Question to all Robot Designers...

[Anton Abaya]

Are you all suffering from insomnia? Do you keep thinking of ways to design that robot while your still in bed? I just wanted to know if I'm the only one who gets up from bed at 1am suddenly wondering if the drills is more efficient at high or low gear.

(i actually got up just to look).

-anton

ps: pls gooddd, make it all stoppp!! the evil voices in my head!

[Jon Lawton]

I wish I could say it was just you... but... I have the same problem! I was up until 3am last night (morning!) debating the finer points of the drill motor transmission with fellow FIRST-addicts. This is maddening I tell you! MADDENING!

(In case you didn't find out, ye ole spreadsheet on the screen says the transmissions are 10% more efficent in high gear.)

[Ed Sparks]

I finally started keeping a sketch pad and flashlight on the nightstand ......

[Jeff Waegelin]

I don't think I've gone to sleep any time before 1 AM due to designing since the kickoff.

[EddieMcD]

1am is when I usually go to bed. It doesn't help that I keep having drive train ideas all the time.

[Marc P.]

The 1am trend seems to be a FIRST-wide epidemic. It's been my average bed time as well... some force keeps me at my computer until the wee hours of the morning searching for random FIRST information. Perhaps there was some sort of drug in the kit....

[miketwalker]

WOW, I hate to copy everyone but 1AM is about the time for me. And I am sure all of you agree we go surfing through this forum a little to much lookign for ideas. I think it will be a great competition this year. Good luck to all teams. From the ComBBAT 21 Team. And of course, me, Mike.

P.S. I now have a sleeping bed on the floor so if I fall out of my bed with the "next best idea" I dont hurt myself in the process.

[Dan 550]

Yeah, I know, it seems spooky, we all going to bed at the same time and all, but we have a spiffy new motor that needs a spiffy new transmission! I'm up to the wee hours of the night designing drivetrain and debating strategy with myself, and I don't see that stopping anytime soon.

[Martin]

WOW !
do all of you people spend all day on this robot thing ???
we do maybe 3 hours every day after school, thats about it...
how much time you guys spend on this ???

Martin
907

[Marc P.]

Originally posted by Martin
WOW !
do all of you people spend all day on this robot thing ???
we do maybe 3 hours every day after school, thats about it...
how much time you guys spend on this ???

Martin
907

Judging by your team number, I'll assume you are a rookie team.... Give yourself the 6 weeks.. by the end, you'll know

[miketwalker]

Well ComBBAT spends 3 hours a day after school monday thru thursday. Then 6 hours on Saturday. Also any additional time that might be needed. The reason we stay up all night is thinking of good ideas and/or working on stuff at home. At least that is us. To win this thing remember you have to eat, drink, walk, sleep, think, and talk F.I.R.S.T.

[Dan 550]

We at 550 are students at Warren County Technical School, NJ, so we do robot-related activities six hours a day during school, every day. We meet for two hours after school every Tuesday and Thursday and sometimes Monday and Wednesday, in addition to 4-10 hours each Saturday and an occasional team lunch. We have every tool that we need to use close at hand, every day, whether it be a hammer or a CNC milling machine. The team core is a group of around a dozen students, but there are at least 100 students involved in our program. Planning and such is done generally individually and then discussed within the week. We're a lot better organized now then we were a year ago when we were just begining to get a feel for FIRST. I'd suggest that a rookie team finish design and strategy by Monday, January 14, so you can get to building soon. Best of luck to all.

-Dan, who really knows what it feels like to be a rookie team.

[Carolyn Duncan]

Originally posted by Martin
WOW !
do all of you people spend all day on this robot thing ???
we do maybe 3 hours every day after school, thats about it...
how much time you guys spend on this ???
Martin
907

If you stop working on any part of your "robot thing" you aren't spending enough time on it. When you read that you have no life outside of FIRST for 6 weeks believe it. I know its hard to imagine but it's the truth. Here is a phrase that is used often: What is sleep and where can I download it? THere are other common phrases but that is one to live by. Ideas will wake you up in the middle of the night and require immediate thought. I suggest the paper and flashlight by the bed, as said by Ed.
I personally am up into the wee hours myself, but thats mostly because I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn most mornings. It isn't uncommon for me to still be awake at 3 or 4am I spend six weeks saying "what if..." to the brainiacs on my team. I figure if they can explain what they are thinking to me and I can understand it they will be able to find any bugs in the plan. That's what happens when you have to break a design down really simply.

[Joe Matt]

I am a fresmen that loves my sleep, but since this weekend, I have gone to bed at 12 (sorry). You really don't have a life for 6 weeks. I sped 12 hours at school, then go home, eat, do homework, reasearch for FIRST, go on the boards, and then (mabey, if something I like is on) watch TV. If something I don't like is on, I put in a tape of last years reagional to research. See, no life. As if I had one before FIRST ....

usually i get to bed at a decent time, but i make sure i fall asleep thinking about designs, that way my subconscious unravels stuff the whole night and when i wake up i have answers. I know this doesnt sound too believable but try it, just keep thinking and youll drift off that way. The subconscious is the more intelligent part of the brain anyway