Rookie team, wish I had that list!

[hooper102]

First year mentor

I have run into a tool list, and I have spent a little time searching for a forum that would give me a leg up. I already have a "things I will do differently next year" list. Are there lists of things mentors or teams wish they knew their first year or even second year. I know so little, I don't even know what I don't know.

[hooper102]

Also, are there parts that are the quintessential parts, ones I should stock for next year because you know you are going to use them.

[MrJohnston]

Parts we stock because we know we'll use them:
* Aluminum of all sorts
* Parts for our favorite drive trains with a couple of different gearing options
* Nuts, bolts, rivets
* Lots of different wheels

Wish I had known:
* It is easy to get good pictures (and often diagrams or even CAD files) for some of the strongest robots each year. Necessary functions from game to game often repeat themselves to one degree or another and the ability to look at what has been very successful in the past is huge.
* Lots of help is available on Chief Delphi.

[jkelleyrtp]

Intakes, intakes, intakes... They exist and can be used on boxes too!

[hooper102]

Thank you! If you think of anything else.

[hooper102]

Originally Posted by jkelleyrtp

Intakes, intakes, intakes... They exist and can be used on boxes too!

Where? Andy mark is out and we do need one now that I see what it is.

[timytamy]

The tooling build up that we've followed has worked quite well:

Hand tools + cordless drill
Drill press + disk sander
More hand tools
Band saw (combined horizontal + vertical)
More hand tools
Lathe
CNC Router

We've built quite competitive robots even in the years we only had up to the drill press/disk sander.

The other thing is to build up a good stock of parts. I like to always get 150% of parts we need, this gives us spares as well as stock on hand to quickly prototype/build things in the future.

IMO if you build stock around the Versaplanetaries and hex shaft/hubs/bearings, you'll be well prepared for future games.

[seg9585]

Originally Posted by hooper102

Where? Andy mark is out and we do need one now that I see what it is.

I think they meant intakes as a generic statement. You design your own intake system based on your robot config. Very few teams I know buy an off-the-shelf intake system

[DonRotolo]

After 12 years, I still would advise that never (ever) think you are ahead of the curve, so always act as if you're way behind. Keep the kids moving and productive best you can.

Oh, and 100 hours of driver practice with the finished robot "is not enough", so get them driving ASAP. Good drivers win matches. Good drivers without practice embarrass.

[GeeTwo]

The lists of tools are here on CD. One of the things we've found that improves our situation is standardization. Our team standardized on 10-32 and other SAE coarse thread sizes a couple of years ago, and the number of stripped nuts and bolts has dropped greatly, and we don't have to bring as big a box of nuts and bolts to the pits. Just last night, we formally standardized on 1/2" hex for driven shafts and 3/8" round for dead shafts. This will reduce the number of different shaft collars, hubs, and bearings we will need.

Standardizing doesn't mean that you never purchase any parts that do not meet these specs, but that any time we make the choice, this is what we use unless we have a very good reason to do otherwise. Counter examples include all of the KoP hardware, pneumatic hardware mounts (which are almost always fine thread), and motor mounts. Standardizing on fasteners also means that you can have all of the tools you're likely to need on the robot cart.

We've also standardized on electrical connectors -- anything between 2A and 40A is connected with Anderson Power Poles. Smaller stuff is usually molex (light current) or dupont (aka 0.1" pitch headers) connectors. Again, standardizing on connectors minimizes the number of crimp tools we might need.

[BeardyMentor]

Learn the wonders of rivets an rivnuts and do a little reading on design for manufacturing. Reducing the number of loose fasteners and special tools can make changing parts go from a competition ending set back to 5 minutes in the pit with no mentor involvement.

Next: Strategy First, then robot. Dont try and build a robot then figure out what to do with it.

Always order team branding items early during build season. Pins and T shirts are a lot cheaper and better when you dont have to shop around for the one place that can get the shirts to you before the first day of competition.

Buy lots of drill bits in the sizes you commonly use, but dont tell the kids you did that. Put them in a closet somewhere and dole them out as needed.

Bring tylenol/advil to the competion. You and the other mentors will need it.

Also, bring water and your caffeinated beverage of choice. And food, the event food usually sucks and has long lines to get it.

Dont plan on sitting down for more than a few minutes during your first competition.

Teams that do all the cool "extra stuff" and have a cool robot probably have a cool robot because the do all the extra stuff, not the other way around.

[Austin2046]

If you're going with the kitbot chassis and/or don't have a lathe than it may not be as important... but we use a lot of 1/2 inch hex shaft, 1/2 inch round flange bearings and 1/2 inch hex bearings... we use the shaft for our drive axles, collectors, shooters... anything that turns. Our first year we used round or keyed shafts, we did not know the wonders of hex shaft.

[MrBasse]

If you plan to put bearings in anything and don't have access to much for tools beyond a drill press, our world changed a huge amount when we got a set of annular cutters. They are fragile and have their odd things to figure out for use, but having a true, actual round hole that is exactly the size you want it to be (i.e. 1.125 for bearings) is priceless.

[Coach Seb]

Rookie Coach here too.... here a few things on top of my head after a FTC and this FRC season...

-small drill press, cordless drill, bandsaw, chop saw, sander...
-invest in a few good dewalt hex driver set.
-standardized with gearbox system you like... we are going all in on VexPro. Small store locally and the owner is the best. Very helpfull and always willing to give a hand in explaining some of this stuff.
-Standardizing on 1/2" hex shaft.
-We bought 2 computer station for 3d modeling....
-Got a Solidworks sponsorship... dont overestimate
-2 more for business purposes...

SO much more... my head has been cloudy for the last 6 months....

lol

[adciv]

I'm from the Electrical/Programming side of the house, so...

In general: Standardize your part & tools, regardless of what part its for. This helps reduce parts counts and tool count. Where this helps is that you don't have to keep a lot of different parts on hand or take them with to competition. It also means you get good at telling the difference between what you have. "Gee, is that a 7/32 or a 1/4?" This saves on cost & time in the long run.

Electrical:
Learning how to make your wiring neat:
- Anderson Powerpole Connectors
- Learn to make your own PWM wires
- Zipcord (black & red wire fused together)
This will make your robot reliable. Birds nests tend to contribute to failures and troubleshooting issues.

Programming:
- How to use a gyro to ensure your robot drives straight in Auto
- That "laptop" which came in the Kit of Parts? Ditch it. Get 2x ~$500 laptops (One for programming, one for driverstation).
- Figure out a language to use and stick with it. Develop a library of commonly used functions. Practice in the off season and learn an architecture to use for development.
- Sensors aren't just for Autonomous. The programmers job is to make the drive teams life easier during a match.