Rookie Questions

[JamesBrown]

I would be happy to answer any and all questions you have, in the manual or otherwise email me at JamesBrown830@gmail.com

That said the single thing that will give you the biggest advantage this year is to read the manual, with or with out funds and anything else you will find it extremly helpful. PLease read the manual. THe thing that will make you more useful to your team than if you can secure them $10,000 is to know the rules and prevent them from making a mistake in the design stage that will effect them later.

[AceOfSpades]

thx guys you did help a lot

[AceOfSpades]

and how do you use a different avatar other than the gears and flags??

[aaeamdar]

Originally Posted by Dorienne 007

1. Nooo!
2. 12 meters/second
3. They are green cathode lights, but look in the manual. I believe they put one in the kit to test with.
4. Look and see. They have tons of them, and they have the measurements on them. Just look at them.
5. Please read the game manual.

Getting your questions answered is what the big thick manual is for....GO READ.

Some great points, and I am pretty sure all of them are right (it's not that I'm doubting Dorienne 007, I'm doubting myself). Also, please Search Chief Delphi before posting questions (i.e. starting a new thread). If too much repetition happens, the forums will be jumbled. If too much repetition happens, the forums will be jumbled.

The ARENA section is best for finding information about the arena.

[AceOfSpades]

isnt this rookie talk

you should help us a little more and not tell us to post another place, it said rookie talk so i posted , im sorry , but i wanted to ask some questions and i got them answered and thank you, byebye

[aaeamdar]

Originally Posted by JamesBrown

2 If you have the budget then titanium would be amazing to use. Practically alluminum is your best bet.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there is a "forbidden materials" list, an exotic materials list essentially. For example, you're not allowed to build your robot out of diamond dust, no matter how much you would like to.

Also, you have a limited budget for purchases for the robot and this would eat up a lot of that.

From what I've seen from our team (and that's just one team... duh) thousands of extra dollars are most helpful because you can go to several regionals and still attend the big smash in 'lanta. This gives you more chances to qualify for local awards which gives you more chances to get sent to 'lanta.

Anyway.

[aaeamdar]

Originally Posted by AceOfSpades

isnt this rookie talk

you should help us a little more and not tell us to post another place, it said rookie talk so i posted , im sorry , but i wanted to ask some questions and i got them answered and thank you, byebye

Not to keep on with the negative stuff. But a couple things:

Literacy: it's appreciated. In e-mails, in online posts. There is way too much of this: "swete haxors /w dud lol", which noone can understand which also tends to sound a bit immature. Personally, I'm a bit anal about fixing spelling mistakes et cetera as I type and I except that not everyone is that way. However, punctuation, paragraph breaks, these are things that matter.

First of all, you will see by my team number that I'm a rookie too this year =)! There are a couple hundred of us rookie teams, and I imagine that there are a couple hundred rookie posters. Let's keep things civil.

When I talked about starting a new thread, I was referring to the OP (original poster) but it's something to keep in mind for everyone.

I'm glad you got your questions answered.

[Bill Moore]

Originally Posted by 1robotmom

RELAX, all! This contest is to learn and TO HAVE FUN! Remember, ALL the teams were rookies once! You'll get there! You've made a good start by finding and getting on chiefdelphi.com. Just roam the FIRST website too and you will get lots of help. The manual and lots of other helps are online there! Team MOE has a great website too!

Thank you for the compliment!
Rookies may find MOEmentum FYI (First-Year Infobase) to be helpful. This is a weekly plan to assist new teams (or any team) as they go through the season. There are many other items that need to be coordinated besides building the robot, and the FYI helps identify them.
MOEmentum FYI will be updated weekly as the season progresses, so you will see a divider between this years updates and last years. Reading ahead to see what your team will be working through is encouraged.

And to 1337pcgamer and AceOfSpades -- Keep asking the questions; there's always some folks here who are willing to help answer them.

[TheAnsweris42]

Here's a tip to the rookies, from a rookie - Curb your teammates enthusiasm for complicated ideas. This week is starting to leave me a little bit worried that a big portion of the team's lust for a 'cool looking' design that will 'pick up chicks' (don't ask) is going to leave us with a box of parts on ship day

[KathieK]

Hello rookies and welcome to the insanity of the Build Season!
You will find that it is nearly impossible to keep up with the amount of threads and posts that are put here during the Build Season. ChiefDelphi has a great system of organizing all the threads into different areas, including Technical areas, and by using the search function or by browsing through those areas, you may well find the answers to your questions.
Part of the reason you want to become familiar with the manual is that it is the official FIRST document. Answers posted here on ChiefDelphi are unofficial answers and should be taken as such. Lots of great discussion and debate goes on in these threads and you will make many friends over the next few months on ChiefDelphi.
All team members should be familiar with the game manual (including the non-technical members like me) so they understand the game, and so they can accurately answer questions about the game and robot to judges, media, and the public at competitions. Each team should have at least one rules expert who knows the game inside and out and keeps up with the Q& A forums and the Rules Updates that FIRST puts out throughout the season. Many teams quiz their members on the rules and game manual prior to attending competitions.
Good luck to you all this season!

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by TheAnsweris42

Here's a tip to the rookies, from a rookie - Curb your teammates enthusiasm for complicated ideas. This week is starting to leave me a little bit worried that a big portion of the team's lust for a 'cool looking' design that will 'pick up chicks' (don't ask) is going to leave us with a box of parts on ship day

the way to make sure you show up at your regional with a functioning robot is to follow a strict schedule. By the end of the day friday your team should have analyzed the game to calculate all the scoring possibilties, and come up with a primary scoring and defensive strategy.

So by saturday morning your team is in agreement with the big doubleyou: WHAT your robot shall do. I would not put more than one or two functions on your robot, for example: push balls into the corner goals, and be able to climb up on the ramp at the end of the match. Or toss balls into the center goal, and be able to play defense on the corner goals (whatever your team decides).

When you know the WHAT part then you can brainstorm the best way for a robot to do those things: the HOW (the design concept). By the end of the second week your team should be in agreement on the HOW, for example: two wheel drive, or 4 wheel drive, or tank treads + an arm to pick up balls and push them in the goal, or a snow plow blade, or a kicker.

then you have 4 weeks left to start building and fabricating the parts, and assembling it.

If you dont take these two steps now, your team will be running in several directions, starting one idea, then getting a 'better' idea 3 weeks from now and starting over. You cant let that happen.

follow a schedule. Once you know the WHAT, that part of the design cycle is over, and you focus on the HOW. Once you choose the HOW that part is over and you focus on fabrication, assembly, test and driver practice.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by TheAnsweris42

Here's a tip to the rookies, from a rookie - Curb your teammates enthusiasm for complicated ideas. This week is starting to leave me a little bit worried that a big portion of the team's lust for a 'cool looking' design that will 'pick up chicks' (don't ask) is going to leave us with a box of parts on ship day

I fully agree. The team will learn just as much with a very poorly performing robot that actually passes inspection, as from a championship robot.

Maybe more.

You see, the point of FIRST isn't the robot. It's Gracious Professionalism. Build something moderately simple, but something that not only works BUT your drivers can actually practice with for a week, yes a whole week.

Ken's comments are excellent, bring them to the team and get everyone to agree on that approach. If you have team members just sitting around with nothing to do, then you need a taskmaster, someone who hands out "job sheets" with a specific task and deadline on it. All you (don't) need is a bunch of back-seat engineers who know little but give big advice, causing confusion and wasted effort.

Kinda like what we did last year. We had one hour exactly of practice before the FedEx truck showed up, and it showed at regionals.

If you can't get everyone to agree, there needs to be a "Mayor" who recognized when the discussion is not being productive, and either steers it forwards again or, if necessary, terminates it. A smaller group may be needed to make a decision.

Very best of luck, don't hesitate to ASK questions, but puhleeze Read The Manual and whatever else is available.

Don

[1337pcgamer]

I did not know that by posting a new thread it was a problem...
In fact I have had a fairly known forum about computer/technology for a couple years. I know the rounds. I realize you have to search. But sometimes you start new threads, that's why a forum is what it is. Next time I think about posting a topic I will look for it first and not post anything. I guess it's up to the "senior" members to decide which threads are acceptable and which are not. As for discussion of scaring rookies away, well I think that just happened.

[Bill Moore]

Originally Posted by 1337pcgamer

I did not know that by posting a new thread it was a problem...
In fact I have had a fairly known forum about computer/technology for a couple years. I know the rounds. I realize you have to search. But sometimes you start new threads, that's why a forum is what it is. Next time I think about posting a topic I will look for it first and not post anything. I guess it's up to the "senior" members to decide which threads are acceptable and which are not. As for discussion of scaring rookies away, well I think that just happened.

Actually, it's been an interesting occurrence. I don't recall as many "harsh" responses to rookie posts in the past as I have this year. Certainly there weren't in 2002, or I would have just dumped such an elitist group. I would be shocked to hear some of these responses or attitudes at a competition. Helping rookies learn how to do things properly is professional, doing it without an attitude is gracious. It is incidents like this that should make us reflect, "How much do we truly live GP, and how much do we just use it when it's convenient?"

[KathieK]

Originally Posted by 1337pcgamer

007 i'm sorry about the last post. I am currently very frustrated with this whole thing and don't know if my team will even be able to have more than the base kit.

Is your team being mentored by a veteran team yet? There are lots of teams out there who are willing to take rookie teams under their wings and walk them through the season, even if its a long-distance relationship. And Idaho has a great number of rookie teams this year so veteran teams take notice!