Technical Binder Sections

[Tsukunea]

Hello,
6065 is looking at creating a technical binder this year to have at the pit at meets, currently we're looking at having 5 sections:
1) Game & Season Manual
2) Admin Manual
3) Field Drawings
4) Build Overview
5) Mechanical Drawings

Can anybody think of other things that would be good to have in the binder? Also what size binder would most likely be ideal for all of these things?

[ldsedam]

I would recommend having a few separate binders as all of those sections are going to be used for different things.

1) Your Game & Season manual, Admin manual, and Field Drawings wont be used that frequently. If you have any questions regarding the game it is usually best to just ask the refs themselves. You could put these in a separate binder from the rest of your material. I would recommend making a laminate copy of the overall field to use for discussions with other drive teams. This makes it easier to organize strategy for your qualification matches.

2)For your build overview and mechanical drawings I recommend making another binder for. It looks good to the judges if you have a binder on all your documentation over the season. This binder can be left in your pits and showed to any judges that come around or other teams that are pit scouting.

It is easier to organize everything separately according to what you will be using it for so you dont have to carry a massive 4" binder everywhere.

[Tsukunea]

Originally Posted by ldsedam

I would recommend having a few separate binders as all of those sections are going to be used for different things.

It is easier to organize everything separately according to what you will be using it for so you dont have to carry a massive 4" binder everywhere.

I don't disagree in any aspect, however, we plan to use an Avery Ready Index to separate the sections for easy use. I would have split them up, but the smallest Ready Index sold is 5 tab-dividers. Thank you though for your suggestions.

[zcohen]

Is this for team use mainly during the season or is it for competitions for judges and such? Both are perfectly fine and are good things to have.
We have found that its best to not put things in a binder during build season. We have one binder per mechanism that gets everything put in it so each group can be looking at what they need only. Then come awards, we combine everything into a very large binder with the following sections and subsections from last year:

• Title Page
• Power Hawks at a Glance

2016 Award Submissions Section

• Chairman’s Award
• Chairman’s Essay
• Chairman’s Executive Summary
• Chairman’s Presentation Script
• Chairman’s Video Script
• Entrepreneurship Award
• 2016 Power Hawks Business Plan
• Entrepreneurship Executive Summary
• Dean’s List Award--1
• Dean’s List Award--2

Power Hawks Outreach Section

• Soaring Engineers
• Instruction Packet
• Field pictures
• Game Rules
• Power Hawks Summer Camp
• Summer Camp Flyer
• Summer Camp Game Rules
• FLL Qualifier
• FLL Qualifier Guide
• 2015 South County Showdown Handout
• 2015 South County Showdown Press Release
• MD FIRST Political Advocacy
• Political Advocacy Plan
• HB 115 Support Letter
• Event Invite
• Representatives List
• Conference Presentations
• Building a Team Identity
• Introduction to FIRST
• Leadership

Robot Documentation Section

• Power Hawks Build Information Sheet
• 2016 Build Season Gantt Chart
• 2016 Engineering Notebook

Team Documents and Guidelines Section

• Power Hawks Team Handbook
• Power Hawks Sponsorship Package
• Mentor Recruitment Page
• Power Hawks Brand Standards
• Design Standards and Guidelines
• Part Numbering and Nomenclature
• Power Hawks Team Organization

Extras

• 2016 Awards Supplement
• Awards Portfolio Cover
• Divider Labels
• Portfolio Spine
• Table of Contents

Its a lot, and it grows each year, but has really impressed the teams, individuals, and judges that we talk to.

[JaclynGFC]

That is a great list of info for a team binder. Reminds me of what my FTC team has done in the past. Hopefully I can get the FRC students on board with doing one this year.

[zcohen]

Thanks!
We forgot to post the 2016 one last year online, but you can see our first iteration of the binder, our 2015 one HERE
It has a lot of the stuff mentioned, but was definitely a first iteration.

[Cothron Theiss]

Originally Posted by ldsedam

...If you have any questions regarding the game it is usually best to just ask the refs themselves...

I'm gonna interject here and say that while inspectors and referees are happy to help with difficult or obscure portions of the rules, they have a whole lot to do at a competition. They don't need teams coming to them and asking them questions that could be answered by looking in the manuals.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Cothron Theiss

I'm gonna interject here and say that while inspectors and referees are happy to help with difficult or obscure portions of the rules, they have a whole lot to do at a competition. They don't need teams coming to them and asking them questions that could be answered by looking in the manuals.

And chances are, they'll have the most recent version of the Manual handy. Nothing worse than showing up to ask a question and finding out that it was answered in Build Week 3, and this is a Week 6 regional...

[Jimmy Nichols]

Originally Posted by Tsukunea

Hello,
6065 is looking at creating a technical binder this year to have at the pit at meets, currently we're looking at having 5 sections:
1) Game & Season Manual
2) Admin Manual
3) Field Drawings
4) Build Overview
5) Mechanical Drawings

Can anybody think of other things that would be good to have in the binder? Also what size binder would most likely be ideal for all of these things?

Some feedback. Our team used to do this as well. We stopped as it became a "chore" to put it together, it didn't seem to get used. Additionally with the weekly updates to the manual. Keeping it up date became cumbersome.