My name is David and I am an engineer at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. I have been involved in FIRST for a couple of years, mostly judging websites. But last year, I finally got involved with a team (#399) when my son joined up. I saw in the team great students, mentors, and advisors. I did not know what I could contribute to the team that they already did not have, but as I went through last season, I felt that if the team would take on better system engineering practices, they could achieve so much more. So in my mentoring efforts, I have been discussing system engineering practices that may help the team succeed. They have taken some ideas and laughed at others, which is OK because each team has to develop their own practices and I am just here to help. So I am working on developing a Systems Engineering Plan for robotics that I think might be a help to new teams and new people to FIRST. I thought that if I would start posting my thoughts (design), get feedback (validate), and then post results (implement) I would end up with a better overall plan.
I have seen quite a few posts on manufacturing techniques, electronics, the competition, clues, chairman award, programming, but how does this all fit together? This is a pretty daunting task for any of the new teams and for any rookie on an experienced team. I really feel that what we have learned at NASA, in industry, and universities about system engineering can be applied to FIRST robotics. It is so critical in our NASA programs that we apply good system engineering practices.
My goal in this series of articles (or thoughts and ramblings) is to discuss good system engineering practices throughout the FIRST season (or lifecycle in systems engineering terms) and help teams develop an approach that could help them succeed. I have broken the lifecycle into five distinct phases:
Formulation,
Organization,
Construction,
Competition, and
Recognition. Each phase has different requirements and objectives that if thought out in your team’s organization and planning may help bring success to your team. Right now my thoughts are to write an article on what is systems engineer and how we can apply it to each of the phases starting with the Construction phase.
So, if you enjoy the writings and find them useful, please let me know.
So let the process begin…
I have also posted these posts on a web site and am collecting other links that will apply:
http://mysite.verizon.net/res0kkni/index.html
My disclaimer:
These writings are just my thoughts and do not represent any official FIRST position or any team or NASA opinions. You may not always agree, but that is OK because your team has to develop your best practices and I am just here to help.