New group needs advice

[haywire_andy]

Hey,
Our robotics team is the first in our town, and we need a few pointers on what we can be doing before January rolls around, for example we started on making a cart to transport the robot, and ordering shirts/fundraising, but is there anything eles we can be doing? If anyone has time to help us out by answering some Q's or just dropping in some ideas please e mail me personally at
and1sports@hotmail.com

Thanks in advanced

Pam Anderson

AKA haywire_andy

[DCA Fan]

Training students to use tools, recruiting mentors/sponsors, making prototypes...plenty of stuff to do before the season.

And welcome to Chief Delphi!

[Allison K]

My team has fun doing practice designs. I used the animations from the past two years, or I made up a game of my own and presented it to the team. Then they break up into groups and design a robot. We cocme back together as a team and go over design principals (Low CG, KISS, etc.) or specific subsystems (electrical, drive, manipulation). Then they reform the small groups and change their designs to reflect what they just learned. Usually one game/design will span multiple meetings.

I used the white papers from CD, the power point presentations from the 2004 championship, and some presentations that I made to present different ideas.


For everything else we're doing we found it helpful to decide on subgroups and have each group work on something applicable
- The digital group is working on the website and learning how to use CAD, Inventor, and 3D Studio Max
- Drive/chassis is learning the different types of drives and what they're used for
- Drive and Manipulation are both learning about the different motors provided in the kit, and about pnuematics
- Electrical/Programming is working on learning how to program and learning about the electrical components in the kit
- Robotics Support is designing the cart and crate, inventorying (is that a word) and organizing all the tools, and stocking up on materials we know we're going to need.
- PR is working on relations with other teams, deciding on a team shirt/uniform, and on our chairman's award.

And we're always fundraising and trying to find more sponsors, mentors, and students.

~Allison

[Gamer930]

Make sure you have couple of people learning the BASIC C code for the Robot Controller. You should be/have received a Robovation Kit (formally called EDU Bot). Use it to practice on to do a simple task and work your way to more complex.

I would definitely have the Controls CDT also read the instruction manuals for the Victors 884 and Spikes off of IF website. They have a lot of information on how they work and tips on programming.

Any extra time read over a lot of the forums and white papers here on Chief Delphi. You will find a lot of useful tips.

Also view previous regionals and nationals to get feeling what a competition match is like. There are videos on www.soap108.com

[Andy Brockway]

Most teams trade buttons at the events. These are the pin-on type and provide additional visibility for the team. The team number and logo are usually shown. Some teams have other give aways such as dog tags.

[KathieK]

Please join NEMO! We created NEMO last spring for the mentors who deal with the non-engineering aspects of the team such as fundraising, team organization, teambuilding, public relations, etc. I'm sure you can find lots of advice from the NEMO forums on Chief Delphi.

Be sure to look at our "18 Hints for Rookie Teams from NEMO" .

Find an area team who will mentor you or if none are available within reasonable distance, form a long-distance relationship with a team!

Welcome to the wonderful world of FIRST!

[Steve W]

Remember that everything you learn now will save you countless hours during build time. You probably know about the resources on the FIRST site. There are a number of different skill sets that can be honed from the info on that page ( http://www.usfirst.org/robotics/resources.htm ). There are also countless team sites that have info to help and of course the white papers found on the great CD website.

[Peter Matteson]

I joined a verteran team as a mentor in 2003 and the thing that surprised me most was how the games were played vs. how I thought they would be from the way they were described in the FIRST literature and animations. Based on this experience I recommend looking at the game rules from the last two or three years with students and trying to figure out how to play the game. Then look at video, posted here on CD or other online resources, to see how close your version of the game is to what actually happened. You may be suprised how right or wrong you are.

Also this is a good time to make certain projects that will be useful during the competition season such as; a robot cart that can take a robot through any standard door way and roll over objects like wire trays, a travel tool box, a reusable shipping crate (dimensions available from first). I also suggest organizing and inventorying your shop. If the tech ed teacher who runs your shop is as much of a pack rat as MO this alone could take the next month .

Have fun and welcome to the FIRST community.

Pete