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Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Sorry about the week off from doing the question, but being an avid Red Sox fan, my priorities were a taaaad mixed last week ;)
Question of the Week (10/11/04): If there was one rule of advice that you could give any team to be successful in FIRST, what would that rule be? Special rule: Once someone has stated a rule, do not repeat it. Have fun! -Andy Grady |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Quote:
Criticism and unwanted comments waste time, and are not GP. You need to spend the time you would arguing, working with one another and trying to get things done. Worry about what you need to do on your team, not what someone else does or says. It's not worth the time or effort, and there's a lot more you can be spending your time and energy on. Live up to FIRST values, always. Just my $.02 =) |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Cheer like fools.
Doing so will make your FIRST experience immensely better, whether you bring home some bling or not. And if you enjoy FIRST, the odds of that nifty Inspiration thing kicking in go up dramatically. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Don't throw out any ideas, ever, until they've been fully analyzed, or as fully analyzed as resources permit.
Many times over my past three years in FIRST, we've thrown out an idea that we then saw on the robot that won the regional. NEVER throw out an idea, no matter how crazy it may be, until you've figured out if it'll work or not, and how other teams would approach it. Better off to waste a day in the first week than three days at a regional. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
The Safety Goggles rule...
i know that it has been brought up before... even was tried to apply it at competition, but didnt look like it was very successful. if there was a way to get everyone to wear safety goggles whenever they are in the pits, we in general would look so much better. :) just a week ago when i was helping someone drill press a aluminum piece it flew off and hit me right on the safety goggles... if that wasnt there... i would probably be in hospital trying to find out if i turned blind or not... SAFETY FIRST :) |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
As I always say:
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can (and will) be held againt you (and your peers) in the court of public opinion. This rule doesn't just apply to message boards and website guestbooks but at competitions as well (especially there!). Don't hamstring your team because you can't control your mouth. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Give space for your team-mates/mentors to grow, it is rewarding to you more than anyone else.
I've been in many teams, and it is the same for a FIRST team or any other team. Sometimes you just have to have faith in your team members and let them do things even though they don't seem that responsible. You indirectly become a team leader when you can let others take up heavy responsibilities. One thing is that you are giving them a lot of importance and they will like you for that. Secondly, the team becomes very productive when everyone is been given some importance, and space to grow. Its OK to make fun of your team mates because they're dumb of whatever, but if you give them space to grow you never know what might come out of them. Go experiment with team-work. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Practice is important!
If your drivers first drive your robot at the regional, you probably won't do very well, and are doing a disservice to all the people who built and designed your robot. Get a drivable chassis of some sort within 10 days and work from there. Have driver training (either with an incomplete robot, a past robot if you have one, or a box on wheels) as soon as you can. Set a final completion date at least three days before shipping, which will give you a chance to drive your completed robot, break it, and then fix it before sealing it in the crate. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Have patience with one another. Not everyone is going to understand the first time.
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Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
No question is a bad one. Ask and ye shall learn.
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Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Be open, to everything
Just applies to EVERYTHING, you will come upon SO many unexpected things, qualities in yourself and others that you never knew were there. Mechanical things as well, don't ever totally shoot something down, many people have different viewpoints than you and may see something you don't. Give everyone a chance, maybe even 2 or 3. People will suprise you left and right, you will also suprise people. You will aquire things you'd never get anywhere else, be it skill, experience or friends. Don't take anything for granted. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Know your capabilities, and don't try and build something outside of them...
This is my variation of the "Keep it Simple" rule. I love the KISS philosophy, but it doesn't apply to everyone. I mean, I don't really think that Wildstang or Beatty need to go build "simple" robots next year. But it is crucial that every team knows what they're capable of doing. Once you figure out your capabilities, do not try and exceed them. Simpler and well done will always beat more complex but poorly built and unreliable. For some teams this means just building a box on wheels with limited functions, while for other teams it means not building a 8 motor swerve design. I've seen to many teams fall face first when trying to do to much. By no means am I trying to squelch innovation, but teams need to remember that we all have reasonable limits. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
take enormous pride in what you have done, but respect everyone else's effort as well.
coming off of karthik's post, it matters not what type of robot you have built, but the fact that you sunk so much of your own time into it. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Budget your time wisely
Don't waste time. The 6 weeks of build season go by fast, so getting behond can be a major problem. Make a schedule for your team of where you want to be by certain dates, and make sure you meet those deadlines (so you can take ahecht's advice and have enough time for quality practice). Budget and use your time well, and the 6 weeks of build season will be much less stressful. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Break it early
The sooner you try your design out, the sooner you can find the faults and the weak points. While breaking things during week 4 is disheartening, breaking things during a regional is a nightmare. It is easy to recover after a week 4 breakage. Recovering between elimination matches is tough. Design it. Break it. Fix the design. Repeat until the design is right. In FIRST, the earlier you start this process, the better your design will be. Andy B. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
One thing Sean Schuff pointed out to me as a freshman is ...
"Remember, being involved [with FIRST] is a privilege, not a right." Easily, one of the best pieces of advice I've ever received. When things aren't going your way, keep the above in mind; instead of getting angry, try to do something to better the situation for everyone. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Prototype early and often
One of the things that made the 177 bot great in 2001 was that its claw could grab either a big ball or a mobile goal. It took us several generations of PVC prototypes before we even thought about it being able to serve both purposes. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Fail often to succeed faster.
This was our motto this year and we stuck to it. Whenever we had an idea, we tried it out as quickly as possible to see if it worked. I think this team failed more often this year than any team I've been on. And we'll be failing even more next year! On a side note, we had this on a 2-piece banner hanging in our work area. The second half of the banner fell down and it just read "Fail often to suc." That drew a few giggles. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
I like Dean Kamen's key rules of project development, the number one of which is " Fall behind early." Team Hammond abides by that rule most every year.
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Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Never, EVER quit.
This is difficult on purpose. It's life preparation like you couldn't ever imagine. Pursuing dreams and ideals is no easy task, but don't ever let any obstacle or person rob you of a dream. This world needs people who are passionate about what they do and about being contributors to society. I've learned the only requirement for success is perseverance. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
HAVE FUN
How many successful teams don't enjoy what they're doing? |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. - Teddy Roosevelt
Best rule for a college FIRSTer. Don't do more than you can handle. Don't take on things all by yourself. But do everything that you can, the best that you can. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Put your heart into it 100%
Try to only take on tasks that you love, but if you have to do a task that you don't like, because otherwise no one else will (and we all know these jobs exist) try to find a way to love what you're doing. Otherwise, you'll do a half-hearted job and that is usually more detrimental to the team than not. Heidi |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
"You cannot fix everything with a keystroke." -- John Burns
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Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Be Inspired and Inspire.
FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. What are we doing this for. To spread awareness of the Science and Technology world. To inspire kids to be involved in the Science and Technology world. So how can you succeed? By inspiring others and passing on you knowledge. Maybe they recognize the technology and Science field of our day, but it isn't for them. Inspire students to find what's right for them. There are so many facets to this program that a student can be inspired to do almost anything. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Use the KISS Method!!
Keep It Simple Stupid Also, a good saying from a fellow teammate: "Practice makes PERMANENT" not perfect... |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
When concerning design strategy, if someone says that a task is too difficult or impossible to do...chances are someone ::cough Beatty cough:: has already designed it.
Examples: In 1999 my team thought that no one would use the poles to get up on the puck...hehe...oops. In 2001..."Now really, who the heck is going to be able to balance two goals WITH balls on them from off the ramp! GET REAL!" In 2002, 3 Goals? "Nahhh, no one will do that...let lone win a competition." 2004...Catch the balls out of the troft? Thats 18 balls!!! No one is gonna be able to build a robot that BIG! Catch my drift? Have fun, Andy Grady |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
even when things just don't go your way just stand up and always be proud because eventually you'll be shinning up on top, might take a few tries but in the end it's totally worth it :)
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Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Teamwork
Teamwork is everything. Without teamwork there is no team.Let everyone help in some way or another. It doesn't have to be with thr robot. It couldbe with anything that needs to be done. I have another one but I don't want to steal it from anybody. |
Re: Question of the Week!!! (10/11/04)
Figure out how you are going to communicate.
Will it be by emails and will the team read them? Should you do targeted emails to parents, administrators, sponsors, local government? Who makes which decisions about what? Are email updates every couple of days during the build sent to all the mentors a good idea? (our engineers thought so). Should you have a white board with deadlines and updates? Is your website address which is listed on everything you hand out, including to potential sponsors, up-to-date and useful? |
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