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Posted by Joe Johnson.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.

Posted on 3/20/2000 9:55 PM MST


In Reply to: More light less heat... posted by Joe Johnson on 3/20/2000 8:42 PM MST:




Having defended the right of a team to totally farm out their design, this is not what the Chief Delphi team does.

We do work on the robot. Quite a lot actually.

Cutting, drilling, tapping, dremelling, wiring, bending, shearing, assembling, bolting, bleeding, etc.

These are just a few of the 'ing' words that we did a lot of.

Why? When Chief Delphi is obviously able to hire out the entire process or even to build several robots while we are at it (sarcasm alert ;-)

Because it is part of the inspiration process in our opinion.

We do plenty of work on that machine (We in this case being engineers, students and teachers).

If it is not enough to suit some teams or if the balance of what is done by this group or that group does not match the ratio set by your team's internal standards. What can I say?

We are trying to inspire our students using our best judgement.

I find it singularly uninspiring that some teams come to competition with robots that cannot drive, move their arms or do much of anything. Many times this is done in the name of inspiring students by letting them design and build XXX% of the robot.

Am I to complain that this is a great unfairness to other teams and should not be allowed?

I think not.

FIRST has not made a rule about what percentage of a robot must be built by any one group (including so-called sub-contractors).

FIRST has (wisely, in my opinion) allowed teams to use their best judgement about what balance is best to maximize the inspirational aspect of their FIRST programs.

I think this is part of the richness of FIRST and what makes it such a dynamic community.

Joe J.

P.S. As to rumors that Chief Delphi has built more than one robot. This is totally false. In my rookie year, I strongly advocated this strategy as a means of gaining drive time. It was a total and complete failure. I swore that we would never again waste such energy chasing down a 2nd robot that never did manage to get completed. It is a vow that I repeat often. In my opinion these are the keys to success:
Make ONE robot.
Pick a strategy early.
Design it in CAD before you cut ANYTHING.
Pull the all nighters in week 4 to finish it early rather than in week 5 to put it in the box.
Give your drivers time behind the wheel.

Building multiple robots hurts many of these efforts and only potentially helps the last one.
Overall, I feel strongly that it is a huge net loss to build more than one robot.