Team 1114: SimPhone App & The Kitbot on Steroids

[Karthik]

Team 1114 is proud to present two new sets of resources that we hope will become assets to the entire FIRST Community.

1. The Kitbot on Steroids

An effective, robust drivetrain is an essential part of successful FRC robot. In 2005, FIRST introduced the Kitbot to help ensure that every team would have access to an easy to build, basic drivetrain. Over the years, we've mentored many rookie and veteran teams on how to get the most out of their drivetrain. Through this process, The Kitbot on Steroids (KoS) was born. The KoS utilizes the FIRST provided Kitbot along with some inexpensive additional materials, to create a simple yet robust 6 wheel drivetrain. The KoS (or similar drivetrains) have been proven effective through numerous regional and district event wins by many teams.

To make the KoS more accessible to teams, we've created a webpage featuring a complete set of resources dedicated to helping teams build The KoS.

http://www.simbotics.org/resources/kitbot

Included on this page are:

Assembly Instructions: The Kitbot on Steroids assembly instructions are a step-by-step guide featuring high quality images and easy to follow directions.

CAD Model: A CAD model of the Kitbot on Steroids is available for download, so you can easily incorporate it into your own designs.

Video Guide: We now have a detailed instructional video on how to assemble the Kitbot on Steroids. It is available in full 1080p to encapsulate every small detail to the bolt. Using this video, teams can easily assemble the Kitbot in Steroids in just a matter of hours. Building a competitive FRC drivetrain has never been easier!

Bill of Materials: We have included a full list of parts (so you can easily upgrade from what has typically been in the Kit of Parts) as well as a convenient list using alternative wheels.

2. SimPhone App


Simbotics, Team 1114, today released the new SimPhone app available on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. SimPhone is a comprehensive resource for learning the fundamentals of competitive robotics. This app is designed to leads teams competing in the FIRST Robotics Competition to success.

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/simphone/id491255134
http://www.simbotics.org/resources/app

SimPhone features all the sections of Team 1114, Simbotics’, Textbook for Success. These sections are all focused on helping both rookie and veteran teams to better themselves both on and off the competition field. The Textbook Success was initially created in 2005 as set of workshops for team in the Waterloo area. Since then it has been used by hundreds of teams across the FIRST community. With the creation of this app, we hope to make these resources more accessible for all teams.

Kitbot on Steroids
Everything described above about the KoS is available in this App!

Effective FIRST Strategies
The strategy section focuses on the fundamental strategic design principles in FIRST; Teams learn how to decide what to design and ensuring that resources are managed effectively. It covers the essentials of scouting, advanced scouting methods, and the planning and execution of match strategies.

Running a Team
This section covers all the basics you will need in order to run your own FRC team. It focuses on aspects such as team organization, and fundraising.

Robot Design
The mobility, pneumatics and robot design sections focus on the design process, principles, and techniques to building a championship FRC robot. The mobility section discusses the selection of any FRC robot’s most important subsystem, the drivetrain.

Features:
- A complete guide to the Kitbot on Steroids
- The complete Textbook for Success
- Retina display graphics
- iPad version, which is the perfect reading companion
- Support for emailing and printing content

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If you have any questions about the Kitbot on Steroids or the SimPhone App, please post them here and we'll try and answer them for you. A special thanks to all the Simbots who contributed to these projects. Hundreds of hours were put into the development of the KoS and SimPhone, and could not have been done without the tireless efforts of many Simbots.

5/5. Love it already! (Also, since I downloaded it before you tweeted, I think I have the right to say "FIRST"!). We always get excellent robots from 1114, and now we get awesome apps. This is one of the best things I've downloaded in a while, and MUCH worth the wait! Thanks a bunch 1114!

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by Karthik

Simbotics, Team 1114, today released the new SimPhone app available on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

And of course, the question that half of us are wondering: Is there any plan for this to be released on Android as well?

[Kims Robot]

Another awesome addition to the FIRST databases of useful "stuff"

I'll ask the obvious question... any plans to release it for Android??

[Libby K]

Very cool, Simbotics. Excellent as always. This is going right on my iPad.

The only thing that would finish this perfect day is a game hint...

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by Kims Robot

I'll ask the obvious question... any plans to release it for Android??

There are plans for an Android version, but we have some other scheduled business to focus on for the next 6 weeks. We'll get something out there as soon as we can. In the mean time, all the resources available on the App are also available on our website. (Which displays quite nicely on a mobile browser.)

http://www.simbotics.org/resources/kitbot
http://www.simbotics.org/resources/workshops

[LeelandS]

I've seen the light, and it is called the Simphone App

Kudos and many thanks to 1114 for this GREAT utility! I'm probably going to be occupied for a while studying everything on it! It'll be nice to have the 1114 Bible (that's what I named it when I downloaded it on my computer ) in a mobile location. Thank you guys so much. YOU ROCK!

Also, thanks for the resources on the Kitbot on Steroids! I just finished watching the instructional video. I'm not much of a mechanical guy, so I found it very insightful and educational. Very easy to follow!

Thanks to 1114 for these great resources! You guys are awesome

-Leeland

[GCentola]

Fantastic app! It's great to have the whole textbook in one place (that isn't my flash drive) that is easily referenced.

I didn't think it was possible, but it actually took up one of my top 4 places on my iPod (A programmer on the team made me this plugin/app kinda thing that sees how much I used an application per set amounts of time, and then sets the top 4 in the bottom bar). I knew this was a sign, so I sent it out to the team. The closest any app has done this was iMessage, which got there in 2 and a half days.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui...disp=inline&zw

[Ankit S.]

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

5/5.

I don't think a 5/5 is a high enough ranking... it runs smoothly on an iPhone and a web browser, I don't believe that many other FRC apps do that. In addition it is a great database of information. Great job 1114!

Atleast a 6/5, if not 7/5.

[Michael Blake]

Originally Posted by Karthik

There are plans for an Android version, but we have some other scheduled business to focus on for the next 6 weeks. We'll get something out there as soon as we can. In the mean time, all the resources available on the App are also available on our website. (Which displays quite nicely on a mobile browser.)

http://www.simbotics.org/resources/kitbot
http://www.simbotics.org/resources/workshops

How about a Windows Phone 7 version? ;-)

[Anupam Goli]

Thanks for the high quality instructional resources! I can't wait to distribute these to my team, they are all scrambling already to learn as much as possible before kickoff (especially the rookie members).

[O'Sancheski]

Karthik and Simbotics,

Thank you so much for releasing this useful information. Simbotics is never a slouch when it comes to helping out rookie or newer teams. Heck, even Veteran teams can benefit from the tutorials/videos that you guys put out.

I love looking on your site for the newest updates and pics. Keep up the great work.

-Joe

Originally Posted by BeltSanderRocks

I don't think a 5/5 is a high enough ranking... Atleast a 6/5, if not 7/5.

I was going realistically. If I could do any score i'd want, I'd do 5570/5 (You math people will see the joke in my score.)