Why Windriver?

[davidthefat]

So majority of FIRST's purposes are just head fakes. Its not really to teach you how to build a robot, but more like learning to finish with deadlines. Not to teach you to program robots in the low level but to learn how to work with other departments efficiently.

edit:
What FRC feels like to me is "here is a bunch of lego pieces, make something cool with it" but I was looking for more of the "here is the lego making machine, make the lego pieces, as long as they fit, and make something cool with it". May be I'll have to wait for college for that type of experience.

[ebarker]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

So majority of FIRST's purposes are just head fakes. Its not really to teach you how to build a robot, but more like learning to finish with deadlines. Not to teach you to program robots in the low level but to learn how to work with other departments efficiently.

FIRST is NOT an educational institution. They are not here to teach you !

FIRST has a vision and a mission - it is on their website.

FIRST is here to inspire you, to challenge you. Part of that process is giving you a task too hard, resources too little, people too many, time too short. It is microcosm of the real world experience.

You will almost never ever find a useful job where the customer spoon feeds you the answers and or give you unlimited resources to take the time to do whatever project pops into your mind. If you find that job you will be living in the "ivory tower".

What your "customer" (external, internal, private, public, etc) wants more than anything is a cost effective, relevant solution to their problem. That is the realm of applied engineering, and yes sometimes applied engineering has to do a lot of basic research.

If you want to be a professor and do applied or theoretical research you still will not live in an "Ivory Tower". Your work will be funded by someone. You have to convince them that it is important and should be funded.

Do not underestimate the importance of being able to motivate yourself learn, to meet deadlines, to work with other people and department, and to respond to their needs and requirements. If you can learn how to do these things you will be well prepared to work as an applied engineer, research engineer or scientist (professor), or many other things.

For a student that chooses to embrace the challenges FIRST offers, they will receive in return 'years' worth of practical experience that is valuable to both the employee and employer, well before college graduation.

[JamesBrown]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

So majority of FIRST's purposes are just head fakes. It’s not really to teach you how to build a robot, but more like learning to finish with deadlines. Not to teach you to program robots in the low level but to learn how to work with other departments efficiently.

David, I like how passionate you are about the program and I like that you are looking to learn more than what FIRST is requiring you to learn. If you keep that attitude and follow through on your desire you will learn a lot and be an incredibly valuable employee in the future.

That being said I don't think you understand the how much work it is for you to do everything you have said you wanted to do.

1.) Building robot electronics by soldering components. It just isn't possible to build a complex system in 6 weeks by starting at the component level. This means you have to make a choice: a.) Build and design the circuit by hand and greatly reduce the complexity of the Robots, or b.) use existing components that have been engineered by other groups.

2.)You will also find that in industry there are very few times that you will use open source software. Sure, I have Dev C++ and Notepad++ on my computer for work but I cont use them nearly as often as I use Visual Studio, or any number of IDE's for various microcontrollers (many of which are built on Eclipse like WindRiver).

3.) VxWorks is a great RTOS and is common in industry. I just graduated from college and was interviewing for positions in the Embedded Software field, all the employers I talked to were impressed that I had VxWorks experience.

FIRST's software choices may not line up directly with your future goals, but they do line up with industry standards. FIRST's focus is Robotics, Automation, and Control, this lines up directly with my field and I can see great amounts of overlap in what I now do day to day, and what I did in FIRST. The software first gives you is Industry standard or equivalent. In day to day work you can always use an open source editor and create your own makefiles but it takes longer, and time is a company’s most valuable resource.