[DFTF] Things a Rookie Team Should Do in the Fall...

[Joe Johnson]

This is part of a series of posts called Drinking From The Firehose on getting Dr Joe back up to speed on All Things FIRST.

Okay, so I'm a Rookie Again. I've got 50 kids signed up (Shout out to the Nutrons 125 who came to my high school club fair with their robot -- you guys are awesome). That's great as far as it goes, but these kids have no idea (mostly) what FIRST is and what it means. They saw a cool robot and signed their names to the page.

Okay, maybe I'm not a true rookie, but it has been a long time since I've been involved and even longer since I was in the role of founding a team.

I need to write grant proposals. I need to get the administration up to speed. I need to reach out to sponsors (and find a rich one if I can ;-)
I need to get my kids to an afterglow competition (I am thinking about River Rage in late October) where they can talk with other teams and see the elephant.

Oh, and I need to inspire my kids.

AND...

...YOU TELL ME.

Joe J.

[EricH]

A number of teams like to do something in terms of a design project.

MOE, the Pi-oneers (1676, NJ), and MORT all do something like that.

Offseason competition, see if you can get a veteran team to bring a second robot for your team to compete with.

Oh, and Dr. Joe: You're never too old to learn. I should probably have brought up 341's Team in a Box kit and 365's MOEmentum program when you first posted the DFTF threads.

[SenorZ]

Definitely need to let them get their hands dirty.

My rookie team had only 12 kids last year. 3 graduated. To start this year I've had almost 20 "interested" kids sign their names to paper... but finding a meeting time that all can come is tough. Most are in other clubs, sports, etc.

This week I've left my classroom open every day while "veteran" kids modify the robot. Every day a new kid comes in and does a little work... drilling holes for new wheel mounts, removing framing, and stuff like that. They enjoy it.

We're going to the Fall Classic in Burbank, CA this weekend, and I hope a few of these kids will be able to come. Seeing a real competition is way better than watching a YouTube clip.

[kinganu123]

Well one really cool off-season project you could do that'll
1. Inspire kids
2. Teach them
3. Keep them excited about robotics
is the tshirt cannon
Just the fact that your making a cannon, I've found, made the new kids on our team pretty excited. And once they get excited, the word gets out to others, possibly bringing in more members

[rsisk]

A good idea would be to listen to the recent EWCP podcast: Effective Offseason Strategies.

Lots of good common sense in that podcast

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=97472

[jwfoss]

The best thing you could possibly do with a rookie team is get a kitbot chassis put together, or contact a local team who builds two robots and register for an local offseason event.

Seeing a "real" competition will hook your kids and get them motivated.

I would start contacting local veteran teams to go visit their shops and have their kids talk to yours. They may also be able to supply you with old KOP parts.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

There is nothing like building a robot and doing some team building exercises in the fall. Using an established program gives you a minimum of added work designing a program. A minimum would be using FLL to build a small robot and start programming. Both VEX and FTC are other programs. You don't need to register but you can use the rule books and game to start brainstorming sessions, design processes, etc. You can use any of the Science Olympiad stuff to foster team building. See who can make a structure that reaches a certain height in the least amount of time. Anything you can do to get 50 kids to start to recognize each other and think they are part of a team works. Some teams also do their community service in the fall. Seniors need help raking leaves, food pantries need non-perishables for Thanksgiving. Toys are needed for Christmas. All of those are great group projects.

[Phyrxes]

We are having our first fall meeting for new students this coming Saturday and we have been debating ideas back and forth.

Right now we are thinking of starting the day with the "new" students by using an "older but recent" game to introduce basic concepts, methods, and terminology before we go into the nuts and bolts of robot building.

A good number of our "new" students have a passing familiarity with vex as all middle schools in our school district have it but we have found students have some issues transitioning to FRC.

Hopefully this address our major issues of students understanding what is expected and what mentors or returning students are even talking about.

After we get them acclimated our major offseason projects are:
Rework the drive train (it is too heavy)
Rework the electronics board (no more rats nest of wires!)
Build a "ball shooter" from aim high since we started with rack and roll and we have never built one before.

[Brandon Holley]

River Rage is definitely something you should put on the schedule. It's a great event for bringing new members onto the team to see what the competition is actually like. We've often found that getting a new student to River Rage often solidifies their status on the team for the year. Once they see other teams competing on that field, the ignition is triggered inside for them to build their own and compete like the teams they are watching are doing.

Savage Soccer is also another great way to hook new members in the fall. WPI does a great job coming up with a game and hosting FREE competitions using Vex kits. We've competed the past 5 or so years and its been a great experience for our team in the fall. I would highly recommend it as it gives a great experience in terms of seeing a new game, making strategy decisions, going through a mini build season and also competing and working with alliance partners etc.

Besides that, just doing everything you can to get yourselves ready for a build season. Fundraising, gathering mentors and other resources, teaching skills to members in the build season such as CAD, code writing and project managing. All of those things will help your team come build season.

-Brando

[Jessica Boucher]

I'm going to echo Brandon here. You will LOVE Savage.

It's a unique game every year made with a field that costs less than $50, it's Vex-based but allows for everyday materials (lexan, cardboard, I've even seen plastic forks...) so you're not spending an arm and a leg, and the kids get tons of practice. It's free so you can have multiple teams, and it's only one day. I can't recommend the event enough.

[BJC]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

This is part of a series of posts called Drinking From The Firehose on getting Dr Joe back up to speed on All Things FIRST.

Okay, so I'm a Rookie Again. I've got 50 kids signed up (Shout out to the Nutrons 125 who came to my high school club fair with their robot -- you guys are awesome). That's great as far as it goes, but these kids have no idea (mostly) what FIRST is and what it means. They saw a cool robot and signed their names to the page.

Okay, maybe I'm not a true rookie, but it has been a long time since I've been involved and even longer since I was in the role of founding a team.

I need to write grant proposals. I need to get the administration up to speed. I need to reach out to sponsors (and find a rich one if I can ;-)
I need to get my kids to an afterglow competition (I am thinking about River Rage in late October) where they can talk with other teams and see the elephant.

Oh, and I need to inspire my kids.

AND...

...YOU TELL ME.

Joe J.

On the Killer Bees during the offseason we:

-Compete in 4 offseason events (MARC, IGVC, IRI, Kettering Kickoff)
-Demo our robot at various community events
-Find new sponsors (contact, presentation/demo, follow-up)
-Compete in the OCCRA (Oakland Community Competitive robotics association)
-Compete in Vex VRC (first time this year)
-Are Beta testing Labview for FIRST
-Are designing and building a protoype chassis to:
--test several drivetrain configurations
--to develop a new driver control system
--improve previous driving code
--and so we can use it as a defensive bot during the actual season.
-Clean (a lot)

If I were leading a rookie team and it was our first meeting I would show them some Unveiling Videos. These inspire like none other. Here is a thread with lots of good ones. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=88126

As a rookie team, going an offseason event near you and getting into contact with various teams will significantly help modivate new team members. I might also suggest going through old games and figuring out the best way to play them. Then once the students think they know the answer (this could be a 15min thing or as detailed as a 2D Cad model of their prospective robot.) Go over the Einstein videos of that year and figure out what you overlooked in the game and why. This can be great for developing your new students problem solving skills and a great way to introduce the Engineering Design process so that your students already have their feet wet when the season begins.

Another really great thing is using a projector and taking another team's CAD model off the internet and disecting it as a team. Figure out why they do things the way they did. You can even contact them with questions. Doing this allows you to expand your new team's knowledge of FRC robot design.

Finally, as a rookie team you need to get your students some sort of hands-on experience. Many people are suggesting design projects. However, when the students don't have prior experience these will basically always fail. They first need to be able to use a wrench, bandsaw, etc (left is loose ). Woodworking is a good and inexpensive way to introduce your students to building. Let them design and build something like a small bookshelf. (Keep in mind this will not help your design shelf but will rather educate your students.)

Practices like these will make your team EXTREAMLY competitive as a first year team. However, the most important thing is that you just do something to keep the team active throughout the first half of the year.

Good Luck, Bryan