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

I was asking around my team and wanted to put this question out to everyone. What do you wish you would have known you rookie year and/ or what lesson did you learn your rookie year? I am compiling this for fun and also to make a list that might be helpful to future rookie teams. If you learned something, made some mistake, or wish you would have known something, please speak up so future rookies can avoid it!

I for one wish i would have known about MOE's amazing website for rookies.

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

FIRST is more than a club. It's more than building a robot. The sooner you get that, the sooner you you will see it's benefits.

Possibly the hardest role of a mentor is not teaching, but getting people to learn- getting them involved. If I could have figured out anything, it would have been the benefits of FIRST and how real of a program it really is. Once you've figured that out, the learning starts. The ceiling of FIRST is inexistent.

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

Oooo...let's see, what did I learn this past year...

Oh yeah, when machining, ALWAYS stay concentrated. If you're going to look away for a minute and watch someone/something else, turn the machine off.
Not doing so will more than likely result in scars, blood, and fingernails being ripped off (learned, unfortunately, from experience. I have a very lovely scar on my wrist from a drill press...it makes me look suicidal.)

If you want to be on mechanical (or electrical, or design, or marketing, or programming, etc), GO FOR IT! Don't let other people try to decide what you want to do. As a rookie--or even an experienced member--feel free to explore all of the aspects of the team. It doesn't matter if you don't know how to CAD, or how to use a lathe...if you want to learn, someone will always be willing to show you the ropes.

And...your mentors are your friends. If you're not sure of something, they probably know the answer to it, and if they don't, they will point you to someone who does. (I was scared to death of half of my mentors at the beginning of the season, and aren't anymore)

Just watch, as soon as I have to get off the computer, I'll think of half a dozen more.

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

Ok, Chief Delphi. Amazing resourse, and there is a lot of discussion on different ideas and ways to approach the game after the kickoff.

Mechanical Resources. AndyMark, we didn't know about. T-Slot aluminum.

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

One more thing:

Don't waste time complaining about things out of your control. Just work harder.

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

The importance of establishing a drive team. We had more drivers than we could use, so we had to decide who drove at the competition at the cost of getting less practice in for the main drive team (who I still applaud for their efforts).

The importance of reading the rules. We had to change part of our design the Friday before ship (a day off of school thankfully, and the dedicated were all there).

The importance of good mentors / sponsors. In the aforementioned disaster, we managed to get a custom drum for a motor machined by NASA before noon on Friday, as well as a mounting bracket for the motor (we're forever grateful).

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

I second that...I found that reading the rulebook came in handy...though I took it to the extreme and read it so much, I had it pretty much memorized by the middle of week two. Because everyone checked with one of the mentors, myself, or the rulebook (in the rare case that they couldn't find any of us) before adding something to the bot, I can't remember us ever being told at competitions that we couldn't use something. Knowing what you can and can't use is a VERY good thing to know at competitions, because you don't always have time to check the actual rulebook to verify the legality of a part. If someone knows the rulebook back to front...

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

Things that are good to know your rookie year:
-Don't be afraid to ask for help because as a rookie no one expects you to know everything.
-Don't hide mistakes, because someone's gonna find out anyways and they really won't get mad if it's accidental.
(If you mess up on a part for example, don't throw your messed up part where the excess stock is cause they'll find it.. trust me. :P)
-Meet a lot of people at Robotics competitions because you'll get to meet people you can learn a great deal from or just make good friends. (I feel like I've met a lot of people, but I always wonder how many more I could have met if I took the time to more in my Freshman year)
-Take as much as you can from the program, try somethign new every year. For example you can say something like, "This year, I'm going to learn how to do Pneumatics"

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

But its fun to complain =D.

Seriously, the drive team comment made me think of all the sub-teams that teams should have. Not just mechanical, software, electronics and however teams break it up, but also marketing, fundraising, pit design, button w/e, and things like that. Talk to teams about what will happen at the competitions like handing out buttons, and the importance of safety. How important an efficient cart is, etc.

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

Life is not fair..... get over it....

If it were easy.... everyone would do it....

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

For me, and the rest of our team that started our rookie year, I would have to say knowing what to expect come build season. Mainly, what in the world could we build in 6 weeks to do this task of stacking tetras? We had practiced with the EDU-Bot the fall prior, but once Kick-off came we all didnt have a clue what to do. Our mentors, who had worked with 233 the year before, decided to have us start by building the kit-bot chassis and go from there since none of us kids could come up with any design ideas. Once we got started building, designs started comming to mind and we were able to make a pretty competitive bot. Having never seen one of these robots made life a whole lot harder.

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

Jump right in. You may think you're being a pain in the you know what by constantly asking questions, or standing behind your mentors/experienced team members, observing everything you do, but those are the kids the mentors like most, because they're the ones who will be running the team 2-3 years later.

As a mentor, it's hard to reach the students who are quieter and don't make an effort to be a part of what's going on--there's too few of us, and too many students, so naturally the students who put themselves out there and are most willing to learn, and take on new tasks will be the students who get the most attention.

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

a) Talk to people. I'm not an engineer, machinist, educator, or philosopher, but talking with folks who are will yield you a lot of insight.

b) It goes back to a), but: Get on CD. Find as many relevant pieces of the manual (or old threads) to your question, and ask your question. (There are no stupid questions, just people who have clearly not read the manual.)

c) You have to have someone prototyping a manipulator from the start (as in not the end) of build season, or as soon as you have a general concept. Don't leave that to the end of build.

d) The drill transmissions will fall apart without warning. (Hey, my rookie year was 2004. I'm entitled. :P)

e) Practice, practice, practice. (Just not around the new computers the school just bought and put on rather rickety tables.)

f) Never. Do. Window. Motor. Drive.

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

Learn to swim.

-dave



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

I wish I had known that

-put an amp in the spike that controls the compressor
-andymark has hubs
-see if there is a cnc shop in town
-draw every piece of your robot in solidworks
-use high strand silicon wire from banebots
-use these motors with a gearbox (you can actually use these motors):
http://banebots.com/c/MOTOR-PLAN

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

1) If your team has "optional days" or days where only a mentor and a student or two from the group you work with plans on coming in to work do everything you can to try to get in and work on those days. If you aren't "invited", see if another group could use your help; just get your foot in the door because the days where you get one-on-one time with a mentor are the days where you learn more and you get the chance to show what you can do or learn how to do new things, resulting in more responsibilty and more complex and fun jobs you get! The more time, effort, and interest you put in, the more you get out!

2) Don't be afraid to ask questions...odds are someone else has the same question as you do!

3) Branch out and try new things, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish

4) Build season can be overwhelming, take a break if you need one and don't get worked up over the little things...find a returning member or mentor to talk to if you are frustrated, confused, or upset.

5) Everyone makes mistakes...it's ok

6) Have Fun!

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

The green sticker means it is the driver's badge, not the mentor's badge. (Yes, we did make that mistake, and no, it wasn't in the manual.)

That reminds me, don't listen to lavery.

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

an engineer will never finish their design so give them a hard deadline.

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

Is this a joke?

That's not correct at all. The green dot is absolutely for the coach's badge.

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

I do believe it's the coaches, but it obviously doesn't matter much as they went through a season wearing it the wrong way.

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

I'm sorry, got switched around. Been a long day. Your absolutely right. You might have noticed, I'm not on the drive crew.

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

I have seen things as a rookie twice. Once as a student on a new rookie team and my first year as a mentor when I worked with a rookie team at college.

As a student, I wish I knew when we were rookies network, network, network. Whether it be a spare part or even an alliance, new friendships never hurt.

As a mentor during our rookie season, well I could probably write a book on what I wished I knew before starting that adventure. But one of the best lessons from that year...Even if the math says no, well sometimes the robot says yes and does what it wants anyways.

......

On a side note I remember a few teams at BMR back in 2006 that didn't understand the dot on the badge and thought it was the team captain's badge.

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

This year, I learned to get started building as early as possible. Having to assemble/reassemble half of our robot at our regional wasn't fun.

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

I'd say, AndyMark.biz and the importance of a good drivetrain.

Unless you really know what you're doing, I'd go with an entirely off the shelf and KOP base drivetrain.


Actually, Dave's advice is very good in this case.

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

Some more nuggets of wisdom:

a) Unless it's acting as an axle, you generally don't need any fastener bigger than 1/4".

b) The kit wheels hold up, really! If you need more traction, skin 'em for incline conveyor belting--but you can do fine without it, and you definitely don't need anything bricklike on them.

c) Ignore everything after "If you need more traction..." in point B unless you have a working grasp of the effects. Read Chris Hibner's white paper on the topic; it's five years old, but it's still just as relevant as ever.

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

Adam gets it. My previous comment was quite serious.

What would I tell a rookie? Learn to swim.

Figure out what you have to do to keep your head above water. When you hit the start of FRC build season, you will likely feel like you are drowning in new information, ideas, people to know, things to do, things to learn, and even team politics. Many forces will conspire to overwhelm you with a sea of demands on all your available time.

As a rookie, the very first thing that you have to do find out how to navigate through all this new stuff. Find someone that knows how to swim through it already. Follow them. Watch what they do. Figure out what works. Learn how they differentiate between what is important, and the meaningless drivel that is mixed in. Learn to swim with them. And don't be afraid to ask for help and advice; your team mates can be life-savers when the last week of build season hits, and the robot still has four weeks worth of work to be done and there are thirty pounds to carve off and you have been running on 90 minutes of sleep for the past four days and you feel like you are about to go down for the third time. Think of your experienced team mates as your swimming instructors, and your mentors as your life guards.

If you do, you will learn to survive and float through the tough times during the build season and the competitions (and there will be some). If you don't, it will be like trying to doggy-paddle in a heavy surf - you won't make much progress, and you will quickly tire of the whole adventure.

-dave



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

Do not expect others to solve your problems. Work hard at solving them yourself. Having others do that work for you doesn't teach you a darned thing except how to be dependent.
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Read the manual, it really does contain almost every fact you need to know. The manual is your best friend, read it often and completely.
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Google is your friend. Find your answers there.
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Chief Delphi is your other friend. What google doesn't know, someone here does. And we love to share.
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Take time off, don't try to go 60 hours a week, you'll burn out by week 3.
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Lastly: Don't Panic. Everything always works out at the competiton, if you ask for help.

Don

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

1. Fun later, work now.
2. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
3. Winning isn't everything.
4. Try to stay out of drama on the team and if possible try to prevent it.
5. Bus drivers like to save gas, bring extra jackets.
6. Despite what you may think, most people on the team do know more than you.
7. Read the manual.
8. Find one drive team early in the season and stay with them.

Where's the hint... maybe it's every other letter. :D

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

Many will feel a part of something bigger. That's ok, you are.
Many will feel a passion and it will fuel your drive, your creativity, your ability to think outside the box. That's ok, too.
Many will fail at time management, risking a lot: grades, homework, sleep, build decisions. That's an area to work on, improve, and appreciate.
Many will inspire and be inspired as rookies. That's not just ok, that's awesome.

Flexibility and agility work well with constants and change - constant change.

Great thread.
Jane

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

1)Keep up your school work. Even if it means missing a meeting or two. If you don't want to do that, finish it before and after robotics each night.

2)15 minute naps are better than longer naps. The human brain is wired in such a way that a 15 min. nap is restful and waking up will not have any effects on it but any longer than around 15 min. and things start getting messed up and you become less alert and feel worse than before.

Say you start your homework at 9 and you have maybe 5 solid hours of homework. I, personally, start getting tired and lose focus after a few hours. Split the 5 hours into 2, 2, and 1 hour periods with 15 min. naps in between.

3)Do the homework where you actually have to think first and save busywork for last.

During the build season, I went a few nights sleepless (i.e. no more sleep than a few 15 min. naps), got 3-4 hours on bad nights, and 6 hours on good nights.

This is just what worked for me.

Also, I find that my writing skill seems to improve as I get increasingly sleep deprived. If this is true for you also, make sure to check your work in the morning.

Oh, buy an annoying as heck, screeching, almost painful alarm clock with a short snooze button (3-5 min. tops, none of that 10 min. junk) and get accustomed to using it before build season so when you hear it, you get up automatically. I got so accustomed to mine that I would get a little adrenaline rush every time our programmer's watch went off (as it beeps once every hour) since it's pitch is about the same.

Make every second count. Don't be afraid to take a break.

Here was my usual weekday schedule during build season:

Wake up at 5:30, get on the bus by 6:15, get a half hour of sleep, finish homework, school starts at 7:30, school ends at 2:20, stay at school relaxing, answering email, and taking care of planning somewhat, get to robotics by 5, get back from robotics at 9:30-10 each night, shower and eat dinner (yeah, I eat lateish), start my homework around 11, and keep working until I finished. I had to get up around 5:30 each morning to catch our bus since I lived 7 miles away from the school. I moved to about a 5 min. walk from our school now so I can afford to sleep an extra hour. :D

Nobody said FIRST would be easy.

-Vivek

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

You don't have to do everything at once. You can check the team out, see what interests you, find out what doesn't and go on from there.

Join Chief Delphi early on, it really helps you get involved with the FIRST family.

Don't be afraid to ask questions or talk to people at FIRST events, I've met some of my best friends that way.

The more outgoing you are the more fun you tend to have, don't be shy ^_^

Find out the websites that would really help you learn about FIRST teams like The Blue Alliance or FIRSTwiki and learn the history of FIRST robotics so you can reference things in the future.

Mentors are amazing people and they put a lot of personal time into the teams, remember to thank them for that.

Dressing up and cheering for your team is a lot of fun.

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

FIRST is an incredibly addictive experience for which there is no 12 step program.

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

Teaching a person to swim is one thing...

But a robot....?

That's something else....:ahh:

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

Is Dave hinting about H20N09? That would really give the rookies a leg up.

Back to the real thread, have a well planned strong team theme/identity. Make sure your theme is solid from name, robot, pit, to uniforms. This will help with sponsorship and being remembered during alliance selection among many other things.

Oh, and this one is for CHET, BIG NUMBERS that can be read from the stands. The only way they can be too big is if someone from RUSH 27 comes up and says they are too big.

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

You know the funny thing... I think I have answered this question before... and certainly in plenty of detail.

But the more I think back... I think I would now change my answer to "Absolutely NOTHING".

The reason being is that the rookie year is so much fun, its crazy, its hectic, its full of twists, turns and suprises... but honestly its the struggles and the triumphs of that year, of learning it all on our own, that made it so sweet. I wouldn't change or trade any of my three rookie years (3 different teams) or the knowledge we didnt have, for the world. Successful or not, they were by far the most fun and perhaps even the sweetest years of the teams I have been on.

And I think Steve Jobs nailed exactly why in a speech he made when talking about being fired from Apple and starting all over again:

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

1. If you are stuck doing what you consider a meaningless job, like scouting, don't complain. Always do things to the best of your ability, doing this will give them meaning.

2. If you aren't enjoying yourself (safely and responsibly) you probably are doing something wrong. This does not mean don't do your work. It means enjoy your work (see above)

3. Coopertition. FIRST is not about beating your opponent. It is about competing like crazy and then collaborating like crazy.

4. Bad things happen, if your robot breaks it breaks, don't get angry. Try your best to fix it.

5. Ask for help. (not just for rookies)

6. We are all equal. Yeah there are some smart people in FIRST. Don't be intimidated.

7. Just because you are in 35th place out of 35 teams do not get discouraged. You are competing against teams that have been doing this longer than you.

8. There will be no water game. Game hints from Dave Lavery can be ignored. Anything else I advise you to listen to. (If for no other reason than you need a good chuckle)

By the way, veteran teams don't know it all. FIRST changes every year and we all just hope we are right.

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

This is a great thread. All Rookies should read. Here is my 4 sense.

1. Believe in Gracious Professionalism. I thought I understood what it ment and what it was, then my team was on the receiving end of GP. That is when I really got it. I would not think twice about helping another team in need.

2. If you don't have a mentor team, find one. Your rookie year is more chaotic than the rest because you are experiencing everything for the FIRST time. A mentor team will guide you through that chaos.

3. Mentors are there to help you. They want you to succeed. Use them and enjoy them.

4. Never underestimate the value of great team moms. My team might never eat if it weren't for them.

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

if it works already, don't change it

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

Have fun!
Ask for help, but try first and don't let the mentors(or more experienced students) do everything.
Have pride in what you achieved. Building a 120 lb robot in 6 weeks is amazing!
Smile! It makes everything seem better.
Accept help - You might be able to do it on your own but 2 heads are better than one and it makes in more fun.

These tips are for everyone!

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

i learned always clean off your pwm ports before competition, and Don't blame the programmers, it's usually not their fault! (at least not on our team!)
Unfortunately, they are usually the first to get blamed for malfunctions!:rolleyes:

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

That reminds me, rookie programmers: learn that it is always your fault, or that's what they want you to believe ("they" being the rest of your team). You were supposed to account for everything in the code... even mechanical failures or electrical problems. Yay.

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

well, my rookie year was this year (07 - 08). and the main thing that i wish i could of actualy known of the people's creativity. looking back on build season, i had some great ideas. and me, being the shy dude i am, i kept quiet. when we went to our first comp, i saw most of my ideas in real life. basically, i learned that there isnt any idea that's a bad idea.

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

I wish I would have known when to shut up and work because I now know how mad it makes me as an upperclassmen when the freshmen don`t do anything but talk when you tell them to do something.

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

I actually had a really awesome rookie year. My team was great and the mentors and experienced students helped me figure out everything I needed to know. I wish that I had known about it my freshman year. I guess I also wish I had joined Chief Delphi my rookie year since it is such a great resource.

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

Oh Man! i'm a rookie programmer for 2009! I hope labview has a "troubleshooting things that are mechanical failures and have to be accounted for in your programming" tutorial!

Is there anaything else I should know??? I became the lead webmaster, lead electrician, and the assistant programmer for the 2009 season. and then i will be the lead programmer for 2010! Is there a way i am supposed to take all the blame that will be coming at me??? :eek: lol

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

You'll be fine; it's an ongoing joke to blame the programmers, and I was joking that you ought to account for EVERYTHING since when our electrical for the IR board was messed up... it was my fault. As the assistant programmer, you can blame everything on the lead programmer: "HE should have caught the mistake!" Or just blame everything on the electrical or mechanical teams.

edit: I just realized that you won't be blaming it on the electrical team.

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

My $0.02 for rookie webmasters...

Being webmaster isn't as hard as it seems. Just explore the admin panel of your team's website, and be familiar with it. Fool around with it a little bit, if you can do that without completely messing up the website. If you need updates from any of your team members for the site's content, make sure that you don't have tons of different updates all coming in at the same time; try and stagger it if you can. Also...the biggest mistake I made this year when I started off...DON'T PROCRASTINATE! When something needs to be updated or fixed, do is ASAP. This year, I didn't get most of the content up until a day before my deadline, and I spent a good 5 hours working on it. Not very fun.

Also...Google is your best friend, especially if you don't know CSS or HTML, or whatever code you need to use.

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

I wish that I would have known how much work forming an FRC team was before we started doing it =p. lol

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

Me too, but not really on second thought because I might have hesitated as a freshman and missed out on a truly amazing experience.

-Vivek

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

top 5 things i wish i knew my rookie year:

5. That I'd be wearing the most embarassingly bright shirt ever

4. That I'd be bored traveling unless I was with my team

3. That I wouldn't be able to stop doing it after high school

2. That I'd meet some of the most amazing people ever

1. That I'd get shamelessly hit on with THE WORST pick up lines

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

Scouting is one the most important things in FIRST, just ask the winning alliance: 1114, 217 and 148. They have a great scouting program.

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

It's also nice to work together during build season.

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

I know, I headed scouting on RUSH for a couple years. I know scouting isn't worthless, but some people think of it as worthless and a waste of time. They should always do their best regardless of what they think of their job. I agonized over the phrasing on that one for a while, I guess I still didn't get it right. Sorry for any confusion.

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

I really haven't got any sleep so i misread it, and thank you for clearing it up.

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

I'll have to agree with that -- I put off uploading my custom (if rudimentary) CMS built upon the Zend Framework to a public server 'til the last moment, and found, to my horror, that my host had a horribly misconfigured Apache installation (specifically, a consistently incorrect REQUEST_URI env. var.) that hosed Zend's front controller, which in turn hosed the site.

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

MAKE FRIENDS!!! not only will they maybe get you on an alliance (the winning one in my case) but they could become amazing friends forever. I have made friends on other teams that i couldnt live without talking to.:)

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

If you are a pre-rookie or know of a pre-rookie team forming, make sure they notify their FIRST leadership team in their area! We can be of help! That's usually the Regional Director, VISTA Volunteer, FIRST Senior Mentor, FRC Regional Planning Committee Chair.

Step outside of your comfort zone. If traditional methods of learning in the classroom don't excite you, here's your opportunity to learn doing hands-on stuff!

READ EVERYTHING FIRST PUTS OUT - the manuals, the deadlines, the rules updates, the forums, the e-mail blasts - and share the info with the team! This especially applies to you, "main contact" people!

If you're a mentor, join NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization) - every team has a technical side and a non-technical side and we've got a lot of great resources for you (www.firstnemo.org).

Focus on team organization in the fall (or summer) - and realize that what works for you as a team this year may have to be revised next year. Form your team like a small business complete with a business plan, leadership structure, job descriptions, job application process and termination process, annual review, budget, minutes from meetings, etc. Many of the issues and complaints I hear from teams stem from a lack of any kind of team organization. Take the time to create the team handbook, identify the rules and consequences, decide who will be the ultimate decision-maker if a difficult decision needs to be made, etc.

Do lots and lots of teambuilding exercises before kickoff. FIRST tends to attract us introverts, who are very happy and content doing our own thing, and frankly, our ideas are better than anyone else's on the team, right? WRONG! Get used to working together as a team. Don't like the team t-shirt or color? Learn to love it and respect it. It is your team's uniform and soon enough you will be very proud of it. (I often use the analogy of a freshman football player telling Coach (s)he doesn't really like to wear the color gold, so could they change the uniforms? Or better yet, the freshman showing up with his/her jersey cut at the shoulders or pulled back into a knot so a little bit of skin shows... um, yeah, you'd last how long on the team?)

Speaking of which, team identity has been mentioned - establish your "media look" - will you wear khaki pants with your t-shirts? Ironed clothing looks best before the cameras, and before prospective sponsors! practice your 3-minute elevator speeches!

Prepare a media packet. Prepare a press release you can take on a laptop with you to your event and a list of who to e-mail/fax it to. Prepare a wish list of everything you'd like to have, from a white board to a CNC machine, and hand it out to everyone.

Figure out by October if you will go to Championships if you win the Rookie All-Star Award at your regional event. You DON'T want to have to make that decision at the event in March when emotions are running high. Can you get the time off from school/work? Will the school system allow a last-minute request to travel out of state? Can you fundraise enough to cover last-minute travel expenses? Will the whole team go, or just a few people?

DOCUMENT your rookie season (and every one that follows!). Take lots of photos/videos, identify the people in them, keep a scrapbook, save a t-shirt, use the info to create a website and/or Chairman's Award entry. On your team's 10th anniversary you will wish you had saved these items in a box somewhere. Even if you don't create a CA entry, make it a habit to create an annual report for your stakeholders - sponsors, parents, school administration, team.

Network, network, network. Go to the off-season events in the spring and fall before you start your team. Hang around other teams and explain you are a rookie and ask questions. Most teams will be glad to help you! Be proactive and ask your FIRST leadership team if you can host an event in the fall - maybe a workshop day or maybe just a get together so teams can meet one another.

Be humble and say thank you a lot and celebrate your successes.

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

My first year of FIRST was also my freshman year of college. Its funny how very different I was...

1) Cutting metal will not kill you. I was not a shop guy and had no interest in being a shop guy.
2) Its ok to put students to work, if they are a fooling around to much kick em out of the lab.
3) Don't invest your heart into a project none of the team cares about.

Back then all I was interested in was Design and CAD. So I locked my self in the lab, didn't interact much, only worked on the inventor & animation awards, and never touched the robot. When every thing was said and down, I had a partial finished project that couldn't be submitted. I don't know which then was more discouraging: that it didn't work out or that no seemed to care.

It wasn't until my junior year of college that I made any sort of part. My machining was horrible (still is in fact), but at least was able to help out and feel like I contributed. I even kept a small peice of scrap (with its S-Shaped straight cut) as a momento which is still in my wallet to this day.

Oh and scouting is huge. I've been doing it seven years and don't plan on quiting. There is no doubt in anyones mind on Chuck that we won the Philly Regional twice these past years because of our scouting team and alliance pairing. We even take the extra step of running match results to the drive team then organize our big book by match order. This way the drivers actually have an idea who they are up against (or with), and since typically all they get to see is their match or plan for the next, it becomes a huge advantage.

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

Rookie Year? One of the veteren teams in my area (I'm pretty sure it was 192) told me something that has only remained true since.

Get a rolling base before everything else. If you don't have the resources to run separate projects then make sure a rolling base happens first. Code only works on a moving robot, a driver can only practice on a rolling base....you get the point.

But that is advice after the start of build season. Before build, work with the students that will be the team. Team building is a good idea. Odds are not everyone will like each other and they don't have to, but they will need to work together.
Simple things
4 Square (you would be surprised)
Pot Lucks
Movie nights with a projector in a garage.
Paint ball.


Find a FRC team nearby, any team worthy of their number will be happy to help

Also raise money, you will need it for next year at least, most likely you'll need it for tools, or spares or travel to Atlanta.

In Hind site I am really glad I didn't know how much of my life would become wrapped into FIRST. I may have backed away from it as a cult or something. But I am glad I did.

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

If any rookie team or any team for the matter needs machining help or need parts made. Email me at rcthekid1323@gmail.com and we can help.

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.

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

I hear and understand everything you are saying and support a great deal of it. If I could talk a little bit about #1 for a minute though - I'd like to open that statement up a bit. (Kind of like cracking through the shell to get to the meat of the nut.) I hear that statement a lot: 'it's not about the robot.'

I think it is. In this way: the robot provides the interest/the draw for the engineers/mentors. They bring their knowledge, experience, and education to the table. The design table, the discussion table, the mathematical table, the table strewn with cables, chain, tools, rough sketches on wood or torn bits of cardboard. They bring their humor and their passion. It is where the students are offered healthy servings of science, technology, and inspiration. I understand when people say, 'it is not about the robot', but it is. It is about the robot building teams/people as much as it is about the teams/people building the robot. That's where you get #2 and #3. And all of those together bring/create opportunities for vendors and sponsors to participate, helping to strengthen the program.:)

Sorry to sidetrack.
Jane

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

Would another way of saying this be that the robot serves as the catalyst to bring mentors and students together?

Some other things I wish I had known my rookie year:

FRC is not about education. Too many times I have seen people on these boards claim the FRC is about teaching students and that teams that have mentors doing everything are not GP and should be penalized for it. These people are working off of incorrect facts, they seem to think that the goal of this program was to replace educational institutions. FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. (Emphasis mine) Nowhere in there is the word education mentioned.

On a related note, I have always felt the best way of inspiring was to push the students, show them what they are capable of doing. I would also suggest that you NEVER doubt that the kids you have can, and often do, think of more creative ideas than you. I am always in awe of what my students can do. Don't be afraid to tell them to do something on their own, support them of course but make sure they feel a sense of accomplishment, make sure they realize THEY built that robot out there.

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

I wish that I had known that everything can be temporary and always will be.