Quote:
Originally Posted by Arefin Bari
Daniel, I understand where you are coming from and maybe it is a disadvantage because the 1st and 2nd year teams aren't getting the controller to mess around with before kickoff.
Here are few things I would like to point out...
1) We don't have single programmer on the team (Team 1345). We have had the help from Team 108's programmers and Kevin Watson's code.
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I'm not too concerned about my teams ability to program. We have 8 students that can and will be programming. Imbedded systems are different than most as they tend to have their own way of handling and addressing I/O. It's these nuances that will not (unless they are specifically mentored) be conveyed well to the newer teams.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arefin Bari
2) It's just not a "lecture." FIRST teams function differently than most other organizations. If you are to ask an expert in FIRST (whether mechanical, electrical or software), they won't say no and they will explain the concept to you until you understand and I am willing to bet that teams who are chosen will have workshops for local teams which will be hands on and just not a lecture.
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Again, the issue is not whether or not teams will answer questions ... of course they will.
The issue is that the teams without knowlege of how the controller responds (to things like PID controls) won't know the proper questions to ask.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arefin Bari
3) Teams who will beta test this control system will release codes. No they won't give you your robot's competition code. But we will at least have the default code. FIRST has already suggested programmers to look at specific programming language. If the default code is given to you and if your programmer has been training him/herself, he/she should be able to write the rest of the code. If not, take your robot out to the local team and ask them for help. They will help you with the code just as Team 108 did for Team 1345 this past season.
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I wasn't asking about
my teams robots code ... I was asking about
their competition code. Billfred said something about using their own firepower against them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arefin Bari
4) All the knowledge that I have gained from this FIRST program is from usually researching about different things. For example, I didn't have an actual transmission to play with when I designed my first transmission. I came out here and looked at what others have done. I took their design and modified it to my needs. Isn't that how engineering works?
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Sometimes. If you want to learn how something works, taking apart one is a good start.
Most of the time, however, engineering is about problem solving. Generally you are not given a working object ... instead you are given a list of specifications and you need to make a device that matches all of those specs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arefin Bari
I am assuming that there will be very few controllers for this beta testing. How do you propose FIRST to choose these few teams out of existing 1,500 teams around the world?
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Teams should submit test plans for what they are going to do. They should be required to only have the beta units for a fixed length of time to ensure that their competitive advantage is minimalized. All code should be accessable (read only) to all teams at all times. All beta testers should be required to keep and publish (on a official FIRST site) an engineering notebook (possibly an engineering diary as well) on their findings.
Before kickoff All teams should recieve their controller, with the beta teams recieving theirs 1/2 their testing time later.
The above would limit the advantage, not exclude any group (as it's only based on the test plan), and would still give beta testing reports to all.
JM(NS)HO