POLL: When do you finish?

[DELurker]

There has been some debate in our shop as to when other teams get finished with their competition robot, "finished" in the typical FIRST FRC meaning, that is :D . I would be interested in knowing when other teams are typically done with the major construction and programming work in preparation for their first competition of the season.

Does anyone really have 3-4 weeks of testing, driving practice, and modification before bag-up day? :yikes: Or is more along the lines of 1 week? :confused: Or is the reality that the robot that gets bagged up has never been tested, is 30 lbs light (ala R21), and will be a complete surprise at its first event? :o

Please put your answer in the poll below:
PollCode: http://poll.pollcode.com/88lyyo

[Brandon Zalinsky]

We, unfortunately, usually work right up until ship. This year, we set a goal to be completed with all major construction and programming one week before build. We've found that being able to be on the field on Thursday at our first event (BAE/GSR) is a huge advantage. It gives the drivers a chance to get a feel for the real field, and also allows things like the pyramid climbing mechanism to get a few reps.

[Koko Ed]

Practice bot: week three to five.
Competition bot: week five or six.

[IndySam]

We are like Ed's X-Cats and with the generous rule R21

Teams may bring a maximum of 30 lbs of FABRICATED ITEMS to each event to be used to repair and/or upgrade their ROBOT. The OPERATOR CONSOLE, BUMPERS, and any ROBOT battery assemblies (as described in R5-A) are exempt from this limit.


We are never finished.

[Chris is me]

For the past two years, we haven't been finished until before our final off season.

But we're usually driving by Week 5, mostly operational the Saturday before ship.

[Koko Ed]

I suspect this year there will be a higher amount of teams not done til practice day of their first regional (if at all). This year seems very very different than others. Watch the dark clouds on the horizon, children. A storm is coming.

[theawesome1730]

We like to be driving our prototype by the beginning of week three and have the competition robots done by week 5 so we can get as much practice in as possible. This year we are running very behind so it will be interesting to see when we finish

[kingbrandon14]

We will probably finish our competition robot within a week or a week and a half, that way we have a week or so to practice before bag day. Then we will finish our practice bot to use until competition (right now its just the drivetrain)

[Alan Anderson]

We "finish" working on the robot 45 days after kickoff. Why would one stop improving a robot before the clock and calendar force it to be sealed at the Stop Build deadline?

We usually have a working robot that can pass inspection and play the game sometime in build week 5. We often have a driveable practice chassis in week 2 or 3, with various mechanisms being finished and tweaked and integrated constantly. The competition 'bot is typically a week or two behind the practice one.

Of course, we aren't really finished working on it until a little before Halloween (CAGE is in mid-October).

[Bryce Paputa]

Where is the option for second or third competition?

[Grim Tuesday]

There needs to be an answer of 'Not until our last match'

[Gregor]

Never

[Billfred]

Last year, we bagged the robot at 10:00 PM the final night after diagnosing a dead cRIO. You tell me. :)

[DELurker]

Last year, we bagged the robot at 10:00 PM the final night after diagnosing a dead cRIO. You tell me. :)

Same boat. Last year, we bagged at around 11:30 pm with a robot that drove, but could not do anything else that we wanted. We finally gave up on some design items after our 8th match (out of 13 qualifiers) at our first event...

I'm mostly interested in what target date your team has for being able to start final whole-system debugging. I know that no robot is truly ever done, but there has to be a cut-off for the major systems work. ;)

[DELurker]

Thank you to everyone who has replied so far. Thank you also to everyone who has submitted a vote in the poll. After 7 hours, there are about 71 votes in the system (on a Sunday, no less).

Keep 'em coming...

[DELurker]

Current Poll Status after 14 hours...

103 votes

[HammadB]

There is no end, only a beginning.

[pmangels17]

Well, I can't say much for our main system, which should get bagged, but we will have some "added" capability surprise brought in for our first regional, New York City. Also, we will probably be making the plywood frame for the bumpers during build season, but there is no reason to use build season time to make complete bumpers, when they will be less rushed after ship day.However, the main systems and all wiring/pneumatics/electronics will be done for ship day.

[Garrett.d.w]

We generally have something we could pass inspection with in week five. We have a robot by week six (drives, scores, sans 30lbs of course).

Are we ever done... nah ;)

I am always impressed by teams that start out on Thursday with a good robot and finish qualifying rounds with a great robot. Never stop improving.

[Jon Stratis]

The main whiteboard in our build space claims we'll be done 2 weeks from yesterday. It'll be really awesome if we hit that date.

Realistically, I imagine we'll still be trying to get everything working together at our first regional. Our design is by far the hardest control challenge we've ever had for our programmers... they're going to need a lot of time with a completed robot to get it to work flawlessly. But when it does eventually work, it'll be an awesome site to see!

[The_ShamWOW88]

We usually go right up until the bitter end, week 6 affectionately known as Crunch Week. We're attempting to have a competition ready robot done by the end of Week 5 so we'll have some quality practice time with our drivers but you know how that goes.

[Anupam Goli]

What is this "end" you speak of? :P

Seriously, there is never a finishing point for your robot. We may bag a robot up, but we have our practice bot and we are going to keep on practicing and iterating to make our bot the most efficient we can. This is what engineers do. We won't sit around until our competition, we will re-design, iterate, and practice up until our first match. We will repeat this process between all events too, up until our off season events.