[=Martin=Taylor=]

Originally Posted by Guy Davidson

SECOND: Supporting the Engineering and CADding of Obscure New Devices.
We (three team 8 outgoing seniors) came up with a FIRST-like challenge. We are currently working on writing a rulebook for said challenge, and will hopefully release it in the near future. The goal of SECOND is to allow FIRST students the opportunity to strategize about a game, design a robot, and CAD one without the costs (and, of course, benefits) that come with actually building the robot.

Each entering team will submit a complete CAD of an FRC competition robot (preferably in Solidworks or Inventor), along with calculations as appropriate (for example, why certain gear ratios / wheel sizes were chosen for the drive train, supporting decisions made with regards to effectors and manipulators, such as motor choices or gear ratios) and a strategy outline, which explains the strategy and design approach of the robot.

We are welcoming as many teams as are interested to enter. As we are getting ready to release the rulebook, we will notify everyone interested. In the meantime, feel free to post here if you’re interested, or if you have any questions. If you would be interested in helping us flesh out the rulebook (or maybe even the challenge itself, after we are done outlining it), we would love your help, upon two conditions: one, that you are either an outgoing senior or a mentor in college or beyond, and two: that you do not reveal any details about the challenge until we officially release it, to keep it as FIRST-like as possible.

That’s all for now,

Mike, Dan, and Guy from Team 8

This sounds awesome! Team 100 would love to enter!

I'd be happy to help design the rules/game. I've designed a few games for team 100's inner-team vex challenge. I can also keep a secret

The one thing I would like to know is how you expect to judge the designs. Or will they be judged at all? Since the designs won't be built in real-life it will be very hard to gauge their success. I think the best solution would be simply for teams to present their designs at a group get-together and for everyone to vote on their favorite.