Re: Before we start - PLEASE read the Manual!
 

3) Please check the First website several times a week and download the Team Updates and check for document revisions. Inspectors and refs are required to know the changes and perform using the latest Team Updates and doc revisions at each event. The last robot section revision occurred as Rev K and the Team Updates went to 19 in 2009.

4) Check the Q&A every week as well.

Re: Before we start - PLEASE read the Manual!
 

LINK TO MANUAL

Might help to provide a link to the manual for those who have trouble finding it.....????

http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/...nt.aspx?id=452

The encrypted manual is posted.

Re: Before we start - PLEASE read the Manual!
 

The only thing I dislike more than piontless hints are people who don't understand or know the rules to the game each year! Thank you for making this thread. You can not stress enough how important it is to understand the game!


I love the quiz idea. We usually just talk about the game sooooooooooo much that it is burned in our minds.

Re: Before we start - PLEASE read the Manual!
 

It also might be helpful to have certain sections (*Arena, Game, Robot*), printed out as a hard copy reference. That way you don't have to wait for the manual to load on the computer and then search for a certain rule. If you REALLY want to (though I do not recommend it) you can print the whole thing but I did that a few years ago for the team.... barely fit in a 3 inch binder.
I agree with Peter though; a quiz would be a very good idea.

Re: Before we start - PLEASE read the Manual!
 

I'm old, so I print out those sections of the manual, and keep them in my engineering notebook (a thick 3 ring binder). The fun begins when they start sending out the team updates, and the manual gets some changes....I print the updates and put them in the notebook. And occasionally print the revised manual pages.

Re: Before we start - PLEASE read the Manual!
 

Please be sure that if you use this method, each update gets into the book when it is released. A team who had only added Team updates through 16 was being called on an issue that was posted in update 17 at the Champs. Big OOPS.

Re: Before we start - PLEASE read the Manual!
 

I also like running a diff on the two files and comparing any changes....seems to help the changes sink in more than just going through the update or the revised section.

Re: Before we start - PLEASE read the Manual!
 

For those, like me, who must have it on paper...:cool:

Practice good documentation control for the sections that you keep on paper. (the students will need to do this when they enter the working world anyway)

1. One member 'owns' the Master copy (if many own it, then no one owns it)
2. That owner checks for updates daily
3. When an update is released, highlight the changes and share them with the team
4. Remove and file the old section, replace it with the new section- this includes the updated index

Electronic Manual reference should be taken directly from the FIRST site.

Re: Before we start - PLEASE read the Manual!
 

That's what we did when I was in charge of it. Although, we rarely used the whole manual. Really only the updates once they started because at the time, that was all we were concerned about. Ended up breaking a rule that way *I think* or were close to it.

Re: Before we start - PLEASE read the Manual!
 

Folks, Dave has said this better than I can. He's said it more ways than I can come up with.

One thing I haven't seen yet in this thread: Most, if not all, PDF readers have a find function, often accessed by control-F. So if you want to know if CO2 can be used, or if you HAVE to have bumpers, or any one of a number of other answers to questions you have, you might try picking a key term or two (for the examples I gave, "CO2" and "bumper" would work), plugging it into the find function, and seeing what you find.

*gets ready to put the link to Dave's post in any thread that asks questions that are answered in the Manual*

Re: Before we start - PLEASE read the Manual!
 

Everyone on team 116 (student or mentor) is required to take a rules test on the robot, game, arena, and tournament sections of the manual. You have three tries to pass the test and each time you take it, the test gets progressively harder. If you don't pass within 3 tries, you're off the team. The test starts out incredibly easy and it doesn't take a whole lot to pass, but failing multiple times picks out the students that are not serious and are showing no signs of commitment early on. Students who want to be on the team are ready when they take the test. This forces students to read the manual and it saves us a lot of time when designing and building.

Re: Before we start - PLEASE read the Manual!
 

Bravo

Re: Before we start - PLEASE read the Manual!
 

I completly agree. In fact our team made a test on the manual and made it mandatory to retake it until you pass. Only 4 (out of 20) passed. They now have to retake it until they do pass.

Re: Before we start - PLEASE read the Manual!
 

The same goes for our team; you have to take the test until you pass, making it obvious who hasn't read the rules. We actually have an assigned job on the team, the "Rules Guru." Their job is to know the rules by heart, and have the official, completely updated set of the rules that people can go to if they have a question.

Re: Before we start - PLEASE read the Manual!
 

Put together a 10-15 question basic quiz for your teams to take in the first week of build. take the questions from the robot, game and arena sections of the manual primarily and give your team a pop quiz. - It will make you think about the rules more and encourage your students to read them if they are ashamed of poor performance on the quiz.