Quote:
Originally Posted by rjustice4
It's hard enough getting a community excited about robotics, but to get into a program with practically no documentation or support is going to make it a lot harder....
Any suggestions are welcome...
Thanks.
Bob
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Bob,
Sorry for the late post – haven't been in this subforum for a while.
Your situation reminds me a lot of when we pilot-tested Vex when it was first released in April 2005. We had done FLL for 2 years, and Vex felt A LOT harder. The other teams seemed to have it "together" – many had FRC experience, and it seemed that they could design things and we couldn't. There was no documentation, not many fun parts, and no programming platform. We entered our first competition with a cracker box on wheels, placed 44th out of 53 teams, but more importantly than our low ranking, we felt that we hadn't learned much and didn't know how to learn more.
After the first competition, we lost 3 of the 4 team members who thought Vex was "too hard." The last member and I plugged on, gaining knowledge tidbit by tidbit, tracking down all the designs we could. We pestered the more experienced people, trying to reconstruct what they had built (and often failing).
The end result was Vex for the Technically Challenged, which you referenced. We knew that there were others far more knowledgeable than us, but we thought, "Hey, there must be SOMEONE out there that would benefit from what we struggled to learn." As FLL coach, my main duties had been cookie-baking, car pooling, and refereeing disputes on whose turn it was on the robot. Navigating an uncharted robotics system was far more demanding, but ultimately rewarding.
Starting up a robotics team on a new system like TETRIX is harder for rookies than using a developed, documented system, for sure. But you also have the unique opportunity of being not only a pioneer, but approaching this frontier as an "outsider" to robotics. This means your contribution and perspective are extremely valuable. You know how a "newbie" thinks, and the problems they encounter, unlike people who are veterans to FRC or FTC. In a year, you could be writing "TETRIX for the Technically Challenged."
In the mean time, it sounds like you're gaining a lot of good information. Our best wishes for your team-- we hope that the season is a rewarding and learning experience.
Yolande, the Technically Challenged
P.S. Our latest updated materials are posted at
http://www.vexrobotics.com/vex-educa...esources.shtml. Although they're Vex specific, you may find the builders' guide (Vex Machinations) useful, as it highlights engineering principles as well as specific projects to build.
P.P.S. Will we see you at the FLL tourney in Modesto?