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Phil Mack 09-10-2007 19:12

Pre-build season activities
 
Hello,
Our team is working out our schedule for pre-build season training. It's been making me wonder how much other teams spend before January kickoff.

We are working on a program to teach about how to use equipment, how to develop and evaluate ideas, practice developing ideas using previous FRC/Vex games, general stuff about FIRST, and more.

So essentially, how much time does your team spend together before kickoff, and what do you do?

Do you meet many times for short meetings on weeknights, or fewer times with longer meetings on weekends? Do you start in August/September with the schools calendar, or earlier, or later?

Of the activities that you do, which do you find most valuable in the pre-season? What would you add if you had more time?

Thanks in advance
~Phil

Billfred 09-10-2007 19:51

Re: Pre-build season activities
 
1618 got started back in early September. The team meets twice a month during the pre-season for about two hours. Among the items we've done or are doing:

-Fix Uppercut so that it scores tubes (after just ten months of trying!)
-Coordinate a few fundraisers, since Annapolis is a smidge further than downtown Columbia
-Get smaller groups of folks working on learning the things we've got to learn before Kickoff (particularly since we've grown a bit since last season--like 300-400% growth)

Kyle 09-10-2007 20:26

Re: Pre-build season activities
 
MOE meets once a week on Monday nights from September until Kickoff with breaks for holidays and stuff with other events on weekends and other week day's sprinkled in sometimes.
During the weekly meetings the students work on team building exercises learning safety practices and proper use of the tools and machines and also basic engineering, design and FIRST principles so that when the kick off occurs our students are ready for the challenge ahead.

=Martin=Taylor= 09-10-2007 20:39

Re: Pre-build season activities
 
We have:

*1 meeting a week (except over breaks) = 16 hrs.
*8-10 build sessions to construct a prototype chassis (Which is built by the new people to train them) = 32-40 hrs.

Total = aprox 50 hrs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Mack (Post 645435)
Of the activities that you do, which do you find most valuable in the pre-season? What would you add if you had more time?

Designing and building a chassis prior to competition is a HUGE advantage. For one thing, there is no time limit and you can work as long as you want on it. It can be used to train new members on machine tools - while allowing them to actually assemble something useful. After its mechanically complete, it can be used as a prototype base for the 2008 season and latter as a practice bot (once the real one is shipped). It'll also give those programmers something to do :D

If we had more time I would definitely train more people in CAD.

Cooley744 09-10-2007 20:49

Re: Pre-build season activities
 
Our whole team is never together at one point in time. Not even for competitions. Well, maybe for the kickoff/season game introduction, but even so, someone is always missing.

StephLee 09-10-2007 22:28

Re: Pre-build season activities
 
1629 doesn't stop meeting at any point, so I'm not entirely sure what the right answer would be. We spent a significant amount of time working on the '07 bot over the summer, making modifications and doing re-designs, but we also spent a lot of time on summer camps and other activities. We've met twice a month at the very least since the end of last season, and we're planning on holding a few "crash course" meetings for safe tool operation. I can't be sure how much time we'll spend just on that since this is the first year we're holding meetings just for that purpose, but I put 100+ hours because of all the time we spent over the summer.

Dan Petrovic 09-10-2007 22:37

Re: Pre-build season activities
 
It's less than 10 hours a week for any given person, but for the team as a whole, once the training starts up, there is something going on every night and sometimes concurrent with anotherthing. It could get up to a total of 20 hours a week for the entire team.

Last week I spent about 7 hours involved with FIRST things. Two meetings for getting the rookies' hands dirty with Vex and one meeting for getting rookies familiar with the controls of our robot for River Rage.

Training is a very good thing. You don't want to take the time to train people during build season when you can do it prior to build season. It doesn't allow for much free time until March of next year, but everyone benefits from it.

Edit: I voted less than 10 for me individually while it should have easily been over 100 hours from now until Kickoff for the whole team. I didn't read the question carefully...

Chief Pride 10-10-2007 07:32

Re: Pre-build season activities
 
actually, most of our team still meets every day! o.O

T3_1565 10-10-2007 09:06

Re: Pre-build season activities
 
our team meets twice a week on tuesdays and thursday. We started on the week after school started. We are busy training people on the do's and don'ts of FIRST and prototyping some wicked design plans for everything!!

akedomakona 10-10-2007 09:27

Re: Pre-build season activities
 
Team 168 has been meeting since the first day of school. The whole team meets Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 2:30 until 6. We are building a go-cart out of First parts. We will unvail it at the Orlando regional. We model the building of it after the robot, it's a great way to train rookies and get us working like a team before build season starts.

Alan Anderson 10-10-2007 09:28

Re: Pre-build season activities
 
The TechnoKats have had team meetings once a week since school began. We've also had some extra shop cleanup days and robot drive practice sessions, a late-night bonfire party, and a very long day at the Autumn Robotics Competition. Our upcoming plans for the next few months include holding software training sessions, refurbishing our practice field, doing the annual overhaul of our New Year's drop ball, going to a corn maze, rearranging the shop space to accommodate a new mill, etc. I expect we'll set some specific project plans at our meeting this afternoon.

synth3tk 11-10-2007 22:15

Re: Pre-build season activities
 
Heh, our team is really small, and the mentality shows. No one wanted to do anything outside of FIRST season even after I offered to take care of organizing the events and activities. The teacher did just start a robotics class this school year, so we're hoping that more students show interest, then maybe we'll start doing off-season stuff.

T3_1565 11-10-2007 22:17

Re: Pre-build season activities
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by blakcheez (Post 645764)
Heh, our team is really small, and the mentality shows. No one wanted to do anything outside of FIRST season even after I offered to take care of organizing the events and activities. The teacher did just start a robotics class this school year, so we're hoping that more students show interest, then maybe we'll start doing off-season stuff.

haha us too! We have meetings, but that doesn't mean we get much done in that time. I have actually found this year that all of our new guys/girls are showing much more interest and attention to what is being shown that in pervious years

Horray for us! :D

synth3tk 11-10-2007 22:27

Re: Pre-build season activities
 
ROFL!!! That's good to hear! I've got like this whole dream team in my mind. Course it's also about other people too. I guess, since it's this whole "team" effort kinda thing. But I feel that we can be a better team than we were. Still had fun though, can't deny that.

T3_1565 11-10-2007 22:46

Re: Pre-build season activities
 
oh yeah it is loads of fun. And I always find that people get hooked after they complain about the fact there are so many meetings and blah blah, and "I wasted my weekend" etc etc. when we are done competing people are always like "OHHHHH This is a Robotics competition!!! This is sweet!! let's build EVERYTHING!!!" which ends up being too late lol.

Thankfully as I said, the rookies are showing some spirit this time around! Without the mindblowing experience of a FIRST competition.


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