Re: 101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament
 

Make sure everyone doesn't leave for lunch when the robot needs to be weighed and inspected before finals, leaving only 1 very hungry mentor to get it done.

Re: 101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament
 

Some things for engineers

- If you think you screwed up, check. It's easier to do physics/math/check your numbers in classroom during silent reading:yikes: , I mean at a meeting/math class, then at a event.

- If you think your wrong, then you probably need to redo it.

- When in doubt graph it.

Re: 101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament
 

Is it me, or did they use the ideas in this thread for the list on NEMO?

Re: 101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament
 

I have to say one of the most important things when at the Competitions is ALWAYS check and recheck the robot BEFORE a match, because we all know that a robot that dies after autonomous mode does a whole lot.

NEVER SNAP PLEXIGLASS!!!!
Trust me last year we had about 30 seconds to replace the wire that fed power to the distribution block, and there were so many people around that i could not properly access the area and ended up ripping the plexiglass off the side and ripping apart my thumb. Fun times (NAWT)... But bet your behind that that wire still got changed out!!

Also the head electrical person should ALWAYS carry the following (cargo pants are MADE for this!)

-Zip Ties
-Wire Cutters/ strippers
-PWM cable
-Pocket Knife
-Electrical Tape

Re: 101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament
 

dont get emotionaly evoled with anyone on your team(most of the time);)

Re: 101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament
 

Indeed, a paper with this title in on NEMO, and credits ideas posted in 2005-2006 on chief delphi and Rick Tyler right at the top.

http://www.firstnemo.org/PDF/first_competition_tips.pdf

Re: 101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament
 

Rest your throat if your gonna cheer your team on...
Don't come on an empty stomach, if you do don't forget money
Scout the competition...

Re: 101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament
 

it may also be a good idea to have safety pins (i've seen some teams with pins and latches that have "remove before flight" tags attached, it's a great idea, since they'll be in untill you put your robot on the feild, and they can prevent MAJOR injury...

-Z

Re: 101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament
 

when the blue smoke rises from the control board,

it don't work no more...

and it's probly quite hot, and should be disconnected and left to cool before touching...


same goes for speed controllers, motors, solenoids, and anything else electronic (including laptops...)

-Z

Re: 101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament
 

If your robot has devices that could suddenly swing around, whether or not the robot is on, use extra caution. There's no way around that extra caution sometimes--you just have to use it! (I've been hit in the hard hat by a robot arm that was...err...a little "floppy", shall we say? Hence the hard hat that you rarely see me without at an FRC event.)

Re: 101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament
 

Whenever the robot goes anywhere, put the most loud and obnoxious person on your team in front, shouting "ROBOT COMING THROUGH!! ROBOT!!". It's by far the easiest way to rack up safety tokens.

It may have already been said, but:

Never ever ever let the magic smoke out of your electronics.

Re: 101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament
 

Heh, don't ever, nor ever ever, get involved during the build or competition season. This is one of our team rules. Things get too complicated, people get distracted, time gets wasted, and most of the time students get burned out, causing feelings to get hurt.

What I wish I'd known:
Reprioritize your time from what it was in the build season. If your relationship survived the long days of the build season, now is the time to mend fences and compromise where possible.

Bleh. 2008 wasn't so good for me in this respect. :o

Re: 101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament
 

About getting involved in relationships, on 397 it is not against the rules. Relationships are great, if you feel strongly about someone that is fine and none of my business. The second it becomes my business then we have a problem. If I see team members kissing I WILL yell at them. This goes for at competition too, if I see two people kissing I will yell at them, this includes people I DONT know.

That being said, robotics is a great way to meet people, don't be afraid to talk to people. You never know when you will find a new friend, even if it is someone completely different than you.

Re: 101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament
 

I was thinking more of getting in the way of solid(and organized) thinking

Re: 101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament
 

I wish I would have known how really helpful the experienced teams are.

They are such a huge resource for teams who are struggling or team who just need a little advice.