Rookie team ideas for pre-season

[eneubec1]

Are there any resources for things rookie teams could do in advance of the build season as small experiments. ( a team that doesn't have much yet).
I have heard about an idea of having the kids brainstorm on building a can crusher, but I can't seem to locate more specifics about this idea.
Other ideas are welcome. Please direct me to web resources for some of these ideas.

[Neima]

this year my team is majority new/freshman kids so i was planing with the other leaders on my team to do a mini mock kick off on a saturday some time before kick off. where we will most likely pick one of the old FRC games and have the new members brainstorm ideas for robots and make prototypes. a major thing is to only allow them to look a other teams robots not from that year.

[Billfred]

Garnet Squadron's done a few things:

-We borrowed a kitbot from FRC 1293, added on our own wiring and superstructure, and entered it in the SCRIW off-season tournament. (The robot was more or less a demonstration of what not to do when building a robot, but it's better to get those lessons out early.)
-We helped our FLL arm get up to speed and qualify for the state tournament.
-We put YouTube on the big screen, played game animations (there are eleven, pick one!), and started brainstorming ideas. With the benefit of experience, we could then fill in the blanks and open their eyes to things they might've missed.
-We took LED light bulbs to the flea market and had the kids talk about FIRST and what we're trying to do. (Didn't sell a ton, but it was a start!)

[Oblarg]

Contact local teams, see if they've got a spare drive frame from years past that they'll let you use for preseason training. Something as simple as putting together a c-base kitbot is very valuable for students with little to no experience with hardware.

If possible, see if you can convince someone to give you a walk-through lesson on the control system - that's one of the most important things to become familiar with in the pre-season.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Neima

this year my team is majority new/freshman kids so i was planing with the other leaders on my team to do a mini mock kick off on a saturday some time before kick off. where we will most likely pick one of the old FRC games and have the new members brainstorm ideas for robots and make prototypes. a major thing is to only allow them to look a other teams robots not from that year.

Actually, as an added bonus (though it might take a little longer), start by brainstorming strategy for the game. Strategy is second only to drivetrain in terms of the most critical part of a robot (and strategy drives drivetrain!).

If you guys want, I've got a couple of simplified versions of past games that I can drop your way. Even a team member who's been on the team for 3 years already probably won't be familiar with them. (And I need a good excuse to develop a couple more...)

[MrRiedemanJACC]

Design Iteration is everything. Get them ready to build and test, build and test. Here's a good exercise for it and cheap!

http://marshmallowchallenge.com/Welcome.html

[drwisley]

When I moved my team after the 2010 season, student demographics changed to about 90% rookies. At the time we had been losing based on poor concepts / strategies. I came up with a preseason that may be of some use to you. That being said, the preseason changes year after year based on the strengths of your team and your particular goals.

Each weekly meeting (3 hrs) they watched the animation from a previous year. Read through a set of paired down robot rules and the game rules. Then I split them into groups of 4-6 students. They went through the strategy / concept process delivering a 1/2 scale drawing. Student groups then presented their concept to the larger team. We concluded by watching the videos of championship divisions and discussing our capabilities vs the winning strategies and designs.

Best of luck.

[chaireot]

I recommend talking to other team(s) in you area, and ask if you can borrow parts or work with them for a bit. You should also make sure you get any questions you have about the season cleared up by either this team(s), or chief delphi itself. For design I found it very useful to go through other years games and creating a bot for it. Weather that is in CAD or just a sketch.