Best resources for learning.

[Xinoken]

Hi all,

First of all, I apologize if I put this in the wrong sub forum or this has already been asked before.

I'm part of one of the oldest teams (#8) in FRC. You would expect us to have a reasonably well-developed team, but we don't. The team has undergone a couple of leadership changes and it has made us essentially a rookie team this year. On top of that, this is my first year on the robotics team and there isn't a very good way of training new students. I have done my best to learn as much as possible this year, but there are still so many things to be learned. I'm asking anybody that sees this to submit their favorite resources for information on the technical aspects of FRC (pneumatics, types of drive trains, any math related to why certain thins work better than others, lists of terminology, "best" parts suppliers, etc.)

I was recently looking at a thread about the physics of turning and why (mathematically) drop centers allow for faster turning. I'm sure there are more resources like that out there but I'm having difficulty finding them. If anybody else knows of absolutely anything (it could be as simple as how to attach a battery to a motor) I would love if you posted it.

Thanks so much in advance and I'm truly sorry if this is the wrong place to post this.

TL;DR- post any robotics learning materials that you have that I could begin to learn and master in the off season.

[Christopher149]

Pneumatics: http://www.team358.org/files/pneumatic/ (gets into all the gritty detail)
Suppliers: McMaster-Carr, Andymark, VexPRO are some biggies
Controls: well, the 2015 system will be RoboRIO, so we'll all be rookies to a degree

[Basel A]

You should be able to find information on most things by searching through Chief Delphi. Here's a few examples:
Lifts and Arms from SCRRF Workshops 12/15/01
Elevators: Cascaded vs Continuous
Drivetrain Physics
Michigan State Championship Seminar Series videos

Many teams have resources on a section of their website. Here's a few of the best:
http://moe365.org/resources.php
http://www.simbotics.org/resources
http://www.indianafirst.org/resources (not exactly a team, but whatever)

You can learn a lot from what others have done in the past:
http://www.hotteam67.org/engineering-design/
Killer Bees 2011 Robotics Season Journal

[Monochron]

I hate to self promote, but I recently made this motor reference sheet that may help you when deciding what motor to use for a specific task. It has specs for most every motor and gearbox common in FRC, lists which motors are compatible with which gearboxes, and lists useful equations for converting torque to linear force and the like.

[Xinoken]

Thank you to everyone who has already replied, I really appreciate it . I'll be sure to look at everything you've sent me when I get the time.

[AdamHeard]

Shameless plug, but we have a video series covering a few things;
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...hreadid=123243

Feel free to suggest topics for future videos.

[Seth Mallory]

Go talk to Gunn.

[Xinoken]

I'll be sure to do that. Still a little bitter that you didn't select us as your third ally (although we really weren't close to the best choice haha)

[RoboMo786]

Team 358 has good resources for most things in general.
http://team358.org/files/programming...2009-/LabVIEW/
I used this link a lot when using labview.

Try this for general control system information.
http://wpilib.screenstepslive.com/s/3120. This page should be updated later for the 2015 Control System.

Last but not least, always collect documentation for all parts and assemblies you guys order or possess. It helps a ton if you don't know what you're doing.