Advice for a Rookie Team

[JohnSchneider]

Originally Posted by Nathan P

Greetings from team 5249,

We are a rookie team and we wondering if there is anything that we need to know before out first competition (we are competing at the Buckeye invitational). What should we need to bring with us that is not common since(and could someone explain what the buttons are)?


Thanks,
Nathan P.

You will receive driver, and coach buttons when you arrive and check in. Your drivers and coach must wear these if they want to enter the field. It's for safety.

As far as what to know: Bring EVERYTHING you can. If you used a tool on the robot and can bring it you should. Also bring spare parts or materials to fabricate from.

[PandaHatMan]

Originally Posted by animenerdjohn

Bring EVERYTHING you can. If you used a tool on the robot and can bring it you should. Also bring spare parts or materials to fabricate from.

Just be sure all of your tools, storage, robot cart, etc will fit in a 10' by 10' square. It may be a good idea to prepare a 'pit setup' before going by taping off a section of the floor and putting things you need inside of it.

If you plan on charging batteries and laptops, you should also bring a power strip or two and possibly an extension cord.

[Canon reeves]

On top of what was just said, ZIPTIES, they are soooo useful! Also, you need a robot cart, not sure if it was mentioned before, but you do have to have one.

[DonRotolo]

...But do NOT bring any food items as give-aways. These are generally not allowed. This includes stuff like M&Ms.

[Christopher149]

I could go on and on, but:

* Remember your robot, driver station, programming laptop, batteries, etc. You don't want to forget something obvious.
* Bring your robot lockup form
* Have fun
* Safety glasses in the pits, make sure you have them
* First Aid Kit
* A cart. Carrying the robot to the field is no fun and isn't safe or ergonomic

[Chief Hedgehog]

Go and get inspected early by the lead inspector. That is not saying the other inspectors are not helpful, but the lead inspector can and will clear up any illegal or ambiguous concerns on your team's machine.

Have one person in charge of staying with the inspector the entire time writing down all areas of concern and ways to fix them. Then get help from some veteran teams that have cleared inspections (Thanks again 1816, 2220, and 3023!).

[Everett33]

• Batteries
• Chargers

You are going to want to change the robot battery after each match. This means you will need to have extras on the charger in the pit ready for use in your next match.

[RoboMom]

A good overview on the NEMO resources page: http://www.firstnemo.org/resources.htm

Competition Tips/What to Expect (PDF: 28pp., 2.68M) Updated November 2012