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Re: Student presidents
Our general structure:
2-3 co-captains
4 sub-teams(electrical, mechanical, programing, and PR), with a sub-team captain for each
The captains can come from any sub-team (and it's usually best when they come from different sub-teams, but there have been exceptions). It's the captain's job to organize the team, run the meetings (which often involves running the beginning and end of the meetings, and breaking into sub-teams in the middle), and in general ensure everything goes smoothly. This isn't necessarily a full time job with multiple co-captains, so they also get to spend time at every meeting working with their "favorite" sub-team.
In the past, we've had captains that have taken on different focuses during the build season. One captain did such a good job leading the programming sub-team, that our mentor for that area didn't have much to do. Another took on overall ownership of the design (where normally the design evolves based on individual decisions made while building it). This past year, the two co-captains put in a dedicated effort towards chairman's.
We handle integration of the sub-teams and robot components through design reviews held every night. Each group (there are often 2-3 mechanical groups, 1 electrical group, and 1 programming group) takes a few minutes to present what they're working on, and how they think it'll interface with the rest of the robot. When we hit "critical points" where we need a decision on exactly how to interface two components, we'll get those groups together to make the decision.
The hardest year we had in keeping everything integrated was Break Away. We wanted to ensure that the robot could fit both fit through the tunnel and go over the bump. In the end, our hook deployment mechanism was too tall to enter the tunnel (but it was also lightly attached, and could be removed easily if needed), but everything else was under that height, and we could easily go over the bump. That all gave us very tight space constraints to fit everything into!
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