What to do in the off-season

[kstl99]

We are a small team that did really well this year. Someone mentioned that some teams work at robotics year round.

We do have some things planned. We are bringing our robot to some sponsers to show what they helped with and possibly get new sponsers. We will also be showing it at our schools and local events which may help get more students and adults to join. We have at least one off season competition and hope to get next year's drivers some practice. We also have some students that plan on learning Labview so they can become more involved in programming next year.

I am curious what other teams do while waiting for next year's kick-off in 262 days.

[jblay]

We always design and possibly build any cool mechanisms or drivetrains we saw or thought of during the season so that if we want to apply them some year in the future we know the ins and outs of it.

[steelerborn]

We teach a lot during the offseason, getting new kids started with the Pro-Engineer and C++ software. I would suggest if you are a small team trying to get more members in, especially younger members so they can learn.

We are doing an Offseason base as well, working on perfecting a swerve drive for next season.

Oh and of course the most important part, MONEY. Getting new sponsors for the upcoming year.

Currently we're trying to get our workspace back from the massive explosion of tools and parts that it now is. I'm currently working on changing the wheel mounts so the chains don't pop off the sprocket every ten minutes.

Over the summer we plan to build ourselves a new, better crate that can unfold into a workspace like some of the other teams did. Is it true that 2826 Wave's crate unfolded into that awesome metal scaffolding around their workspace? (10,000 Lakes) I've got to get me one of those.
Anyone have any ideas for a good crate-that-unfolds-into-a-workspace?

We're also trying to get more sponsors, and get the kicker to shoot the ball more that ten feet, and preferably not straight on the ground, any ideas there?


Thaine

[joeweber]

Originally Posted by ThaineP

We're also trying to get more sponsors, and get the kicker to shoot the ball more that ten feet, and preferably not straight on the ground, any ideas there?


Thaine

We have been trying diferent kicker designs and now that the season is over we finally came up with a good one http://www.team1322.org/ideas.htm#Kicker . We are using two 1 ½ pneumatics to push two springs to latch the kicker. Than we are stretching the springs with the pneumatics, once they are stretched we can use a small pneumatic to release the kicker that kicks 35 ft. We also found that when latched and in the stretch position we cam very the distance using a VEX motor connected to a variable pressure regulator.

Thanks.

Even though that's basically what we had for a kicker (huge super-piston pulls back giant spring, use a smaller piston to release a door latch to let the kicker swing) I think we might try that. I also heard of simple ideas like sticking a hammer on a servo and apparently that works.

Anyone have any recommendations for CAD software that is free/cheap and you can get a library of FIRST parts for it? (Not demo versions, please) I need to work on my CAD skills in the off-season, and Google Sketchup is just a tiny bit awkward for making robots with, and I haven't found any FIRST parts so far.

We also have no major (non-local) sponsors, how do you people generally scout for sponsors? That also explains our lack of money, and, coincidentally, plethora of mechanical problems, lack of members, and low seed (see mechanical problems).

When's the best time/way to recruit members? WE have four active members currently, and no captain, aside from I'm acting captain until we pick a captain or something.



Thaine

[Adam.garcia]

Originally Posted by ThaineP

Anyone have any recommendations for CAD software that is free/cheap and you can get a library of FIRST parts for it? (Not demo versions, please) I need to work on my CAD skills in the off-season, and Google Sketchup is just a tiny bit awkward for making robots with, and I haven't found any FIRST parts so far.

There are a few different free CAD programs at no cost for you.
The ones I use are Autodesk Inventor and Solidworks.

You can obtain a free student Autodesk License by signing up at www.students.autodesk.com. After making an account, you can download all the programs for free (If you are a student of course).

You can also obtain a free solidworks license by contacting your local reseller and explain to them that you are from FIRST. They have a special version of solidworks called Solidworks Student Design kit.

Personally, I prefer Solidworks over Inventor. It is much easier to use and much more intuitive.

Originally Posted by Adam.garcia

There are a few different free CAD programs at no cost for you.
The ones I use are Autodesk Inventor and Solidworks.

You can obtain a free student Autodesk License by signing up at www.students.autodesk.com. After making an account, you can download all the programs for free (If you are a student of course).

Thanks a lot, When I went to their website, I thought the "student license" was a six-week trial version for the build season.

I'll have to look that up.


Thaine

[MagiChau]

Originally Posted by ThaineP

Thanks a lot, When I went to their website, I thought the "student license" was a six-week trial version for the build season.

I'll have to look that up.


Thaine

I signed up as a student at Autodesk. It appears you have to be at least 14 and know your school email address for a verification that you are indeed a student. I think you need to renew your license like every 13 months? Of course license ends when you don't go to any school.

[ebarker]

The Autodesk software packages have 13 MONTH licenses. You can easily go all the way through high school plus one month and never ever run out of CAD software.

It is the real deal. Full featured, all day long !!

[pSYeNCe]

Our team doesn't participate in any specific events during the off-season, but if yours is the same you can still learn things involving robotics. I'm working on the team website over summer, for example, but you could also get the CAD student software or LabVIEW installed on a home computer to mess around with.

[plnyyanks]

catch up on the sleep we missed during the rest of the year and purge the mountain dew from our bloodstreams

[pSYeNCe]

Originally Posted by plnyyanks

catch up on the sleep we missed during the rest of the year and purge the mountain dew from our bloodstreams

Hahaha.... I actually laughed pretty hard at that
...because it's true! I had a headache for a full week due to massive absorption of Mountain Dew at the Cleveland Regional. But it was definitely worth it

[FlyingD662]

Some of the other team leaders and I on 662 have been talking alot about the off-season lately and the main things we've come up with are:
1. LOTS of demos at our local middle schools and even elementary schools
2. Hosting an "Engineering Fun Day" for middle and elementary schoolers
and 3. Getting involved in charity... even if it has nothing to do with robotics or engineering (I'm tossing around the idea of a Knit-a-thon haha)

[Bob Steele]

Wait a minute...There actually is an "off-season" ?