Go to Post We asked the neighbors if we could block the road before we did it. We had the rack out for a couple of hours. They are getting used to us doing odd things during build season. - wendymom [more]
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Unread 13-12-2002, 22:47
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Rich Wong Rich Wong is offline
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Build the field FIRST...

Students should build the field FIRST!

One of the most difficult problem I had in the past 4 years
with mentoring teams is getting them be build the goal(s)
or field components.

Many times it is guess work by the students, or partially or poorly built components. And its is build and completed on week
4 or 5. Too late to change their design.

Everyone wants to build the robot but no one wants to
build the goal or field components.
Should the mentors (be nice and) build it on day one for the students or should the students build it themselves and maybe learn more from it?

What do you think?

Last edited by Rich Wong : 31-12-2002 at 14:15.
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Unread 14-12-2002, 07:24
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Field parts

Our team considers the field components to be critical to success. Last year FIRST even sent out a materials list early so that teams could start building field components on Day 1. A field is very useful in developing a strategy and designing the robot.

Stress the importance of first building the goal (2002) and then figuring out the best way to attach to it and move it.

I think that you will find that most teams have most of the major field parts built before they even finalize the robot design.
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Unread 14-12-2002, 08:54
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Kit Gerhart Kit Gerhart is offline
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We always have a mentor who is responsible for directing the building of the goals and playing field, with both adults and students helping with the job. We make it a very high priority to build the field/goals quickly so we can start working on game strategy using humans in chairs as robots, etc.

We have enjoyed the luxury of having space to build a complete playing field, and if a team can do so, having a complete and accurately built field and goals is some of the best-spent effort your team can make.
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Unread 15-12-2002, 09:25
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Al Skierkiewicz Al Skierkiewicz is offline
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Building the playing field and field pieces is also a high priority with Wildstang. A field team will work Saturday and Sunday of kickoff weekend to have either fully built field pieces or full size mockups ready for the first brainstoriming session. That session is a full team meeting with parents and takes place on Sunday afternoon. If you did not have a 2002 goal built you would have had a hard time estimating the difficulty in moving an object of that size and weight. I know of one team who also built a partial of the goal (approx. 1/3) with correct pipe and other matierials that allowed them to test goal grabbers and align height. The partial was easy to move around and ship.
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Unread 07-03-2006, 16:19
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Re: Who should build the field?

GOD.
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Unread 07-03-2006, 16:28
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Re: Who should build the field?

Quote:
Originally Posted by chs_gina
GOD.
I disagreed.
GOD can managed the building team but GOD will not build it for them.
GOD is usually too busy anyway with ordering the missing parts in the KOP.
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Unread 07-03-2006, 16:32
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Re: Who should build the field?

yeah sure build a feild to "test" out your robot before competition . . but at the expence of the surprise of that first thursday, and do you really wanna throw that away?

we at 1745 think that "test" is just another one of those 4 letter words. . . . the same goes for "planing", and "designing" and "craftsmenship" and "math".



but seriously, build atleast the game elements that you plan on manipulating before you start building the robot, I know at the BEST competitions Ive been to you can tell the teams that build a feild and practiced, and those that just got on one the day of.
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Unread 07-03-2006, 16:34
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Re: Who should build the field?

Gina - Haha I agree, I was not the one who posted this answer, but my friend Anna who also represents 131 made that suggestion that God should build the field... it would make things easier don't you think haha?



Anna - you should basically become a stand up comic, ie: GOD is usually too busy anyway with ordering the missing parts in the KOP.

dang, yousa funny one.
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Unread 07-03-2006, 18:54
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Re: Who should build the field?

I know on my team is a high priority but its also a big project for new kids. Usually a senior member of the team leads as many of the new kids in a massive field construction project. We really lack the space for a full size field but in spite of that, for the last few years have built full size field components. The result is that our lab is quickly filling up with large abstract wooden structures. The benefit to having the majority of the new kids build the field quickly is that they provide lots of manual labor and they can get comfortable handling power tools in a relaxed setting before working on precision critical robot pieces. While this might turn into a big argument often times distracting the new kids with this project also lets the more senior kids have enough peace from the rigors of leadership to sit down with the necessary people and flesh out a plan for the robot.

Lastly as other teams have mentioned the field pieces are extremely necessary for understanding how to play the game. As far too many teams are finding out this year, the ramps in front of the corner goals haven't turned out to be something you can ignore. They have caused countless teams so far trouble simply because teams didn't build the field piece.
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Unread 07-03-2006, 19:00
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Re: Who should build the field?

Building the playing field was actually my role in the team for the first week(of course i worked with other kids). Then we finished and i went to programing. It was cool since we had a giant room to build it in and a woodshop in the next room, which had all the wood we would ever need.
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Unread 07-03-2006, 20:03
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Re: Who should build the field?

In my opinion, the students should take charge of everything and then let the mentors help. But since that never happens in real nice, it would be nice to have parents build the field parts.
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Unread 07-03-2006, 20:13
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Re: Who should build the field?

At our school, the construction class built the goals for us. Its just convenient for us to have the goals to practice with but not have to take time away from building the robot.
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Unread 07-03-2006, 20:18
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Re: Who should build the field?

Since our team is the closest team to our remote kickoff a couple of our mentors and other mentors close by make one set of field parts that we get to keep.
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Unread 07-03-2006, 21:10
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Re: Who should build the field?

Quote:
Originally Posted by sanddrag
In my opinion, the students should take charge of everything and then let the mentors help. But since that never happens in real nice, it would be nice to have parents build the field parts.
We are a 4th year student team and every year the field has been done by week 1.

Students can get things done with the proper motivation.
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Unread 07-03-2006, 21:42
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Re: Who should build the field?

Teams I have worked with in St. Louis have always built practice fields. We started in 1996, with three mentors building the goal for Hexagon Havoc the night of our first team meeting. A few days later our main sponsor (my employer) delivered some carpet and lumber, and one of the mentors marshaled a squad of students to built the complete field in some unused plant space. The following year, mentors again built the goal for Toroid Terror and students built the complete field. That team (no permanent numbers back then; they were called the Arch Rivals) disbanded due to lack of teacher interest after the 1997 season.

Starting in 2002 (Zone Zeal) with the first St. Louis Regional, my employer again donated materials to build a practice field at Gateway HS. Team 931 has continued to build practice fields every year. From 2003 onward, we have had help from the St. Louis Regional organization; they contribute the main field elements (Stack Attack ramp, First Frenzy goals and bar, Triple Play goals and vision tetras, Aim High goals) and we build the practice field. We have opened the field to other teams who want to practice. Usually we have a day or two near the end of build season when several teams show up simultaneously. Once we had seven robots on the field together! We've never tried to hold scrimmages, but that seems like the logical next step.

For many teams, building a field is not practical due to expense and/or lack of space. We have been lucky to have a sponsor, a regional committee, and a host HS that combine to make a practice field possible.

So, assuming the resources are there, who should do the building? We have always used field building as a learning opportunity for new students, and we always have several mentors (and parents) who enjoy building things. Many of the builders have told me they prefer the satisfaction of completing a construction project to the protracted debate that inevitably accompanies our team's strategy and robot design activities.
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