Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?
 

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

lots of resources here: http://www.firstnemo.org/resources.htm

Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?
 

I know this thread's sort of old, but it seems like a good topic with no larger thread like it, so I think it's ok to bump. Tell me if that's poor manners.

In no particular order:
Never be afraid to ask questions, even when you think they're stupid.
The mentors have a lot they can teach, listen!
Make friends!
Find something you love, but still learn a little about everything.
Don't worry, we all get stressed.
Take initiative and speak up.
Checking CD can save you a lot of time, energy, and money.
Prioritize, school and some sleep come first.
If you have a problem, tell someone.
Have fun!!

Some of this I knew my rookie year, but I think it's still important.

Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?
 

I think the one thing I wish I did was got in the shop sooner. I was a rookie this year ('08) and I spent the first two or three weeks in the lab. It wasn't bad, but once they got me in the shop I couldn't leave. I asked questions about everything. I learned how to use 75% of the tools I would ever need to use in about two-three weeks.

So I guess what I wish I got in the Shop sooner. I feel like I missed out on a lot because I didn't have that two extra weeks of Q&A.


I also wish I knew how much I loved getting dirty. I liked having to clean grime off my hands, and I loved having to go underneath the robot (propped up on tables) and I loved learning how to use tools.

Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?
 

Learn your stuff. Study the manual, to learn the rules. Then do research about things you're not quite sure about, or want to know more about.

Also talk to other teams in your area, and build relationships with them. It's great to have someone to go to when you need some help, or if you just wanna hang out and do some team-building.

Most importantly though, HAVE FUN. Things might get stressful at times, but you gotta get that out of your head, and remember that you're supposed to be having fun.

:)

Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?
 

I wish we had…

- gotten mentors to stick with the team instead of just helping us get started
- asked mentors whether certain things were even feasible before starting to build them
- formed smaller groups to work on things (because when everyone is equal and has an opinion, nothing happens)
- read the rules thoroughly and checked them before doing things (which is why we had to spend a day replacing the duct tape with bolts)
- prototyped questionable parts before just assuming we'd be able to do them later
- thought about the center of gravity and planned accordingly (because we ended up with a robot very good at doing donuts, but not much else)
- left time to test the robot before shipping it and assuming it would work

…and a lot of other things. Really though, the rookie year is for learning. The key is to take what you learn and not to make the same mistakes the next year.

Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?
 

lol i was talking about this today with a few mentors.

I wish I knew or did...

1. About ALL the different Drive Trains out there

2. Different Gearboxes,motors and transmissions out there

3. Got on Chief Delphi :rolleyes:

4. Talk to mentors about what i disagree with and not just agree with what they say

the list can go on but i basically wish i knew everything i know now :D

Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?
 

Welcome to my world. Our one and only mentor left at the end of last year. And I am the only returning member (Our two leads graduated). This makes me lead mechanical, driver, programmer, electrical, etc. Oh, did I mention that last year was my rookie year? Luckily, we have a mentor coming from another team that is amazing at CAD. We also have a great new physics teacher that will be our mentor who is willing to learn and do her best to support us. Plus we have a very solid mecanum drive base to work with from previous years, plus some cool prototype wheel designs.

I think we will pull it off...

[EDIT]Oh, right the topic...

My advice would be to get involved in as many things as possible. Learn as much as you can. My summer/fall would have been a lot easier if I had followed that advice.
[/EDIT]

Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?
 

I wish someone had given me these two words of advice:

UNDERSIZE
UNDERWEIGHT

If you design it 1" small on length and width, then when you add those extra bolts and last minute switches to the bot you'll still be "in the box"

If your goal is 15 lbs underweight and you keep shooting for it and keep it clearly your goal - every week, then when you magically put all those parts together that weighed 105 lbs by themselves and they come up to 119.5 lbs you'll be a very happy person!

Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?
 

1. 10 amp fuses don't exist.
2. "Finding the aluminum stretcher" is a clever way of saying "You messed up, kid."
(Yeah, the amount of cynicism on the team my rookie year was startling.)
3. FIRST is more about people than robots. Incidentally, people still call it "Robot Club."
4. Don't be afraid to talk to the mentors, no matter how intimidating they may be.

Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?
 

We are getting ready to start our second season. I am so excited.

I am the Teacher/Adviser at the school.

Most importantly: Find a mentor from another team. My mentor was Richard McClellan from Team 2158. He is a college student. I am teaching my 22 year of school. The age of your mentor is not important.

Read the manual.

Ask questions.

Join CD, read and ask questions.

Delegate responsibilities. You cannot do it all and cannot know all the answers.

But most imporantly: HAVE FUN.

Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?
 

Take every advantage to learn anything about any department that you are ever given, especially if you are taking a break or have nothing to do. This helps a ton later when you becomming a major leader on the team and have to interact with the other departments on an intricate level and don't have the time to learn how to do this.

Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?
 

my first year we had a bunch of seniors that could drive well, and keep everybody on task.

My second year was the hardest, because everyone kept getting off task during build, and we did not have any good drivers during competition.

Practice driving!!!

Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?
 

I wish I had known:

what a quarter-20 screw was

righty tighty, lefty loosey

What the difference between a spike and relay was :yikes:

How to configure MPLab to program the Vex Controller

Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?
 

-Never assume that because you've demonstrated something to someone they know how to do it. Watch them and help them the first several times. That way you don't end up with magic wires or round squares.

-Reverse engineer every problem. If you hear, "That won't work because ___", figure out what to do about ___ and try to figure out a solution to that. Nothing is impossible, it's just impossible to do without thinking about it.

-Make a separate team not just for the major parts of the robot (arm, drive train, electrical, and programming), but also for Chaiman's/Rookie All-Star, Woodie Flowers, Engineering Notebook, and any other separate concept. It will keep you from forgetting some of those things.

-Have all the teams REPORT to the president/leader/sponsor/mentor about their progress and what they're all trying to do, every day. If something doesn't sound right, it probably isn't, and you need to check on it.

-If "close enough" can be avoided, it had better be. It will usually come back to bite you, generally during competition.

-Analyze the reason you're doing EVERYTHING. If you don't need a 2-speed drive train, don't build one. If it's faster to get points one way than another, optimize the robot for that way.

-I know you don't believe it, but yes, simpler IS always better.

-Worm gears are meant to resist back driving. As it turns out, it's not a good thing to test that theory.

-The KILL SWITCH needs to be put in BEFORE the robot is built. A mentor almost lost a finger because we didn't have a disable switch.

-Don't stand between the robot and a wall. Ever. Especially during autonomous.

-Check everything, every night. You won't notice that minor part slowly breaking until the night before ship day when it incapacitates your robot.

-Cold pizza and a heat gun beats a meal at home any day.

Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?
 

You likely have heard it before, but I'll say it again. It's not about the robot.

There are three things that, in my opion, makes FIRST so great. 1) it's not about the robot 2) the people in FIRST are awesome 3) GP should always be the focus of the team.

Without those three things FIRST wouldn't be so great today.