On photographs and FVC competitions...

[nonother]

Originally Posted by ManicMechanic

We tried! We started off with a formalized plan (sign up for 2 events in our league) and lacking interest, downgraded to "anyone just come and practice and build when you can", but not a single team contacted us. I'm not even sure if those teams even still exist (though I know the 20+ kits were bought).

For a team with no FRC or even FLL precedent, there needs to be a draw that keeps the students on the team. We've had several students come and build the squarebot, then stop coming. I think the problem is that without a technical mentor and/or explicit building instructions, they don't know how to get from Point A to Point B (how do you build a manipulator, let alone attach it to a squarebot). They have no concept of a competition and how exciting it can be, so even that aspect holds no appeal.

We have one advantage over the dozen teams that we're describing, which is that one student on the team and I have extensive FLL experience and know the potential of Vex. But we still have the skills of a "pre-FRC" team, which is why detailed photos with close-ups of gearing, axels, and manipulators would be of great value to us (though we certainly don't expect it during competition season). It took 4 weeks to complete our first functional dual reduction gearing on a manipulator, and we lost several students in the process. If we had had examples to use, it would have gone more quickly, and we might have held the interest of the students.

There are plenty of pictures about from last year's competition. Check out VexForum.com for stuff beyond what is here in CD-Media. That said I think just tinkering around is sufficient. I (a student) started a team this year with another student and it's taken us quite a while but we now have a team of 4 that is proficient at building with Vex parts. It just takes finding people that are genuinely interested to begin with.

My biggest piece of advice for building stuff with Vex (and I think a lot of people here on the forum will disagree with me) is to think in Vex parts. Don't think "well I could build this," now let's figure out how to build it with Vex parts. My experience has been this leads to complete disaster. What in theory works just often can't be built for numerous reasons. Then once you have an idea, build it, test it, improve it. If the team truly loves building robots they'll have no problem spending countless hours tinkering to make it perfect once they can see it will work!