List of Rookie Resources

[Brandon Martus]

Do you know of a site, white paper, or something you can attach to this thread that would help out a new team? Something like FRC 25's RINOS program, MOE's week by week schedule, etc.?

This thread will serve as a master list of resources for new teams to reference. Please post with a general description of what you have to offer (or know someone else is offering).

Please leave discussion of these programs/papers/materials to another thread. This is informational only. Moderators will be deleting any unnecessary posts.

[neoshaakti]

http://first.wpi.edu/Workshops/2007CON.html

awesome videos!

[Kyle]

Here is the link to MOE's moementum (http://www.fsrobotics.org/moe365//moementum.php) page and the introduction to the site:




"FIRST is a constantly expanding organization with new teams popping up like weeds every year. Because so much is demanded in such a short period of time, many new (or "rookie") teams often find themselves rapidly overwhelmed. Fortunately, has been a part of the FIRST and MOE tradition to assist rookie teams through out the course of the build and competition season. Hence, MOEmentum was born.
We at MOE are entering our eighth season, and know well the trials and tribulations that come with building a robot - whether it is your first or thirty-first build. Therefore, we have, over the years compiled our information into a week-by-week news letter to aide first year teams, filled with helpful tips and pointers. In addition, there are also documents that our team finds helpful in organizing our meetings.
Good luck to all teams this season, especially the rookie teams!
MOE 365"

[KathieK]

Many resources for rookie (and veteran teams) can be found on the NEMO website at www.firstnemo.org.

We also link to several other websites of resources for rookies.

[Bill Moore]

There's also the list of resources pulled together by the President's Circle (http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/content.aspx?id=7006).

[rogerlsmith]

FIRST Objective is a community that is helping schools see the importance of FIRST through the use of videos, forums, user groups and blogs. Our member base is growing every day and we are getting new videos added regularly. We encourage visitors to ask questions in our forums and we are doing all we can to help get new teams off the ground. For FIRST veterans, please stop by and help out with questions and also post your videos if you have any.

http://www.firstobjective.org

Thanks!
Roger

[Akash Rastogi]

A recent thread about the design process involved in engineering could also be useful- courtesy of Molten and other CD members.:]

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=59512

[Jay Trzaskos]

I found the presentations by Ian Mackenzie and Karthik Kanagasabapathy on FIRST Canada (http://www.firstroboticscanada.org/site/node/95) to be very helpful and informative along with JVN's Fall Seminar Presentations (http://www.team229.org/resources/15/).

[AdamHeard]

For Drivetrains (& more);

There are two very awesome drivetrain calculators out there;

JVN's is (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1469) more complete and offers a lot of information (graphs of motor load, current draw, speed, position, etc...)

Steve Judd's is made for combat robots, but I asked him to add the two CIM motors to it. You just pick the motors, wheel size, weight, etc... (same stuff as JVN's) and it will give you a quick estimate of speed and current draw. Not as much information, but a lot easier. It is under the "tools" section of his site (called torque/Ah calculator). (http://www.architeuthis-dux.org/tcr-home.asp)

[RoboMom]

FIRST Senior Mentor project
http://www.usfirst.org/community/volunteers/content.aspx?id=3310

[Richard Wallace]

The FIRST website has a page on team sustainability (http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/content.aspx?id=6876), with links to several good resources.

[OZ_341]

Rookie Teams can order a free copy of "Team in a Box". This DVD features interviews with Dean Kamen, Andy Baker, Rich Kressly, Mike Wade, and many other prominent FIRST icons. We will also continue to feature segments from knowledgeable Hall of Fame Teams such as Team 103 (Animation) and Team 67 (Drive trains) as well as input from teams interviewed at FIRST events.

Over 2500 copies of Team in a Box have now been distributed to 10 countries, 5 continents, and almost every US state.

Thanks to AndyMark we can continue to make this disk available, free of charge for Rookies, pre-Rookies and the veterans that mentor them.

For more information about Team in a Box please visit our website at www.team341.com and then click on the Team in a Box banner.
You can also find us by going to the FIRST President's Circle list of resources.

Thank you for supporting Rookies everywhere!!!

[Cynette]

Team 1511, Rolling Thunder, has a whole page on their website dedicated to Rookie Resources.

http://www.penfieldrobotics.com/resources/rookies.php

[Richard Wallace]

Top Ten Boneheaded Mistakes (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2043)

[lynca]

http://wiki.chiefdelphi.com/index.php/Index_of_teams Check out teams that have been around FIRST and brainstorm Team Name ideas,

http://mentor.txfirst.org - Find mentors or contacts nearby that can help

[Kim Masi]

http://www.thebluealliance.net/

Thanks to Greg Marra and Tom Bottiglieri, the Blue Alliance is a great resource for any team, not just rookies. Check it out!

[vivek16]

I recommend just going to www.usfirst.org and just clicking every possible link possible. I found a lot of gold nuggets when it comes to recruiting new members or sponsors this way.

thanks, vivek

[Wayne C.]

Resources has been the focus of the Presidents Circle this past fall. There is a link of resources for team on the FIRST website that has links to most of those in this thread under "for teams by teams"


To plug our own program- I suggest you visit the www.raiderrobotix.org site and go to the RINOS page. The Manual for Rookies (downloadable) was written with all this information in mind. It is a great paper complement to TIAB from 341 and Moementum. There is an extensive link list in the back of the manual as well as the team 25 team manual and organizational charts.

In the near future watch for www.FIRSTrinos.com to be posted. It will have EXTENSIVE resources for new teams, links between teams and mentors and funding sources. The page is being coded now with a deadline in December.

For those going to NH, my wife Lauralynne (1089 mentor) and I are giving a workshop called "Making 1000's of Dollars Appear out of Thin Air for Your Team" where we will have lots of the contact resources out there and maybe give new teams some fund raising ideas. Maybe we will see you there.

Happy holiday!!

WC

[Karthik]

I found the presentations by Ian Mackenzie and Karthik Kanagasabapathy on FIRST Canada (http://www.firstroboticscanada.org/site/node/95) to be very helpful and informative along with JVN's Fall Seminar Presentations (http://www.team229.org/resources/15/).

We've just updated the presentation section that Jay mentioned. Notably "Running a Team (http://firstroboticscanada.org/site/files/workshops/runteam.pdf)" and "Strategy (http://firstroboticscanada.org/site/files/workshops/strategy.pdf)" have been refreshed, while "Mechanical Design (http://firstroboticscanada.org/site/files/workshops/mechanical.pdf)", "Programming FRC Robots: CMU Camera (http://firstroboticscanada.org/site/files/workshops/programming-camera.pdf)" and "Programming FRC Robots: PID Control (http://firstroboticscanada.org/site/files/workshops/programming-pid.pdf)" have been added.

[BandChick]

Remember the FIRST resources out there too!

FRC Handbook (http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Community/FRC/Team_Resources/FRC%20Handbook.pdf), and the Team Timeline (http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Community/FRC/Team_Resources/Appendix%20D%20Team%20Sample%20Timeline3.pdf) are great for getting organized and making sure you meet all your deadlines.

The NYC/NJ folks have also put together a pretty great collection of resources, including tutorials & guides, fundraising help, and a list of the some common suppliers and manufacturers - http://nycnjfirst.org/team_resources.html

[Ed Sparks]

The FirstCadLibrary (http://www.firstcadlibrary.com) is a site I started years ago to help teams be more productive with the donated CAD software (Inventor) from Autodesk. You can download these models of various robot components and save yourself the hundreds of hours it would take to model them yourself.

[Cheerleader1073]

Hey Everyone!

Our team created a manual one year ago (it's in need of a thorough grammar check and this year's game update) but it's a good manual for first-year teams and veteran teams who need help with team structure, etc. The link is on our website here: http://theforceteam.com/handbook.html :). I was our team's "VP of Business" this year and will be our "CEO" (our version of a president or captain) next year so I've had a lot of experience in the community, public relations, financial, and spirit side of a successful FIRST team so if any new teams have any questions just send them over to my e-mail at genevieveb12@gmail.com and if I can't answer your question then I'll find out for you as soon as possible!

Thanks,
Gen

[RoboMom]

Great thread revival.
Although in need of a tune-up (updating, removing the 404 links), the Mentor Resources Library was created exactly one year ago.
http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/content.aspx?id=14034

[Nikki Haux]

Team RUSH 27 has a great toolkit for everything you need to know to start a team, from fundraising to team organization to the build and competition seasons.
http://teamrush27.net/resources/toolkit.html

[panicnot42]

Our team wrote an excellent guide on what to expect from competition and how to prepare for it. Link here (http://1334.ca/content/HowToBeRegionalReady.pdf)

[Daskov]

Team 781 has created a Robotics 4 Rookies booklet that is so great it's actually being distributed by FIRST Canada by all Canadian teams next season. You can probably email them and ask for a copy or find it here:
http://team781.com/frc/robotics-4-rookies

[SMR Vault]

https://s27.postimg.org/75hwupjkz/SMR_Vault_Logo.png

Hey all! We're SMR Vault, a student run media group that covers happenings within the FIRST community.

We recently released two videos in which we interviewed veteran teams about build season strategy, team structure, etc. We made these videos with rookie teams in mind, and we recommend your team (rookie or veteran), sits down and analyzes these videos in order to have some sense of structure as your team embarks on the daunting task of "starting up," in the case of a rookie team.

We’ve summarized some highlights below, but we encourage you to check out the videos for yourself!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pdC5BnXAys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI48jedt1A8&feature=youtu.be

Alexis Longmire, captain of the Hardin Valley RoHAWKtics, has emphasized outreach, ranging from integrating sub-teams all the way to running a foreign exchange student program to promote FIRST internationally, throughout her leadership. Our biggest takeaway was HVA’s regard for the well being of students; this has been highlighted throughout their safety program, which extends beyond the realm of FRC, and their outreach to other teams during competition and throughout the season. Alexis had sound advice to offer in regards to kickoff strategy and team structure, so definitely check that video out!

Alijah Lawson, business lead of Blount County Robotics, places a large emphasis on student leadership and learning from experience, as evidenced by the unique student-mentor relationship, which differs greatly from that of HVA, and the simplistic team structure that allows students to drift in and out of sub-groups to find where they fit best. The team also has a very straightforward, yet effective method of managing priorities, and we think teams will find this particularly helpful this season!

The most relevant subject that both teams touched on was kickoff strategy! Both HVA and BCR take a relatively similar approach to beginning the season, and both strategies are certainly noteworthy!

Hope this helps!