Robotics "Hitchhiker's Guide"

[mechanicalbrain]

We can use the numerous white pages on CD (with permission of course). I have some good basic tips for begining electrical systems that even experienced teams tend to overlook.

[NoodleKnight]

Alright, I started one: The Hitchhikers Guide To Robotics
I added some temporary stuff, I'll work more on it later once I clean my room. I can't even see my floor anymore.
I would be happy if others could contribute a little bit of useful information, just try to be brief and cover most important aspects. Then follow it up with a link to a more detailed page if you like.

[OZ_341]

The information about FIRST is so rich and diverse that it is hard to have just one source.
Team 341 "Miss Daisy" has a DVD/CD Set called "Team in a Box" that we can send you for free. Just click on the "Team in a Box" banner at www.team341.com and place your order. Hope this helps in your search for the essentials of FIRST.

Al Ostrow
Team 341

[phrontist]

FIRSTwiki was created for this very purpose, please contribute!

Hey look somebody actually started a node!

[KenWittlief]

seems like we are duplicating a lot of work that has already been done.

The FIRST website has information on how to start new teams, and there are publications on how to use the pnuematics, how to use the controllers, how to fund teams....

shouldnt this information really be kept on the official FIRST website, possibly with links to usefull documents that individual teams or engineering associations have put together?

One of the keys of engineering is knowing what has already been done, and not using up your time and resources duplicating someone elses work.

[mechanicalbrain]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

seems like we are duplicating a lot of work that has already been done.

The FIRST website has information on how to start new teams, and there are publications on how to use the pnuematics, how to use the controllers, how to fund teams....

shouldnt this information really be kept on the official FIRST website, possibly with links to usefull documents that individual teams or engineering associations have put together?

One of the keys of engineering is knowing what has already been done, and not using up your time and resources duplicating someone elses work.

No offense to FIRST but their guides have a very detached look on the work i do. I think that we should create one with a personal touch and more in depth advice. Ive found i do things that are extremely useful that you wont find in any of the guides they have and then again while they have things that would be useful to do with a robot that is larger or runs longer is completely redundant with our robots. I think that something written by the people who actually do this and constantly think about it would be extremely useful to beginning students.

[dez250]

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

No offense to FIRST but their guides have a very detached look on the work i do. I think that we should create one with a personal touch and more in depth advice. Ive found i do things that are extremely useful that you wont find in any of the guides they have and then again while they have things that would be useful to do with a robot that is larger or runs longer is completely redundant with our robots. I think that something written by the people who actually do this and constantly think about it would be extremely useful to beginning students.

Please see my post 2 above yours. All the resources i listed have been compiled and presented by professional and reliable FIRST students and mentors, not necessarily FIRST themselves. If you have done something and think it will be useful write it up to a White Paper and upload it to ChiefDelphi.com.

[mechanicalbrain]

Originally Posted by dez250

Please see my post 2 above yours. All the resources i listed have been compiled and presented by professional and reliable FIRST students and mentors, not necessarily FIRST themselves. If you have done something and think it will be useful write it up to a White Paper and upload it to ChiefDelphi.com.

I was responding to Kent i noticed your posts and was responding to someone his post and statements. Please notice while my post came right after yours i was specificially responding to someone else. Im glad you agree with me but my post didn't pertain to those links. I know this post may sound a little angry but i assure you its not just me saying to read who i respond too.

[JVN]

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

I was responding to Kent i noticed your posts and was responding to someone his post and statements. Please notice while my post came right after yours i was specificially responding to someone else. Im glad you agree with me but my post didn't pertain to those links. I know this post may sound a little angry but i assure you its not just me saying to read who i respond too.

Just because Mike wasn't responding to you, doesn't mean he doesn't have a valid point you should read. His reply to your concern that the presentations on the FIRST website:

"have a very detached look on the work i do. I think that we should create one with a personal touch and more in depth advice. Ive found i do things that are extremely useful that you wont find in any of the guides they have and then again while they have things that would be useful to do with a robot that is larger or runs longer is completely redundant with our robots. I think that something written by the people who actually do this and constantly think about it would be extremely useful to beginning students."

seemed valid. In fact, I suggest you perhaps re-read many of the presentations on the FIRST website (all the ones written by FIRST participants).

Thank you Mike for pointing these out. They will no doubt be useful to anyone just starting in the program.

[mechanicalbrain]

Oh i agree his posts were most helpful I'm just saying that i said why beginners should look other places than just FIRST material in response to Kent's post and it seems dez250 mistook it as me saying nobody was posting material by Forster's or that their was none. but i was just telling him that my post was exclusively explaining to Kent the value of other sources.

[sanddrag]

I've said it before but I'll say it again. There is no better "guide" to FRC than to become an active member on Chief Delphi and read all the new posts every day. Where do you think I learned everything I know?

[phrontist]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I've said it before but I'll say it again. There is no better "guide" to FRC than to become an active member on Chief Delphi and read all the new posts every day. Where do you think I learned everything I know?

Agreed.

[EricH]

Ken and dez raise a good point that the stuff is out there. However, I have been on a team for three years and around FIRST for far longer, and I have not really known where this kind of thing is. I see a pneumatics document around our build area and it's like "Where'd this come from?" I hear of various supplemental materials for the manual and I wonder what this is and where.
If we have some sort of guide that can answer most basic questions and includes where the information came from--as NoodleKnight is starting--I think that everyone will have an easier time because the veterans can refer rookies to the guide--and go there themselves. Hey, if the current manual is listed, it becomes one of a very few places where you could individually learn the basics in one (admittedly long) session.

[Joe Matt]

Also, if I might suggest, we might want to add some tounge-in-cheek humor and jokes that are in the real HHGTTG. But that's just something to add after someone gets the main document(s) done.

[jdiwnab]

I know that when I read a how-to book, I like examples and humor mixed in with the instructional stuff. That is one reason I like the "For Dummies" books. I read a book on parlementary presedure and accually didn't hate it. (for those of you who don't know wat parlementary presedure is, let's just say while it is important, it is very, very boring). Humor and practical examples are key to a good instructional book/artical/publication/whatever.