Re: New FRC Team
 

Team building is a good thing to do in the pre season so the team can learn behaviors to do things together.

Re: New FRC Team
 

Analyzing last year's rules would be helpful. Many of the rules in the robot section and many of the safety rules will stay the same (most likely). Not to mention it gives your team practice in creating designs in about two weeks.

Have the rest of the team find potential sponsors.

Go to any local workshops for FRC (or FVC) teams. Lots of ideas, useful stuff, and potential mentor teams.

Find a mentor team.

Do fundraisers.

[plug]Get the rest of the team signed up here! :D [/plug]

Re: New FRC Team
 

I have one quick question. What do i need to do as a rookie team to recieve the EDU Bot so that we can begin practing?

-chris

Re: New FRC Team
 

No EDU bot this year. It's been replaced by VEX available at your local Radio Shack or online.

Re: New FRC Team
 

Will we recieve that, or is that something else that i now have to raise money for?

Re: New FRC Team
 

You have to raise the funds for that. It's not included in the basic price of admission.

Re: New FRC Team
 

OK. Thank you for the information. If this an appropiete budget.

6000 for registration
500 for extra parts,soldering ironm, etc
500 for vex parts

Re: New FRC Team
 

I don't think so.

For the FRC, it's more like:

• $6000 for registration
• $1500 for tools and materials for the robot
• $500 for shipping, transportation and travel (local event, 54 miles away)
• $? for miscellaneous, optional costs, like uniforms, etc.

For the FVC, you have:

• $200 for registration
• $500 for the cost of the VEX kit and a few spare parts
• $? for the cost of travel to the nearest (147 miles away) event, in Newark, DE
• $? for miscellaneous, optional costs, like uniforms, etc.

Basically, it's either FRC (the main competition) or FVC (the smaller-scale one), but not a combination, as you've described.

Re: New FRC Team
 

Just so it doesn't take you completely by surprise, FRC does require you to get a crate built to ship the robot to the competitions (even for the locals--Palmetto is about 15 minutes from 1293's home base.)

And don't get scared off by uniforms--most teams stick to T-shirts (our team members buy them) and jeans. Although if you've got spare cash and want to get fancier (even for one person as a team mascot), go for it.

Re: New FRC Team
 

I'm assuming you mean to use the VEX kit as a learning platform for FRC.
Several teams get by on $1,000 in construction/tool costs, and you can certainly economize by soliciting for in-kind materials from local businesses.

There are a few additional costs to be considered if you're pitching this to a school board to give them a more complete picture (and let them know you're on your toes). You should separate what costs might be covered by the district from others that can be borne by the team families with expenses defrayed by fund raising/sponsors.
For instance, including the costs you already listed:

• Entry fee $6,000 (school cost or grant/sponsor)
• Robot construction cost $1,000 (team or school cost)
• One or more teacher/adviser stipends if it's a school club/team. (school cost)
• Robot crate construction (team cost)
• Transportation cost to Regional (Richmond if FRC) if the district requires a bus. Some allow parents to drive, others require an approved bus w/chaperone's. (team cost)
• Other travel expenses - food at least (team cost)
• Team T-shirts and spirit stuff (team cost)

I'd also include mention of the opportunities for Rookie grants (e.g., NASA) to defray the expected costs.

Re: New FRC Team
 

I've seen teams use standard wooden shipping skids, with cheap plywood or heavy cardboard nailed or stapled to the sides and top. It isn't pretty, but for a local event, it may be all you need to ship the robot. Do yourself a favour, however, and secure everything very well; nobody appreciates loose items, and if your robot bounces around, you may be disappointed with the results.

Re: New FRC Team
 

Last year was our rookie year. We only had 16 members, 7~10 were fully dedicated and the rest would occasionally show up and help out. We also had very little money, we got the NASA grant ($6000) that paid for our entry fee and our school gave us $6000, so our total budget was somewhere around $12,000. Here are some lessons we learned last year and what we did to save money:

1) Keep very good care of your kit parts. Last year in the wee morning hours of ship day our robot got rained on (long story that'll be posted on our web site soon) we lost a speed controller($115) and almost lost our Robot Controller($450) and Breaker Board($85). Take extra special care of very expensive/important parts.

2) Try to create a partnership with a local machine shop to do any machining you need. We are fortunate enough to have a mentor that has his own machine shop so all we pay for is materials. Trust me it pays off, esspecially for those last minute things you need.

3) Try to have members pay for part of or all of their travel. Also try to find a FRC team near by to travel with. Last year we traveled to the Las Vegas regional with team 1266. When finding a hotel try to find the cheapest hotel possible and don't stay saturday night, leave right after the regional. Also try to make travel arangments as early as possible.

Re: New FRC Team
 

If you can get $7000 together in the next month, you're sitting pretty! Don't go out and get VEX until you've exceeded $7000-$8000. I STRONGLY suggest you notify frcteams@usfirst.org and ask to be put in contact with the regional director in your area to notify them of your situation - if you're really serious. They can then put you in contact with possible resources in your area and also many regional competitions have spots set aside just for rookie teams, so that it may seem like a competition is full on TIMS, but perhaps they may still have some reserved spots available. Also, there have been teams that have paid their registration fee after the deadline and still gone on to compete (no guarantees, though!). In these situations, the KOP is mailed out and may be received after the kickoff - which is still manageable.

I helped out on a new team last year, who paid a week late, and received the Kit of Parts a week late, and then had finals week, so in effect they only had about 4 weeks to get their robot built, but they still did it and competed well and won the Rookie Inspiration Award.

Re: New FRC Team
 

Well, if your regional is less than an hour away, you don't have to worry about this part.

As for the budget: $6000 is registration only. However, that will get you a good, solid drive base. So, all you need is a manipulator device. You could do that for a couple hundred dollars if you are really economical. (I saw one team whose arm support was a small stepladder--that's really economical.)

So, you could almost get by with 6K, but you will need more than that for tools. A basic tool set: Socket set, Allen set (both English and metric), at least one and probably two cordless drills and appropriate bits, at least one and preferably two hacksaws, screwdrivers and at least one file. And throw in all the crimpers and pliers and at least one pair of vise grips, and maybe a tap and die set. Probably another five hundred. Add the materials cost to the tools cost and the registration, and you're talking about $7,000 for a decent robot that can do something. Less if you can borrow tools from family, friends, and/or school.

Uniforms: could be just a certain shirt that the entire team has or can buy commercially. You don't have to spend a whole lot.

Vex: At this point, probably a better option, but if you do FRC, wait until after the season.

So, it is possible to have a team for about $7,000 a year. But, then you need a crate. Don't get too fancy. Build to about the maximum size and specs and include tie downs of some sort. Make it solid, so it will last several years. Maybe another couple hundred this year, but you save that next year.

FRC suggests a cart. Furniture dollies work just fine.

Approximate total for a decent robot, crate, and cart: $8,000. Some of this will carry over into future years and reduce costs then, and you can start building a base for next year now.

Re: New FRC Team
 

I am hopeing to get by with a 7000 dollar budget but it all comes done to how much we can possible get. Thank you for the input on VEX. I think if we get the money we will use that as more practice in the off season if we have the money. Thanks again for all of your continued help.