Quote:
Originally Posted by DarthCoder
So the team I've been a part of has been around since Rebound Rumble, and in our last two years we've had some small tastes of glory. We've consistently been able to get into the semi-finals at the district events, but we keep falling just short of making the finals. We also haven't ranked very consistently high in the qualification matches, and we've been all the way up to 7th at one point in a competition and then fell back down to around 18th. We don't have a huge budget or a huge team, but we really want to make it over the hump and go for a championship run next year. It seems that the most successful teams are quite active in the offseason, so I figured now would be a good time to make a thread about this. Are there any teams on here who have had success and could provide some tips on taking the next step to break past the semi-finals? Both offseason and build season tips would be great. How does your design process go? I've always been fascinated by how the top ranked teams are always able to figure out the optimal strategy and build their robot to perform it without having played any real matches yet. Like how the top teams this year seemed to all have in-place stackers at the feeder station and some could even make multiple 6 stacks in a match.
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I have a few key things I belive from my time in FIRST that has helped me and my team.
1. Mentors...you need to find mentors who are passionate about mentoring the kids. Not only to help them with engineering, design process, but is upbeat an knowledgeable about their field. I've found the best mentors are often former students who have started their careers. They knew what it was like and how it will be. The mentors also need to be a consistent influence on the students. Flaky mentors are the worst
2. Your goal in this particular situatuion is to make it through the finals with the robot right? Then im goign to say something that i will likely get railed on about....
Play to win. Recently e eryone talks about it not being about the robot or its more than the robot...and i agree to a certain point. But winning is nice...it feels nice...and this is a competition. So, design to win. Did your design not work the way you thought after the 1st time?...well then iterate it. Iterate and use your 25lb withholding to your advantage. Take large risks at competition. Make bold design changes to improve yourself. Often I am conflicted with keeping the robot the same and doing okay or taking a chance with a bold improvised change to make sure we seed high, but in the end of the day we are here to win this thing. Sometimes bold changes come back to haunt us...but the world isn't changed by people playing it safe. Nobody is perfect and neither is any robot. So we always strive to improve the robot.
3. 2 Robots. It is without a doubt a game changer when your drivers can practice with the robot at home anytime they want. Also gives you a identical platform to test any modifications before doing them at competition. The other advantage with a second identical bot is the ability for your drivers to compinsate for a robot that may not be as refined. Good drivers with a ok bot will end up on top vs the best robot in the world with bad drivers. Plus, you can do a little competition with identical robots in the off season for some fun.
4. 2 events before champs. You learn so much at your first event that it is a shame when teams do not get the opportunity to act on and apply what they learned. Going to 2 events is a huge undertaking both financially and time, but it is so worth it to learn, apply, and see the fruit of that directly instead of waiting until next year. This goes for both the robot, team stuff, and business.
Sorry if what I am typing seems a little scattered, but im sitting here in a meeting being bored and multitasking
