Re: Eliminating "Start Build Day"
 

I don't disagree that FRC's volunteers and semi-volunteers are affected strongly by FRC's annual rhythms, but an observation is that ...

If FRC wishes to continue to grow globally (along with trying to saturate North America), finding ways to continue to be attractive regardless of any given community's school calendar is only going to become more important.

As you point out, in just the USA, plenty of variation exists, such as instances of year-round public schools, or different Fall start dates.

And then when you think globally, the number of student calendars (and holidays, and testing schedules, and ...) really explodes.

You have the north/south hemisphere differences, and oh-so-many cultural differences.

My magic wand is broken, so I'm imagining that some current FRC schedule eggs are going to be broken when FRC makes their future omelets.

Blake

Re: Eliminating "Start Build Day"
 

Do you really anticipate that a Sept-April program would be the same intensity as our January-April program? What about a 365 day a year program? Can planning, preparation, and training of students still not happen in the same fall time period, even if there's a game announced? If anything, I'd echo some of the earlier posts hypothesizing it may actually be good for younger students to be able to get their hands dirty on a competition robot in a more relaxed pace. It's far less crippling if a new student makes a mistake and you have 4 months left to fix it rather than 4 weeks. It would also allow for more teams to get their fabrication and prototyping students up to speed while still having time to design a robot before they start cutting metal.

I think it's obvious that our current structure results in a very high demand, sometimes burnout inducing, pace for the 6 weeks of build season. For some teams, that can spill over into competition season. Adjusting stop build date opens the potential for that burnout to adjust up or down for many teams, but ultimately building a 120lb machine in either 6 weeks or 8 weeks or 10 weeks is still going to be a high stress, high intensity task. If we're serious about giving teams more access to their machines, but also don't want to burn people out, exploring the possibility of moving the start of the season to the left (either by adjusting kickoff date or relaxing "don't touch" requirements) may actually create the possibility of a season with less burnout. Removing bag day likely doesn't create a low stress pace by itself, but perhaps adding another 12 or 16 weeks on the front end might.

You do bring up some good points regarding teacher perspectives. We've seen similar splits among teachers regarding stop build day. Since you're also involved in VRC, how do you feel about the 365 day schedule of that competition and its interactions with your profession?

The "eliminating" verbage was designed to parallel the verbage being used in stop bag day discussions. Practically, we're discussing both the potential movement of the Kickoff date (up until perhaps the point a 365 day schedule, in which the next game is revealed at championship), as well as the relaxation and adjustment of the rules governing what can be done before kickoff.


As it stands currently, teams are not allowed to use components fabricated prior to kickoff. I'm suggested we consider relaxing those rules. In a situation where those rules were relaxed to the point teams could fabricate their kitbot chassis prior to kickoff, I think that would benefit low-to-mildly successful teams more than it would high performing teams. Top tier competitive teams would be unlikely to invest substantially in designing and fabricating a chassis (or other system) for a game they do not yet know, as they want an optimized solution for the challenge. Lower performing teams often already employ sub-optimal solutions, so effectively allowing them a head start would allow them to focus more on optimization and game piece manipulation after the game is revealed. I'm also sure that high performing teams would find ways the relaxed rules could help their design and fabrication process (such as moving menial fabrication jobs on items like wheels or gussets ahead of the game reveal).



Does the intensity have to come in the form of a 6 or 13 week sprint? Could it come in terms of final rushes up to competition dates or other deadlines? Could it come at competition itself?

I'm not dismissing your viewpoint, as it's definitely a valid one. Some people relish the burn of competition season. However, there are others that are kept away because of it, and I think it's worth examining if we're at the ideal point.

Re: Eliminating "Start Build Day"
 

It would be "interesting" to relax the pre-build rules.

As a refresher, the current rules are, in a nutshell:
Code, CAD, and other similar "soft" products have to either be publicly available or done post-Kickoff. "Hard" products for the robot, in general, can't be in final form, or significantly towards final form (frames, etc.), before Kickoff, with some exceptions for electronics with connectors attached and similar items. The enforcement is the captain and mentor signature on the inspection form with "We followed all the rules."

In shorter form, you can have all the planning done before Kickoff, if it's public, but you can't cut metal or use unmodified nonpublic code or CAD.


So let's do a thought exercise in what would happen if some tweaks were made. Just for kicks and giggles, we'll assume no official "start build" time is given, but that KIT robots, if used, ship in early December. We'll also assume that the Kickoff doesn't move (for this one--I think we can draw conclusions that are applicable to if it does).

Non-public software and CAD usage: Basically, removing the "make it public" restriction. Frankly... Bad idea. The current rule actually increases the quantity of available resources at the start of the season. Removing that rule will allow "proprietary" items to stay "proprietary". Now, some folks will disagree that that's a bad thing, it'll more closely reflect the real world. But I would posit that being able to learn from the work posted is going to be better for the students in the long run.

Pre-build "hard" products: I could easily see a LOT of teams going kitbot here--the chance to build that before Kickoff could be big. Actually, you can almost do that now... except that you'll need to disassemble it at least partway afterwards and rebuild it. Wait, you need to do that for sizing anyway, if I'm not mistaken.

Here's the biggest trap with allowing "hard" products to be pre-built, and I'm willing to bet that a few teams walk into it. With no game to design for, teams don't know if they'll be able to use preseason robot X without modification. It's a gamble.

I could see that being a bit of an equalizer.

Personally... I would take a middle route. COTS items may be assembled, and/or put together as a robot, prior to season, and used in that configuration or in any other configuration. (Kitbot, AM chassis, Versa-everything--you get the idea.) I would probably include a couple of "allowable modification" rules as well, related to length trimming and hole-drilling and similar items. All must be accounted for on the BOM if they're on the robot. Verification would be the BOM and possibly a photo from before Kickoff. CUSTOM items must be built after Kickoff (whenever that happens to be). "Soft" products need to be public before Kickoff (if there is one).

Thus, a team could play with drive system X in the preseason, and use the exact same physical drive in the season, if it was COTS, or if "non-allowable" modifications were made after Kickoff. But if it was customized before Kickoff, it would need to be built again or at the very least heavily modified (great chance for the team to make necessary modifications for the game, just a thought).

Re: Eliminating "Start Build Day"
 

Quick point of order: Are you allowed to machine custom parts before kickoff made from CAD drawings and prints that you have made COTS by widely publishing in public spaces? Is it COTS then? I've never done this just wondered about it.

Re: Eliminating "Start Build Day"
 

I'm approaching the point where I may have to step away from FIRST just because of the other demands on my life. (I do a lot more than just robotics).

Personally, I would like to see a hard step in the other direction--keep kickoff, and keep stop build day, eliminate the withholding allowance and forbid the use of practice robots--but extend the build season by one, maybe two weeks.

If FRC starts to take up any more of the 600-700 hours I already spend on it every year, I'm going to have to step away.

Re: Eliminating "Start Build Day"
 

Personally I believe that banning the use of practice robots is one of the most ludicrous idea's that I have ever heard proposed as a solution. I get that many teams don't have the resources to build one, and that it gives and "unfair" advantage to the teams that do. But the building and use of practice robots has done more for the develop of level of competition in FIRST than anything else. Second why should we punish the teams who take the time energy and effort to get more resources in order to develop a superior product. If you don't like it, then do something about it on your own team.

I'm in favor of leaving kickoff where it is. Students get a much needed break before the start of build season from school and bringing forward the date of kick off to somewhere in Nov/Dec will only extend the students stress from the end of the first semester, through build season, into the start of the second semester. However, I am in favor of allowing teams to use fabricated parts made before kick off because in reality they would have no idea what the game would be, or what the restrictions on size would need to be. The option would be to just make say a bunch of different launchers and arms and other manipulators and hope that one may work. Doing this comes with an inherent risk/reward that allowing teams to make would be interesting to see.

Where I see the use of fabricated parts being allowed to be used to greatest effect is in drive chassis. Many mid to mid-high teams develop and experiment with new chassis during the off season that they are contemplation using during the build season. Having the ability to use, say for example a custom designed swerve module that you made in house, custom built chassis pieces or even full chassis with electronics boards could be extremely useful as it creates a more realistic performance test bed for scaled prototypes. Allowing teams to further develop their concepts, thus making FIRST more competitive.

Re: Eliminating "Start Build Day"
 

You also "can't" ban practice robots, because what is a practice robot? I challenge anyone to write a rule that rigorously prevents the creation and use of practice robots, without either being so broad it bans all sorts of normal activities, or being so narrow that any number of legal exceptions to the rule exist.

In general, changes that make FRC teams perform worse aren't a good idea.

Re: Eliminating "Start Build Day"
 

Some folks might be able to make a strong case for the idea that time spent building a practice bot could be better invested demystifying building fun LEGO/VEXIQ bots for new students who don't know how much fun STEM careers can be.

Other folks might make a strong case for the idea that having a practice bot helps teams improve their on-the-field win record, and helps teams put on demos, etc.; and that investing in both of those things will help them attract students who don't know how much fun STEM careers can be.

In either case FIRST hopes the teams invest their time and resources well; and are able to nudge their community cultures in a good direction.

Switching from practice bots back to build seasons ... As you and other posters rightly imply, adjusting the build season is a complex topic. Some folks' musings and suggestions strike other folks as ludicrous. One person's what-if suggestion is another person's troll.

Figuring out what changes, if any, would strengthen FIRST's ability to carry out its primary and related mission(s) is a tough, multi-dimensional nut to crack, especially in an online discussion thread.

Blake

Re: Eliminating "Start Build Day"
 

This thread contains some opinions that I found useful when thinking about all sides of the ways-to-alter-build-season and motivations-to-do-it conversations. I suppose what is in it could be used to bolster arguments advanced by just about anyone who takes a stand on the subject(s). For me that speaks volumes about those conversations.

Maybe a good takeaway from that thread and from some of the posts in this thread is that out of the constellation of possible changes, any change should be made cautiously, after a full exploration of the entire problem space.

Managing Grades and Responsibilities While On A FIRST Team
PS: Jane Young started the thread back in May of 2007. As recently as Jan of 2016 someone found the topic pertinent enough to contribute to the thread.

Blake

Re: Eliminating "Start Build Day"
 

There, invalidated the primary benefit of practice bots and all iteration of systems while still allowing functionally identical replacement of parts and minor geometric tweaks and still allowing at event changes.

For the record - I think this is a stupid idea.

Re: Eliminating "Start Build Day"
 

Mechanical iteration and drive practice are still allowed, so I expect it would not stop anyone from building a practice robot. Even if they had to throw out and rewrite any code they worked on at home.

Keep going!

Re: Eliminating "Start Build Day"
 

If I can rephrase the question:

Can you make something "COTS" just by publishing the design information about it?
No. COTS items are defined in the 2016 game manual as being standard parts that are available by sale (i.e. money must change hands) from VENDORS. There is a list of 5 qualification criteria for an entity to be considered a VENDOR. Just publishing the design information about something does not make it COTS.

Are FABRICATED ITEMS treated any differently w/r/t the schedule rules if they are functionally equivalent to COTS parts?
No.

Re: Eliminating "Start Build Day"
 

As far as I can tell, a literal reading of the 2016 rules does not permit COTS items (that are not electrical components) that were "created before Kickoff" from being used! The rule that creates the fabrication schedule restriction is R13:

I skimmed the rules a few times and actually cannot find the rule anywhere that permits COTS items created before Kickoff. That has to be a rule somewhere, right?

Re: Eliminating "Start Build Day"
 

As others have mentioned whether or not pre-fabricated parts should be allowed, this would be a big positive step if this was allowed.
Why not? Its not like anyone knows the game yet.

I see no harm in pre-fabricating a drivetrain before build season, and then utilizing it if they choose so when the game is announced.
We are already allowing a 40lb allowance during competitions. If not then, how about 40lbs of pre-fab parts too? No difference here.

Re: Eliminating "Start Build Day"
 

If you read "created" in R13 as "fabricated" then COTS items are OK. Given that it's the first rule in the section entitled Fabrication Schedule, and the blue box clarifies that this rule refers to FABRICATED ITEMS. As other clear exceptions, you are also explicitly allowed to use KoP items and FIRST Choice items which were obviously manufactured before Kickoff. Maybe worth a Q&A in January, but not worth losing any sleep over before then.