FIRST Behind the Design Book 3.0 (plan)
 

A third book on FIRST robot design is in the planning stages, with the goal of a January 2014 publication. The focus of this book will be to highlight advanced manufacturing techniques that have been implemented on FRC robots in the 2013 season, with potential chapters on design techniques and methods (such as CAD and simulation), modern manufacturing (including CNC machining and 3-D printing), and control methods (including the innovative use of sensors and programming). Each chapter will begin with an overview of the state of the art in that industry, with the rest of the chapter devoted to case studies of these applications on individual teams.

As noted, we are in the planning stages of this project with the details for submitting material for review to be developed over the next few weeks. Stephanie Slezycki and I – who wrote two previous books on FIRST robot design – are again working together on this project and the intended format will be similar to the prior books.

While the opportunity to submit material for possible inclusion in the book will be available to all teams, both Stephanie and I will be at the Championships to talk to industry leaders (for profiling in the chapter introductions) and to visit with teams that have innovative applications that may be worthy of publication.

If you are on a team that has successfully implemented such techniques on your robot, we want to hear from you. If you are at Championship, we would like to meet you and see your work. Using this post, please let us know your team number and division, and how your team has used advanced manufacturing principles in your robot this year. Pictures welcome! This first call is simply meant for us to confirm that enough potential content exists. We will issue a detailed set of instructions at a later time that provides additional information on the project and submission process.

We look forward to meeting as many of you that we can this week, and we look forward to learning about the many innovations that teams have created for their 2013 FIRST robots.

Cheers – Stephanie and Vince

Re: FIRST Behind the Design Book 3.0 (plan)
 

Hi Dr.Wilczynski,

Really excited that a new issue is in the works. I was just wondering, however, why the 2nd book is priced far more than the 1st book. (Other than paperback versus hardcover)

http://www.amazon.com/Vince-Wilczyns..._athr_dp_pel_1

Can't wait for the new book!

Thank you,
Akash Rastogi

Re: FIRST Behind the Design Book 3.0 (plan)
 

because the book is not new. They sold out some time ago. The price is probably from a third party trying to make a large profit on hard to get books.

Re: FIRST Behind the Design Book 3.0 (plan)
 

So excited to have the books coming back! They're so great.

Re: FIRST Behind the Design Book 3.0 (plan)
 

If we're interested, should we PM you or respond in this thread?

Re: FIRST Behind the Design Book 3.0 (plan)
 

Here are a few of the things that we did this year that might be of interest to you:

-CAD modeling of the entire robot. This was particularly useful for about 7 complicated design constraints on our arm geometry that the collector, conveyor, and shooter mount to.
-Water jet cut sheet metal for our shooter tray and our hooks. We didn't really take full advantage of using sheet metal (no bends we made), but it is a significant part of how our robot came together this year.
-CNC lathe work on the pulleys for our polyurethane belting.
-Manual lathe work and bridge port mill work on many parts of our drive system in particular.
-Welded aluminum tube frame.
-Hex push broaching.

Any other questions just let me know or stop by 20's pit in Archimedes!
Good luck with generating interest.

Re: FIRST Behind the Design Book 3.0 (plan)
 

Responding to this thread works!

If at Champs, be sure to list team number and your division (to make it easy for us).

Thanks!

Re: FIRST Behind the Design Book 3.0 (plan)
 

FRC 2468 Team Appreciate is in Archimedes this year.

We utilized a 3d Printer for about 20 parts on the robot. The one item that is most interesting is the string potentiometer we printed the parts for and made. This item provides us feedback on the deck angle of our shooter so we can shoot from anywhere on the field. We have gone thru 4 or 5 iterations of the final design. An equivalent item would cost in the range of $150 - $400 and we produced for considerably less than that. BTW, we received our 3D printer during week 4 of the build season.

LED lights on the robot that responsive to the sounds in the stadium. They flash and turn colors with the beat of the music. The LED panels were custom made and utilized a feature of the CRio that is not used by many.


Our shooter is made of HDPE deck with a custom made HDPE wheel and HDPE hopper/Jason' Deli Pickle bucket and rail system. All custom made on a CNC flatbed machine after prototypes we made. Shooter has vision control and PID to assist in shot selection, robot alignment and control. The shooter is mounted on a sheet-metal frame that was designed in SolidWorks and sent out be waterjet cut and bent for the robot.

Please come by our pit in Archimedes for more information, visual inspection and demonstration of the above items.

Norman

Re: FIRST Behind the Design Book 3.0 (plan)
 

some of the things my team did

-CAD our entire robot
-3d Printed our wheels (sponsors printer)
-3d printed various robot parts such as spacers, encoder mounts (in house)
-lots of Manuel mill and lathe work (in house)
-Laser cutter (sponsors machine)
-Water Jet (sponsor)
-CNC Plasma Cutter (In house)

Id be happy to discuss our use of any of these with you, you can send me a message on CD or stop by 2175s pit in galileo

Re: FIRST Behind the Design Book 3.0 (plan)
 

In addition to full CAD, student CNC'd swerve modules, and a student lay-up'd carbon fiber shooter and electronics panels, our 30 point climber has:
- team laser cut polymer guides
- student, in-house milled delrin skis
- student-molded wheels with composite inserts from a custom CNC'd mold
- student, in-house welded leg braces & chassis
- student, in-house milled clevises, among other industrial manufacturing parts
In addition to our IiC for the climb and our MAR Championship (mostly on the shooter and swerve drive), we also received a Creativity Award for a heads-up targeting display: our driver can wear safety glasses with LEDs that light up to indicate which direction to spin, based on camera targeting.

Swerve Modules...Climb Legs...Shooter Layup...Robot! (mid-climb)
Stop by 1640 in Newton for more, or browse our site :)

Re: FIRST Behind the Design Book 3.0 (plan)
 

Team 359 is interested. ;)

Re: FIRST Behind the Design Book 3.0 (plan)
 

This is awesome.

We refer to the first 2 books frequently.

Re: FIRST Behind the Design Book 3.0 (plan)
 

This is awesome!

When we ran our chapters at the end of the last year, we learned just how huge an undertaking it is to edit and format and put together a very short version of the real thing. So much so that I'm rather glad to see the real thing come back. Frankly I wasn't looking forward to giving it another shot, though I think my students were :D

I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Re: FIRST Behind the Design Book 3.0 (plan)
 

I know that the last series was ended doto financial concerns; if memory serves. If it would help, i'd be willing to pre-order 10 copies.

Re: FIRST Behind the Design Book 3.0 (plan)
 

Could you share which CRio feature this is?