Things Learned During Build Season

[MathMaven]

Originally Posted by Wing

[D]on't give your head programmer 1 day to debug code. What he will do instead is write 40 lines of crap code just to do a unit test, and use the time between regionals to debug.... a very not so good idea.

A better one: Finish the robot early so that the programmers have time to PROGRAM. Seriously, we need time to write and, more importantly, to test our code. My two years so far were awful because of this, and year three likely will be stressful again.

[wilsonmw04]

What I learned during build season this year:

don't wire the PD board backwards. Bad things happen...

[MathMaven]

Originally Posted by wilsonmw04

don't wire the PD board backwards. Bad things happen...

Oh. Happened to us too. We burned six Jaguars that way.

[nitneylion452]

We learned that our Victor motor controller, which had never been used before, was bad. Our only experience with the famous victor, and it was negative. What are the odds?

[delsaner]

What I learned during Build Season: I miss build season.

While being in college, I was still able to help out my team some times, but I truly miss the full experience.

[JohnSchneider]

Originally Posted by delsaner

What I learned during Build Season: I miss build season.

While being in college, I was still able to help out my team some times, but I truly miss the full experience.

Yeah I drove 4 hours on the weekends to help...but it wasn't quite the same.

[Squillo]

No matter how many times you read the competition manual, updates, Q&A, and CD, it's never enough to avoid discovering some blasted rule that you missed the first 18 times around, within 8 hours of stop build deadline.

Measure EVERYTHING. Again and again and again... And then get someone else to measure some more.

It's really fun to wrap the robot in shrink wrap after padding the corners with multi-colored pool noodles held on with too many zip ties, when you're giddy from overwork and undersleep, and finally DONE!!!

And that's just from last night...

[BuzzMathias175]

When you need to weight reduce your frame, have freshman drill the mounting holes.

[MysterE]

1) You never know when the next great member will come walking through your door. (Especially a new freshman programmer who has become the Lead programmer)

2) Even a Non-Engineering Mentor can have good ideas.

3) There is no way to avoid drama. The best thing you can do is to listen.

4) A good lead engineering mentor will by necessity watch every detail. Listen to them.

5) Pizza. Never. Changes. Taste.

[swwrobotics]

I learned that prototyping early and testing your ideas works much better than one guy CADing the whole thing for us and the rest of the team doing nothing. This is what happened to us last year and we ended up finishing the robot at the last minute at the regionals but it was too late to program any of it.

[Hawiian Cadder]

Originally Posted by MathMaven

A better one: Finish the robot early so that the programmers have time to PROGRAM. Seriously, we need time to write and, more importantly, to test our code. My two years so far were awful because of this, and year three likely will be stressful again.

My only suggestion would be to map outputs to Direct percent V-buss and force the drivers to deal with any complex cases. Last year the robot spent 30 min before bag with the programers, with no sensors. This year we pushed and got drive encoders, gyro, as well as several other sensors and will likely add one more at competition. Hopefully work to get some time in next year, a programer in a leadership position on the team really helps with this.

[rcmolloy]

Honestly, way too much. 973 has helped me as a mentor, grow and learn so much this year. Granted, I'm no AdamHeard when it comes to design and fabrication but with just a bit more help and examples I will be gaining the tools to eventually gain that potential. The past 6 weeks were stellar and the next 6 should be even more awesome.

[jwfoss]

Originally Posted by rcmolloy

Honestly, way too much. 973 has helped me as a mentor, grow and learn so much this year. Granted, I'm no AdamHeard when it comes to design and fabrication but with just a bit more help and examples I will be gaining the tools to eventually gain that potential. The past 6 weeks were stellar and the next 6 should be even more awesome.

You'll never stop learning how to be a better mentor, and that's part of the fun in it.

[militaryrobot]

When something works don't take it apart then make it lighter. Then not put it back together and it not work. Don't do this the hour before build ends.

[AcesJames]

Do it right the first time. If you don't, you'll waste enough time and material to build a second robot.