Robotics after FRC

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by Ian Curtis

Don't get stuck in the robot trap. There are a lot of engineers in the world, and only a very small portion of them do robots for a living. Branch out and give some other collegiate competition a try -- you can always come back to FIRST if nothing else gets you going.

“I think they are a bit over-rated. It’s certainly fun to do — for all parties involved: Students, Teachers, Parents. But robotics is such a narrow slice of the totality of STEM that I worry other dimensions of learning might get sidestepped in the process.” -Neil DeGrasse Tyson on FIRST as a vehicle for getting kids into STEM

(Which begs the question, if FIRST only excites students about robots is it fulfilling its mission?)

This.

I'd suggest Formula SAE as my favorite of the SAE competitions. There are so many other SAE competitions everyone finds something they like: Baja, Aero Design, Clean Snowmobile, and Supermilage. There are solar powered cars (as mentioned). There is the AIChE Chem-E-Car competition.

A number of colleges have their own competitions. My college had a sumo robot competition and a seek-and-destroy competition, both as classes.

As general advice: broaden your horizons during college, don't just focus on robotics. You might find that you like something else a bit more. I found out that I like building and driving races cars just as much (maybe even more) than I like building robots.

Edit:

As creative and awesome as FRC robots are, they are quite restrictive in terms of materials and equipment. It's an entirely different design and engineering experience when the rules are truly opened up to the use of anything you can possibly design, build, or buy.

[cire]

I compete in a competition called Mech Warfare (www.mech-warfare.com/). It is a form of robot fighting in a way, but the robots do not destroy each other, they track airsoft bb hits via sensor panels to track scores. I personaly see the competition as a engineering challenge, as the robots are required to be walking robots, and have to carry a fairly large payload (airsoft guns, wireless camera, battery, target panels). Also, the community helps each other and shares designs, code, ect, it is not what you would expect with robot fighters. Although i will warn you that a LOT of people say they will build a robot, but never do - so some people may not take you too seriously until you share your progress.

Here is a video of my robot from last year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrhlYsF2uTU

The competition is held at Robogames, i'd recommend taking a look at that event as there are about 60 different competitions you could enter.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by JamesCH95

As general advice: broaden your horizons during college, don't just focus on robotics. You might find that you like something else a bit more. I found out that I like building and driving races cars just as much (maybe even more) than I like building robots.

Probably preaching to the choir here, but absolutely. I met a kid this summer who was really not excited about his job saying "He only wanted to do robots." I'm sorry, but pointing to a $330 million airplane and saying "That part is mine." is awesome. Not to mention while most robotics challenges are within the reach of a hobbyist, big engineering challenges like commercial airplanes, bridges, highways, trains and things of that nature really operate on another order of awe inspiring magnitude.

[Jenn Feathers]

Originally Posted by Foster

In college VEX you build both robots in your alliance. This gives you those ability to create robots that partner together.

There are also relaxed rules on sensor electronics, so you can add Arduino type boards to do off board processing. You also can build / machine components out of polycarb blocks and hefty metal items. There are about 80 teams and growing. Two biggest areas are New Zealand with about 8 teams and the 2011 Championship along with Mexico with 10 teams. STEMRobotics supports a PA team KTOR and a FL team CAKE.

See the VEX site and forums for more details.

How much does these competitions cost? Like entry fees and materials for the VEX bots?

[Nick Lawrence]

Originally Posted by Jenn Feathers

I am realizing that I only have one more year that I can be a student on a FRC team. I know that I could come back as a mentor after I graduate, but what other robotics competitions are there that are NOT like battle bots but are more like the FIRST competitions?

College VEX is great.

-Nick

[Ian Curtis]

Don't get stuck in the robot trap. There are a lot of engineers in the world, and only a very small portion of them do robots for a living. Branch out and give some other collegiate competition a try -- you can always come back to FIRST if nothing else gets you going.

“I think they are a bit over-rated. It’s certainly fun to do — for all parties involved: Students, Teachers, Parents. But robotics is such a narrow slice of the totality of STEM that I worry other dimensions of learning might get sidestepped in the process.” -Neil DeGrasse Tyson on FIRST as a vehicle for getting kids into STEM

(Which begs the question, if FIRST only excites students about robots is it fulfilling its mission?)

[Jenn Feathers]

Originally Posted by Ian Curtis

Don't get stuck in the robot trap. There are a lot of engineers in the world, and only a very small portion of them do robots for a living. Branch out and give some other collegiate competition a try -- you can always come back to FIRST if nothing else gets you going.

“I think they are a bit over-rated. It’s certainly fun to do — for all parties involved: Students, Teachers, Parents. But robotics is such a narrow slice of the totality of STEM that I worry other dimensions of learning might get sidestepped in the process.” -Neil DeGrasse Tyson on FIRST as a vehicle for getting kids into STEM

(Which begs the question, if FIRST only excites students about robots is it fulfilling its mission?)

alright, Thanks!