Pre season prep suggestions?

[Konradd]

Speaking on behalf of my FRC team, we are looking into how other teams prepare for the competition before the 6 week build period. Do you have a basis for your build before the season starts, such as a basic frame that you can build upon? We found that we were starting almost ground up for all of our robot because we didn't have any suitable systems in place that would provide us any benefit. The main problem came down to time, and we are looking into ways to shave off the days we spent carrying out tasks we could have carried out before the build period.

[snoman]

As far as robot building goes. Making sure all students who are responsible for the building / design know basic components and how they interact. We went over this last week with our teams. It was a review for some and brand new to others. We have other breakout sessions scheduled for the following weeks. Next we are going to do a wiring board. Other things on our list are: intro to Java, tool usage, public speaking, CAD, awards we want to try for ect. We are also rebuilding a promo bot.
developing or buying a good universal drive train can save a lot of time and often can be reused year to year.

also events like this are very helpful there may be some in your area https://advancedroboticstraining.wordpress.com/

[sciencenuetzel]

The Simbotic seminars are pretty excellent. I'd recommend the Strategic design video for all and drivetrain design can point a team in the right direction.

In 2013 and 2014 234 had tank drive robots. In 2015 we had a swerve drive. The team just took apart last years robot down to the basic frame/drivetrain as well as the 2013 frame. When the game is released we will be able to test out both basic frames and see which align with our strategy/game play based on our thoughts of the game.

[GeeTwo]

Off-season builds are always good; we're converting last year's practice chassis into a pneumatically-actuated slide drive that picks up 8" inflatable orange rubber balls (a local grocery had them on sale for $1). It also has to have 2014-legal bumpers - only five of our student members were on the team last time we made bumpers.

You can't have a robot or portions pre-built, if the fabrication rules are similar to other years. Having a pre-built chassis may be helpful for prototyping, however.

You need to teach team members how to use your tools now, rather than trying to pack the learning curve into build season. That includes machine and hand tools, programming tools, CAD, communications/organization tools (e.g. your Google Docs or whatever you use), leadership tools, and so forth. Teach good habits now, because it's way too easy to pick up bad habits during build season. (E.g. use the drill press, not a hand drill, sweep up regularly, and where to put things away.) We're also going to do at least one exercise that will simulate an accelerated "first few days" of build season using an old FRC game, with the end goal being a robot design with specific large-scale dimensions but little detail on the fine stuff.

Along the lines of classes, we're taking one session per week and having the students go through four mini-classes (25 minutes with 5 minute breaks between) in four completely different things each session. Our first two sessions I did "Engineering Process" and "Drivetrain 1: acceleration". Others did "the 2015 control system," "game strategy and robot concept," "soliciting corporate sponsorships," "leadership," "chairman's award," and one more I can't think of. Monday, I'm doing "Drive Train 2: speed and steering".

If your budget allows, stock up on all the stuff you're likely to need. It's great if you can start fabrication as soon as you have a design. You know you'll need motor controllers, motors, metal stock, fasteners, wire, connectors, tie wraps, something to attach the control items to, and so forth. We also keep a variety of inexpensive sensors on hand so we can experiment to see what works. Also check your tools - and try to have everything you'll need, and multiple of the tools you use a lot (like 5/32 allen wrenches).

Now would be an excellent time to standardize on a few specific fastener threads. Based on our large use of AndyMark wheels and gearboxes, but wanting to be able to buy inexpensive fasteners locally, in 2014 we decided that we would use 10-32 for all of our #10 applications, and coarse threads for all of our smaller (8-32, 6-32, 4-40) and larger (1/4"+) sizes. We separated all of the metric threads, 10-24s, and non-10-32 fine thread fasteners to a separate set of boxes that are only used when we are trying to mate to a specific COTS part. We use allen cap screws preferentially when space allows, but do not hesitate to switch to flat-head or round-head Phillips or other bit when appropriate. We try to skip cheese-head; it requires a chamfered hole but sticks up above the stock; that's the worst of both. Oh, yes - if you use a lot of flat-head or cheese head screws, by all means invest a few dollars in the bits which drill the through hole and cut the chamfer in one step!

I'm going on about threaded fasteners, but we're planning to switch this year to a much larger percentage of aluminum rivets. In addition to the rivets, we're going to stockpile drill bits, both to make rivet holes in the first place and to drill out when we need to do removals.

Added:

Originally Posted by alecmuller

Also, depending on how literal you were by "basic frame", I highly recommend AndyMark's 2015 Kit-of-Parts (KoP) Drive Chassis as a starting place.

Yes. For 2016, we opted out of the KoP, but we plan to purchase two AM-14U2's (2015 KoP chassis) before build season; starting last year, we build a "practice robot" which is essentially the same as our competition robot, so we can continue to improve after stop build day. Unless you're planning swerve or other "steered wheel" drive, you can do anything with this as a base kit. I've even roughed out how to make two kiwi drive bases using three AM-14U2s and six omni wheels.

[alecmuller]

We split the fall training season into 2 parts:

First we spend September and half of October doing training each sub-team (Mechanical, Software, Electrical, Systems, and Business), meeting for 2 hours 1 once a week.

Then we run a miniature build season for 6 weeks in October / November (meeting 3 hours 2x per week most weeks, plus two 7-hour Saturdays). Our Systems team designed the game over the summer. It's simpler than the real games typically are, but is intended to get new students accustomed to deadlines and working in groups. It also offers the chance to design and integrate a complete robot, which we think is valuable.

We don't do much during December - partly because people are busy with holidays and travel, and partly to give them time to rest before the gauntlet that is build season.

If you're interested in checking out any of the resources we've shared, some of them are available online:

Our 2015 MiniBuild Manual
Our 3 CAD and 1 Drivetrain Design Tutorials

[alecmuller]

Also, depending on how literal you were by "basic frame", I highly recommend AndyMark's 2015 Kit-of-Parts (KoP) Drive Chassis as a starting place.



It's what you got if you didn't opt out of the KoP drivetrain. Note that there's a new KoP drivetrain almost every year, so it might be different this year.

You can buy that and get a working drivetrain, OR, you can download the CAD model, use it as a starting place, and design your own custom drive.

If you're customizing their design, it's worth noting that they sell ALL of the kit components separately, so if you're just using the sheet metal from the kit,m you'll save a lot of money buying it individually instead of getting the kit and not using half of it.

[Edxu]

On 610, we've spent the last few weeks hosting workshops for prospective students once or more times a week, ensuring that students know what they're getting into, and they get a taste of what they'll be doing during build season. In total, we had x workshops, which represented Design&Manufacturing, Energy Systems, Programming, Business&Administration, Marketing&Public Relations, and Strategy/Scouting. I believe the D&M team had their members do some simple CAD exercises, the Energy Systems members learned a few things and crimped a few things, the Programmers installed IDE's and introduced students to Java, and in Strategy, we did a breakdown of Aerial Assist.

Over the summer, we had two separate groups design drivetrains, and I believe we're currently about to begin fabrication for their designs.

If you'd like more detail, feel free to message me and I can reply or redirect your question to someone more experienced.

[GeeTwo]

The class I had forgotten above was a discussion on "what to expect at an FRC event (regional or champs)."

Tomorrow's classes include my "Drive system 2: speed and steering", and one of our top fund-raising students from last year speaking about getting sponsorships from small businesses. About half of our classes are taught by mentors (or a mentor working with a veteran student), and half solely by veteran students. We have the mentors who are not teaching a class shadow one of the four groups. They both help the discussions along when they get stuck, and usually learn something new.

I did my first "CD white paper" of my first three mini-classes this year. The first two were actually done with just a dry-erase board on an easel in our workshop, but I tried to capture the discussion items of the four sessions of each as well as the base content I covered, so it might take a bit longer to go through these as presentations than it did in actuality. (OBTW, a glove makes a decent white board eraser.)

[Edxu]

On 610, we've spent the last few weeks hosting workshops for prospective students once a week, ensuring that students know what they're getting into, and they get a taste of what they'll be doing during build season.

In total, we had 6 workshops, which represented Design&Manufacturing, Energy Systems, Programming, Business&Administration, Marketing&Public Relations, and Strategy/Scouting.

I believe the D&M team had their members do some simple CAD exercises, the Energy Systems members learned a few things about wiring and pneumatics, the Programmers installed IDE's and introduced students to Java, and in Strategy, we did a breakdown of Aerial Assist. Our Business&Administration divisions did a small project on planning the logistics for our upcoming trip to China, such as how to ship the robot.

Over the summer, we had two separate groups design drivetrains, and I believe we're currently about to begin fabrication for their designs.

If you'd like more detail, feel free to message me and I can reply or redirect your question to someone more experienced.

sorry about the repost, I submitted the rough copy by accident.