Re: FTC and FRC question
 

What do you think you will gain out of building an off season robot? Would this be in addition to the FTC? In place of it? What is your estimated cost? How will you fund it?

I hope to gain practice, prototype a new drivetrain maybe, and help teach the underclassmen in a time of the year where were not stressed about just getting a finished robot before end build day, and practice with all the tools parts etc that go into building an frc bot.. addition to frc- in a way. Those of us who would rather do ftc can work on that while those of us who would like to build a big bot can do that.. funding and cost- mostly resources we already have, if more resources are needed we'll cross that when/if we get there

Re: FTC and FRC question
 

Compared to some of the other expenses we face in FRC, an off-season drive train doesn't have to be an enormous expense.

After making a few scrawls on a spreadsheet, I think a single speed 6WD can come in under $500 IF you don't have to buy control system components.

Im hoping to be able to build a prototype drivetrain concept using parts and materials we already own from previous years. $100 tops will be spent on new material

Re: FTC and FRC question
 

I am starting my 5th year as primary mentor at an Illinois school where the same small robotics team has done both the FTC and FRC programs in each of the prior four years.

In my estimate, having the same group of students doing both programs is potentially more of a liability than a benefit for their participation in either program ending up considered as a success, especially with the new increased overlapping of the FTC & FRC seasons that the super-regionals demands

Being in Illinois, with the earliest FTC qualifying competitions, means our FTC time constraints are tougher than with FTC in other states. In the past this meant we would wrap up all our FTC competition (excluding Worlds) before FRC kickoff, but this is no longer possible if we can qualify for the FTC super-regional.

The ~6-week time window for FRC build always proves to be an extreme challenge, with both finals week and full week breaks often taking a huge time bites out of the build schedule. Dealing with this is extreme FRC time pressuer is barely possible for our team, and to now have FTC overlapping means that, even if we qualified, we would likely have to bail out of the FTC super regional competition.

For most students on our team, going to Worlds during at least one of their four years is a big goal, and to them this seems most likely ONLY via the FTC program. However, they now must consider that any route to FTC worlds will likely undermine their FRC season, or meeting the FRC season timeline demands will prevent a strong finish with their FTC season.

This becomes a major dilemma, since building the bigger robot has big appeal, but getting to Worlds via FTC also has big appeal.

From a mentor perspective, I find that doing both programs allows very little time to teach much in either program, which is frustrating.

Assuming a school has a large enough team and sufficient numbers of mentors, so that enough time can be devoted to both programs during the overlap period, then it could turn out favorably,

Now that the range of materials allowed for FTC has been expanded, the potential carryover for things learned in FTC benefiting students going on to FRC is much greater.

So, for many reasons, doing FTC as a lead in preparing for FRC can become problematic, but in some cases it could still end up being a positive result.

-Dick Ledford

Re: FTC and FRC question
 

RRLedford,
The Super-regional concept is the least of your issues if you're looking to have the same kids participate in both FTC and FRC.

Illinois is moving to a multi-shot qualifier system for the 2013 season. This means your FTC tournaments are now spread from December 7th through February 8th. This will allow your FTC teams to iterate on their robot design and strategy between qualifiers.

The Illinois Championship tournament will be February 22nd.

See the FIRST events page for more details.

Re: FTC and FRC question
 

I was wondering if corner braces were allowed as appropriate building material in this years FTC challenge. The manual states that fasteners and structural materials are allowed, but there is no specific rule for corner braces. If not would an individual have to make their own from raw materials or is there another alternative?

These are the braces we would like to use: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-...2#.UlWJCtKsjTo

Many thanks!
Team 6169
The countdown to world domination has begun......

Re: FTC and FRC question
 

Going back to the original question, on 1540 we believe that the best way to learn how to build a robot is to, well, build a robot. So we host BunnyBots, an offseason competition different than any other. It's different because it involves a whole other build season.

Our mentors and graduating seniors come up with a different game each year (this year it's based on pool -- not water pool, sorry, but 8 ball pool). Then whichever teams that want to from the local area take on the challenge while simultaneously training new members. By the time the competition happens (December 21st, there'll probably be a livestream), all the newbies know exactly what they're doing, and then there's build season.

Also, the competition always involves stuffed bunnies, and they get horribly mangled and that's fun. :D

BunnyBots main page:http://team1540.org/bunnybots/

BunnyBots Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bunnybots1540