Team organization issues and Build Season Schedule

[Anupam Goli]

From the replies in this thread and talking to some of my mentors, I've gathered that

-Spending more time on the game plan will be beneficial
-Proof of concept for ideas not explored before would be great to aid in the presentation
-do the math and physics calculations behind the design for the presentation
-Prototype once a design is chosen. Determine correct gear ratios, the exact way the system will be powered

I've decided to promote the idea that with large laborious parts, we can use our sponsors to machine. For precise slots and holes, we can use the CNC. For cutting pieces of 1010, and creating a housing for electronics, panels, and housing for end effectors, we can have students precisely cut and assemble the parts. Measure Twice, cut once! This allows the students to experience both professional engineering, and allows them to experience the fabrication process.

Also, with the 2nd robot, I'll try to ask our sponsors for any spare materials they may have, but if we do not have much, We'll try to use the kitbot frame (We have spares lying around), and we'll recreate our drive train and add weight and if we can, build our manipulator out of wood. This will not be for heavy practice, but for the drive team to work on strategies and grow the trust in eachother. The drive team has to be a single entity.

Are there any comments on these?

[ghostmachine360]

In 2010, our entire robot was made by manually milling parts with an inexperienced first year robotics student milling the kicker and the base was made of 1010 cut by an old slave and tapped by some students. By championships, the base was tilting at a 30 degree angle and would've completely been destroyed in another few matches.

We use a vertical bandsaw, not an old slave. Because slavery is illegal, and immoral.

But seriously, these are good points and a good direction to head towards for the upcoming season.

[akoscielski3]

I have to agree that sending out parts to some companies, and making some less complicated parts (or easy to machine) yourself, would be very beneficial. This will also help them understand how much time/effort you have to put into making a single part (or an assembly).

Being "gentle" about bringing these ideas up is a HUGE factor. It is hard not to offend people sometime's, even if you don't try to. People may think that you didn't like how they ran the team or how they machined parts if you are outsourcing them.

Though i have never built a second robot I believe it is a really good idea. As being a driver i understand how long it takes to get use to the controls of the robot. Usually it takes about 1 competition and lots of nights of thinking you are driving to understand the controls as if it was natural. But if i had a second robot i wouldn't need that 1 competition, i would already know the controls almost perfectly, I might need the practice day to fully get use to the field though.

Regarding your Communication between you and your fellow driver, it needs to be almost perfect. Me and my fellow driver are good friends now, and we know exactly what the other person's next move is, without even talking usually. There are a few times that we had conflict of decisions, but that may be because we developed slightly different strategies. Ex. in last 30 seconds last year i wanted to raise the elevator for top row and put circle on triangle spot, he wanted to put the circle on middle where circle goes. In the end we purposely dropped the tube to go deploy the minibot. Either way nothing would have changed, just another judgement call.

My team is also in the same boat you are. I have tried to push the designing for 2 years now and i think i finally got them to notice how important it is. What i did was design a full chassis, present it to them, and built it, proving that Design is VERY beneficial to the team.

Good luck this year and hope this helps