the process to complete depending on how busy the system is at the time of your request. Refreshing the page will not expedite the process, the data will automatically update upon completion.

Please note that if you opt-out of a Competition your entry is deleted. You can opt-in again, but your entry will be blank and need to be completed again by the deadline.

As long as you have not marked the entry has not been marked as "Submitted and Locked," and the deadline has not passed, you can continue to edit the entry as much as desired and save to return at another time. To edit an entry, log in to the Entry Submission System using the login information for your team and click on the entry you wish to edit.

There is no un-submit! Do not submit your entry until you are ready, there is no functionality to un-submit an entry. Once it is submitted and locked, it is final and sent for judging.

The exact requirements are outlined on each upload position inside the Entry Submission System. Generally speaking, acceptable files are PDFs and video/photos in the major, commonly accepted formats like .mp4, .mov, .jpg, .png, etc. For video files, your submitted file will be re-encoded for smoother playback to judges that review your submission but we recommend you keep the file size reasonably small in order to make sure it can be uploaded from an average internet connection without too much trouble.

Note that you cannot submit an entry while an upload is in progress. Be sure to leave plenty of time for uploads to complete if you are working near a deadline!

Groups are not determined until the first closing date for the Entry Submission System. After that, groups will be determined and displayed here on the frc.events website as well as in your FIRST Dashboard. Once you're placed into a group, you can visit that group's frc.events page by heading to the homepage and looking for the corresponding group. Inside your group event you'll be able to see the other competing teams and scores. This is also how you'll see how you rank- through the event's ranking page (just like qualification rankings at a traditional event).

Note that data is updated periodically throughout the day, not in real-time. If you have recently updated a Skills Competition score, or submitted a new score, it may not yet be included in the computed scores currently being displayed. Please check again after a few hours.

Yes, for each At Home Competition you opt-in to, you'll see at least one additional event on your FIRST Dashboard. These events (considered "e;remote" events) are $0 but will count as a new registration for your team in the current season. Note that if your team drops the participation event for your geographic region (the event with a cost greater than $0) you will automatically be dropped from all remote events (all At Home Competitions) and removed from the season.

Note that even though the events will display on your FIRST Dashboard, you cannot opt-in or opt-out of events there, you must do so through this website.

Good question! For more information about the Innovation Challenge check out this page on the Inspire Blog. For FIRST Robotics Competition teams there are two parts to the Innovation Challenge. All FRC teams that wish to apply start their initial application just like the other At Home Competitions by opting-in and completing the entry form before the deadline. Your entry will be judged in it's group, and selected entries will win the "Innovation Challenge Semi-Finalist" award. FRC Teams that win this award advance from this level into the next round, which has additional questions and interviews with judges. Teams that advance to the next judging level will be provided with additional directions and information by the Innovation Challenge staff.

There are two types of awards available during FRC at Home:

• Judged Awards: The Skills Competition has not judged awards, but for all other Competitions, the judging process will begin after the closing of the submission system regardless of when the team submits their entry. After all eligible teams have completed their interviews, award winners will be determined and posted to the corresponding groups here on the frc.events website. Keep an eye on the FRC Blog / email announcements for other places or shows where award winners will be announced.
• Performance Awards: Skills Competition Winners and Finalists (which are based only on the performance in the Skills challenges) will be determined upon the closing of the Skills Competition entry system in April and posted to the awards page of the corresponding group here on the frc.events website.

There is no change to the submission process for the culture awards (Dean's List, Woodie Flowers and Chairman's Awards). Entries for these awards are still completed in the FIRST Dashboard. For full details, please see https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/frc/submitted-awards. No part of these awards are completed via this website, or the Entry Submission System that is used for the FRC at Home Competitions, they are separate systems.

Based on the information you provide in your entry about mentor contact, timezone, and availability, a judge will contact you to arrange an online judging session. Don't forget that at least one mentor must be present in the session. Technical details and information will be provided shortly before the assigned judging interview slot.

Due to the nature of the FRC at Home competition offerings being entirely online, the number of volunteer roles are significantly lower than a traditional season. For more information see the volunteering webpage.

We're sorry to hear that! Please take a look at the Quick Start Guide, which we offer for download here: At Home Quick Start Guide and if you don't find the information you are looking for, see the "What if my question isn't answered here?" FAQ for additional options.

Oh no! Not to fear, there are a couple of options:

• Help getting started: If you're having trouble getting started with the system, please see our "I'm having trouble getting started..." FAQ for a handy guide which may answer your questions.
• Technical Question: Send us a message via email and we'll do our best to help you. Technical support can help with things like: trouble accessing the Entry Submission System, error messages or codes, forgotten passwords or data discrepancies. Technical support cannot help with things like: deadline extensions, rules questions or questions about the FIRST Dashboard and Traditional Awards. Please note competition rules / non-technical questions will not receive a reply from this mailbox.
• Rules or Competition Question: Question about the Game Manual must go to the Team Question & Answer System and receive a reply from the official Game Design Committee.
• Not sure where to start? Maybe you prefer the phone? For the fastest service, please use the above methods. However, you can also contact us via phone or FIRST contact form if you prefer. Please see this website for additional contact options. Note that phone support will not be able to opt you into, or out of, At Home Competitions and will not extend deadlines for individual Competitions.