New FRC Team
 

Hi all
I attend a school in New Zealand and will be attending the first regional ever held in our country. We have started a team in our school and would really like a FRC bot to show the rest of our school what we will be making and to test drivers on.


Please let me know if you have/know someone that has a bot that you/they would be willing to give to us.

Thanks
James

Re: New FRC Team
 

Since the Robots will be changing electronics this year, very few teams have an idea of what the new FRC robots will look like as well. I suggest you start looking at videos and documentation of different robots from current and past.

http://www.youtube.com/user/mentorsearch - Pictures of the coming up controller ,

http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc...t.aspx?id=1108 - Workshops and Documentation

PM or Post on this thread if you want more of a specific type of documentation or videos.

Re: New FRC Team
 

First of all, a big welcome to you and the other New Zealand teams. It is great to have you on board and a very exciting step for all of us to see another nation joining FRC. While our team is not quite as geographically removed from the majority of FRC teams as you are, we certainly felt that way in our rookie year. As the first FRC team in Western Canada (and at that time completely clueless about Chief Delphi and the thriving FRC community just a few hours south in Seattle), the very first time we saw an FRC 'bot (other than the one we built) was on the first day of the Greater Toronto Regional.

One thing to watch for, from a team building perspective, is that if a team were to send you an old robot, you would have to invest some time in learning the old control system... not a bad thing, per se, but not as useful as learning about the new control system. It is my understanding that the new FTC control system (which should be considerably less expensive to ship than an FRC 'bot) would serve as a better model for learning about FRC robot control and programming. The new FTC kits are available now.

There are several ways to show people about the competition you will be involved in without neccesarily shipping a robot all the way across the pacific. Numerous videos are on youtube (my page is www.youtube.com/dtengineering), team websites (my team is www.trobotics.ca), the FIRST web site, and of course, www.thebluealliance.net

I also highly, HIGHLY recommend the two "FIRST Robots: Behind the Design" books by Vince Wilczynski and Stephanie Slezycki (Rockport Publishers). In fact these books are "must read" materials for any rookie team. You can probably gain the equivalent of about two years' worth of FRC experience just from reading those two books.

But I do understand how having "the real thing" present can not only help non-team members to begin to grasp the magnitude of the challenge you have undertaken, but also help your team and neighbouring teams... many of whom have not seen an FRC bot in person... get an idea of what these things are actually like. It would be a big sacrifice... perhaps emotional as much as financial... for a team to give up an old robot, but it would definitely be for a good cause. In fact it would be great to find a way to get a few different robots from different games "down under".

Jason

Re: New FRC Team
 

Thank you so much for the links.
We have a vex kit and are currently using it to learn form. The biggest problem that we have is that even with all the photos and videos it is hard to portray the scale of the bots.
We understand that there will be a cost in getting a bot all the way to New Zealand but the benifit of having one would easily outway the shipping cost as it will not only let us find out who is good at driving, we will also be able to see how the bot has been assembled and how each component works with the rest of the system.

Thanks for the replys
James

Re: New FRC Team
 

I'm going to echo the call on the books. Both of them should be read completely. If you can't find information on how to do something, at least at a high level, then it just might mean that you need to think seriously about not doing it. (It may also mean that it's never been done.)

Think of it this way: You get 60 robots for less than the cost of one.

Also, another option is to go to http://www.ifirobotics.com/ and get some chassis metal and some CIM motors, then go to http://andymark.biz/ and get a pair of Toughboxes. IFI also sells the old control system, but the VEX kit can probably do the trick. You'll need speed controllers; the IFI Victor 884s are the current standard and may be used next year. Build a basic drivetrain. Program the VEX controller to control the robot. That'll give you a basic idea of size, complexity... Oh, and time to build.

Any robot built that way won't be legal next season, in all probability, but the pieces will be COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) and can be used individually.

Re: New FRC Team
 

Eric, as usual, has some good suggestions...

Rather than ship an entire robot, why not take some plans and build one?

Although the IFI Chassis metal is quick and easy to assemble, there are lots of designs that might serve as the basis for a chassis that you can build using locally-sourced components. The VEX control system is quite capable of running a full-size FRC bot. You just need some bigger motors, gearboxes and speed controllers.

I appreciate the desire to show off a full-size machine... they are truly impressive, especially when the pneumatics start to hiss and the motors whirr...

There may be a team willing to part with a robot for a good cause like this, or at least part with some of the components that you will need to build an FRC-sized machine as a practice/demo bot, but it is quite possible that they are unable to respond right now as most North American schools are on summer holidays for another week.

If you should happen to find a team willing to share their 'bot or crucial components, don't stop there... their experience is worth far more than the robot ever could be. See how they can help mentor your team for the rest of the season.

Jason

Re: New FRC Team
 

Our team recently held workshops in New Zealand, partnered with Smales Farm Technology Office Park, Massey University, and FIRST, to try and help prepare teams for their inaugural regional. The New Zealand Organizing committee and FIRST provided 2 Kits of Parts from the 2007 season. We left both FRC Kits and 30 VEX Kits with Dr. Johan Potgieter at Massey University Auckland. If you contact him with questions or requests I am sure he would be willing to help you out in any way possible. I believe that the kits have been made available for use to NZ schools. You can find his contact information on Massey's website Contact Info
Hopefully this helps and good luck next year.

Re: New FRC Team
 

Hi, i am also on a team in New Zealand, from Onehunga High school in Auckland. I belive there is already a fully functional FRC robot in NZ. I think it is being circulated around some schools. Im not sure of all the details but i do know another school has one from a few years ago and we are going to borrow it to show parents of students what we are trying to do. Ill find out more infromation tomorow and add another post. What High school do you go to, Where are you located?

Re: New FRC Team
 

I will look into getting the components from the FRC bots.
We attended the boot camp during the holidays and now have one of the VEX kits.
I am from Northcote College in Auckland.

Re: New FRC Team
 

Team Communication and contacts are very helpful especially in the 1st year. I encourage any teams or interested mentors to post their location on Mentor Search and hopefully you can establish more contacts in your area.

http://mentorsearch.us

Re: New FRC Team
 

Just a question: Have you had any trouble attaining sponsors and additional funding/resources?

Re: New FRC Team
 

Is this question for the New Zealand teams?

If so our school is still trying to get the Registration fee together for in time, we should be able to fundraise the $1,500 needed but our school has said if we don’t have all the money by October they will loan us the money which is good. The only thing I can see being a problem for the NZ teams is getting the compulsory corporate sponsorship of $50,000 but I think the university organising everything is approaching the potential sponsors we have given them the names of. So we should be able to get all the sponsorship needed to compete, for our school it will be more of a problem getting the additional money for non KoP items and if possible we are going to try get the $1,500 worth of software needed to use the CNC our school owns, why we don’t have the software for it is a mystery though.

Tim

Re: New FRC Team
 

Yes it was. And that is awesome to hear that the education system is stepping up to support NZ teams this much. I wish you and your friends around NZ the best of luck this year and for many years to come.:D

Re: New FRC Team
 

Good to hear from you KIWIs
We met many of you in Atlanta. I hope your Regional turns out to be a lot of fun!!
We had a new regional in Seattle last year and the first year went very well.

There are many ways you can try and raise some of the extra funding that you will need. Please check out some of the white papers here on CD ... our team could help with some ideas too.

I wish you best of luck ... keep on posting whenever you need help.
CD is always here to provide information for you...

R

Re: New FRC Team
 

I just checked; at today's exchange rates, $1,500.00 New Zealand Dollars is equivalent to US$1,030.70. Hrm.

Re: New FRC Team
 

Hey... that's .68 USD... not too bad. When we started out the Canadian dollar was down at .63!

Jason

Re: New FRC Team
 

Hi yea the $50,000 goes towards the winning teams travel costs i think plus the cost of the Kop and venue hire.

Tim