HELP!
 

I'm the President of my robotics club and we only have a frame and motors! We're seriously a rookie team!
I need advice on where we should be at, what it takes to do that, and a good estimate on how long it should take inexperienced people to complete those tasks!
Anything helps! Thank you!

Re: HELP!
 

A frame and motors is a fine place to be in, provided you have a tad more going on behind the scenes - like a cohesive plan on what you want to do from here. You've only been at it for 9 days - don't feel too overwhelmed yet! What part of Texas is your team from?

Re: HELP!
 

Is this the KOP frame, assembled per instructions? If so, you should be in decent shape.


Just so you don't completely panic, it's not uncommon to be at that point at this time in the season. Over here, we barely have one frame going (though we do have older robots to test with), along with a bunch of prototypes.


Second question: What are you planning to put on top of the chassis you have, if anything?

Re: HELP!
 

We're in the southern part of Texas.
Converse, Texas (just on the outskirts of San Antonio)

Re: HELP!
 

We might put our new frame together one of these days...we've been messing about with design ideas for the last week, and have a rough plan, but nothing we can actually build yet. But we stripped all the mechanisms off last year's robot, so we are playing with the programming and control system, and doing a few little prototype tests that way.

I'm also part time mentoring a rookie team, they have the chassis built (not cut to size yet) and driving. They are also still trying to figure out how to play the game. It's a good challenge this year...we have some ideas, but nothing is actually working yet.

Re: HELP!
 

Initially it was set up according to the instructions but somewhere along the line our chassis was too big so we downsized it.
2nd: Right now we have our battery sitting on top of our "chassis", we don't actually have a board for it to sit on...

Re: HELP!
 

Hmmm....we like to have a plan, before we start cutting. But you'll figure out a way to get everything you need mounted to the frame. Don't be afraid to use wood, we love it...our robot last year had a bunch of plywood, some 2x4s, and a 2x6 in it. And we were finalists at one of our regionals, and semifinalists at the other.

Re: HELP!
 

You're in luck! You happen to be in decent proximity to a bunch of older teams; have you considered reaching out to one of them? They'll be more than willing to help.

Re: HELP!
 

If you know what you are hoping to have your robot do and are showing some positive signs for your prototypes, you are on a fine pace... As of right now, our team doesn't have anything that moves, but we're all feeling okay...

However, as a rookie team, you ought to be able to get some support in Texas... There are a lot of very strong, experienced teams in your state who make a habit of helping new groups.... If you don't know where to go/ask, you could start with the Senior Mentors in your region - Alamo (South) Region... If they don't directly help you, they should be able to help you make some contacts:

From the FIRST in Texas page:

FIRST® Senior Mentor
Mike Henry | mhenry@firstinspires.org
Veronica Baca | vbaca@firstinspires.org

Re: HELP!
 

I don't think you should be too worried. We don't have a working robot yet, but hopefully will have a running drive base sometime this week. If building a shooter seems too difficult for your team this year, then just don't. I think this year's game is very nice for rookies because if all you do is build a drive base that can drive over a couple defences and fit under the low bar, you will be scoring well on the field.

Re: HELP!
 

no fear, we dont even have a base yet. (darn those rhino treads...)

Re: HELP!
 

I am willing to help if I can (although I'm not in Texas, so over internet), pm me.

Some advice I can give you now is to make sure you can drive no matter what. You can ignore major parts of the game if you have to. There is no point in a shooter, intake, or mechanism to get over defenses if your drive train is bad and fails during a match. A rookie team isn't expected to be able to do everything, and only driving is fine. A robot that can go under low bar and push boulders into the low goal ain't half bad. Defense can also be really strong, and a defender is a good 3rd pick robot.

Is there anything that you are stuck on?

Re: HELP!
 

Figuring out time for a task is so variable based on experience levels and individual capabilities that we can't even get within 30% of our own team, much less others. The rule of thumb I use for a task we have not done before is to think about how long you think it will take, add one, and bump the unit of measurement. That is, if you thought two hours, probably three days. If you thought three days, probably four weeks. Keep it simple, especially until you know you can build simple, then ramp up.

Re: HELP!
 

Shirok3 - we are in San Antonio, which as you know is a stone skips through from Converse. You are doing fine and hope that you are working on design right now. Would love to help, email us at screamingchickens42@gmail.com and lets get together.

Re: HELP!
 

There are plenty of teams in San Antonio that are willing to help you. I'm a mentor from 5572 based out of Robert e. Lee high school. If you like help or even visit you can email me at midway78224@yahoo.com

Re: HELP!
 

Asking for help is a good thing. Chances are you'll get some if you contact the people who were suggested in earlier posts.

We're in the prototyping stage too. You can see the condition we're in here. This is an existing drive base with a plywood box as a prototyping platform. Our goal is to have a running robot at the end of week 3-ish, but based on past years that's aspirational.

Re: HELP!
 

We might have our frame cut and ready to be welded tonight. Hopefully it'll be driving by the end of the week. We've been around since before 1995 so I think you guys are ok.

Reach out to the teams in your area that have replied and see if they can help out!

Re: HELP!
 

You are fine we don't even have a frame yet.

Re: HELP!
 

Rookie team 5920 here. We just have a frame and thinking of different wheel configurations. Building defenses, cleaning a space so we can practice driving over the defenses. We have our strategy agreed to. We have been working on our business plan and marketing. I think we are in great shape.