What to do after this season ends?

[ksafin]

Hi,

We're rookie team 3992 and our season just came to an end after the South Florida Regional (aka, we didn't qualify for St.Louis, and we aren't participating in any more regionals).

I know there is a lot of work to be done before next years build season, but can anyone put me on a track or path of how to get started right now?

I feel like after this regional everything feels a bit empty; I'm finding myself rewatching videos and looking at pictures to fill the void, so I'm eager to start working towards next year.

Thanks,
Kirill.

[EricH]

Offseason competitions. Especially tune in to IRI. (IRI: Indiana Robotics Invitational, AKA The REAL Championship. Biggest and best field of any offseason.) I believe Tempest 'N Tampa is in your area.

Build a promo-bot.

Do demos with your competition robot.

Find more sponsors of all types.

Recruit.

But before you do any of that, sit down and evaluate the season. What went well? What went wrong? Good ideas, bad ideas--and be honest with yourself. How can you improve for next year?

[1502]

We recommend exactly what Eric said. We also use this time to work on our robot carts.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6672194...n/photostream/

[Suitster]

I would form a list of things that you did not include in your robot this year because you are a rookie team (pneumatics, vision targeting, autonomous, encoders, different drive systems (mecanum wheels seem to be on sale after the build season), and learn to use them for next year.

That's what we are planning on doing after St. Louis

[PayneTrain]

If you choose to go to an off-season competition (which you should), you should definitely go over a design review. I believe a quick search on CD Media will lead you a presentation template Cyber Blue 234 uses for their design review. You can always take the option of applying lessons learned over the season into improvements for this year's robot if you go to an offseason competition, or just take concepts you learned and apply them for prepartaion for 2013.

Seriously though, go to offseason events. We always go to one, and we want to make it back to Duel on the Delaware, go to Beantown Blitz, and check out IRI in addition to R3. We wre spoiled in the northeast with offseason events but it's a great thing to do. It's a relaxed atmosphere and a chance to talk to other teams without any stress involved. Definitely a different pace for the drive team and leadership.

[JamesCH95]

I always like a nice long discussion with my team about what worked, what didn't work, what we want to work on, and cool robot mechanisms/designs/strategies that we saw. It's a nice decompression and sparks interest in the upcoming season.

[Clark Pappas]

Well, I guess I can start by beating a dead horse; find an off-season event(s) in your area, and plan on going. These are great for new and old students alike. Not much more to say on this, everyone else had this pretty well covered.

Another thing you should do is immediately is a season and regional "Critique". Go over everything that went right and wrong. Strengthen your Pros, and fix your Deltas. Did a certain part of your design always break down? Did you lack tool organization? Is there a tool, material, or machine that you found yourself constantly needing but never had access to? Did your drivers not have enough information on the other teams going into matches? These are just a few things to start looking at.

The next step, I would say, would be to clean up, take inventory, and restock. Get your workspace spick and span, with everything properly stored and organized. Take a look at all the materials you have left; bolts, electrical connectors, spare electronics, and so on. Is there something that needs to be restocked? (For us, it's long 1/4-20 Bolts). Also, take a look back at any electrical connector, any fastener or adhesive, ect. that you needed during season, but didn't have. (For us, it would be 45 amp APP crimps)

Then, I would get on starting fundraising, public outreach, and recruitment. Demonstrate your bot at your highschool(s). Go demonstrate it to the incoming 8th graders at your local middle school. Work your way into events, rallies, parades, ect. in an effort to get the word out about your team. And then start hunting for money. Apply for grants, hosts fundraisers like an E-Waste or "robotics night" at a restaurant where you could get a percent of the profits.

The last step for an off-season is projects and preparation to help make your next build season the best it can be. Here are a few ideas:

• Prototype Drive Base
  This can be costly, but if there is ever a time to move to a new drive system, it's your off-season. Decide on a budget, drive and frame type, ect, and have all team members help design it. Personally, I would have "teams" of students make something in CAD or on paper, and then combine all of the teams Ideas together on one final design, and would build that. Be weary of the complication on the design; don't go beyond what your team can manage building during season
• Improve the previous year's robot
  Go back and improve what you can. Fix faulty design areas, automate things by adding sensors, tamper with hybrid mode, try out a new drive gearbox, and so on.
• Battery "Cart"
  Build some sort of "System" for keeping batteries charged, organized, and cared for. When I was on 973, we had more of a shelve than a cart; two people would carry it by the handles on it's side, and it kept the batteries well organized and kept the cable mess in check. Some people like to build theirs onto a literal cart to easily transport their batteries, too.
• Pit Items
  Build or obtain things improve pit organization and safety. This can range from shelves to tables to carts

Just my $0.02 on the matter. There are a great deal of things that can be done; it all boils down to two things though, and that's to improve and prepare.

[DominickC]

Offseason events and fundraisers are always good options. Robot exhibitions are also fun.

Team 23 began participating in FIRST in 1995, and took a 12 year hiatus from FIRST to focus on BattleBots. Now returning to FIRST, Plymouth North and Plymouth South High Schools plan on competing in offseason competitions, holding robot showcases, and hosting+competing in BattleBot events.

[Hawiian Cadder]

We typically have not done a whole lot in the off-season. Last year we built a prototype drive-train, and I designed a robot for every year past of FRC. This year we had our best season to date, and built our best robot to date.

A few thins I might do
Build a drive-train
Build a 500 series motor gearbox using the FP gears.
Work on driver software with this years robot.

[DjScribbles]

Originally Posted by Suitster

I would form a list of things that you did not include in your robot this year because you are a rookie team (pneumatics, vision targeting, autonomous, encoders, different drive systems (mecanum wheels seem to be on sale after the build season), and learn to use them for next year.

That's what we are planning on doing after St. Louis

This ^ is exactly my plan for the off-season. We wound up using our vision targeting minimally (in favor of drivers eyeballing it, which works quite well). Going to put some encoders on the wheels, maybe put a few light sensors on the bot, use the kinect, etc.

During the off-season, you know what your goal was, and you know what you didn't get done because you didn't have time or know how. Now's your opportunity to learn, so next year is easy (I'm 100% sure that is how it works )

[ksafin]

We actually did use
1) pneumatics ( a lot, actually )
2) Kinect ( for our entire autonomous, every game )
3) Vision Targeting ( for our shooter, we actually built two robots )
4) Encoders

So i guess we should definitely work on drivetrains; the reason we didn't use our shooter is because it was pretty much inable to move on stop build day.

For those of you who are saying I'm hooked on FIRST, I gotta admit, I am. From the end of FTC in December to the FRC Kickoff in January, I was feeling similarly empty.. the difference was that the wait was only 20 days. Now I have to wait months!

Oh well.. I'll find something to do. But I can't sit around and do nothing. The off-season has begun officially, but I've never really started; I don't think I ever will. I think I don't have an off-season. I'll just be working on the website, making promo videos, planning, organizing, contacting.. everything I can possibly do to keep my mind off of the absence of build season and the spirit of competition.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by ksafin

So i guess we should definitely work on drivetrains; the reason we didn't use our shooter is because it was pretty much inable to move on stop build day.

4-time National/World Champion mentor Bill Beatty (FRC71) defines the three most important subsystems of a robot as:

1) Drivetrain
2) Drivetrain
3) Drivetrain

Yep, I see some drivetrain work in your future.

[ksafin]

Originally Posted by EricH

4-time National/World Champion mentor Bill Beatty (FRC71) defines the three most important subsystems of a robot as:

1) Drivetrain
2) Drivetrain
3) Drivetrain

Yep, I see some drivetrain work in your future.

Do you think you can link me to a thread(s) about drivetrains, different designs, etc?

I've looked far and wide, but a lot of threads seem to just say "kitbotonsteroids kitbotonsteroids kitbotonsteroids".

Kit bot on steroids is good and all, but I find it more exciting to make a completely new drive train every year. Even more often than that, really.

[Ariful]

I want to look into Octanum drive...with pneumatic wheels..

[Clark Pappas]

Originally Posted by Ariful

I want to look into Octanum drive...with pneumatic wheels..

Originally Posted by ksafin

Kit bot on steroids is good and all, but I find it more exciting to make a completely new drive train every year. Even more often than that, really.

I would take things one step at a time, and not push beyond what resources you have and try to take everything at once (unless, of course, you have resources). I would like for my team to do a 6 wheel WCD, but I would only try if we pick up some more funding, and if we build a simple drive train/frame with some COTS parts in tangent with it; And even then, I would only attempt it because I'm a 973 alumni and can get help from Adam.

And if you do decide to embark on any sort of frame or drive-train customization, do it during your off-season, and not during season. I've learned first hand that even the simplest changes to a drive train during season can cause a huge mess.