Look back at the 6 weeks.

[Arkorobotics]

Man, that went fast. The six weeks are over now, and I have learned so much. I am proud to have 4 years under my belt and I am proud of the knowledge I have gained. The question I have to ask is what did you learn over the 6 weeks?

I learned that it's not about who has more power in the team, it is how we all work together. Everyone has there role, and enjoy your 6 weeks. They go by so fast the nitty bitty things shouldn't get in the way. Also to have fun with the team members. Joke around (safely), and it will spice things up. I learned to take risks and try new things. Such as our drive system. It has been such an amazing experience. Omni drive was never even on the board any of the years I had been there. I thought using the omni holonomic drive system during my last year would be great. Not only do we go into uncharted grounds for 589 but learn so much in the process. I got to work with my best friend on this, and we are proud of our work. We worked our tails off perfecting it. Not only was I able to do that, but help out the people designing, protoing and fabricating the arm. They needed guidance and I jumped in to help. At the end we made good friends and they learned a lot too!! It is going to be tough to leave, but visiting is always going to be an option that I am going to do.

I can't wait for the regionals

[Andrew Blair]

What are you talking about?? We're gonna salvage every last second we've got man! Lets see, to do list... design, fabricate, assemble, programs, beautify...I think we'll make it!

[Arkorobotics]

Originally Posted by Andrew Blair

What are you talking about?? We're gonna salvage every last second we've got man! Lets see, to do list... design, fabricate, assemble, programs, beautify...I think we'll make it!

OK OK, look before I get like 3000 reponses of "we are not done yet", "it's not over until tomorrow". Just wait until tomorrow then. But we finished about a day early.

[JoeXIII'007]

Looking back on the past 6 weeks for our team... its been fun... prolly the most since my freshman year. Strange comparisons formed between what took place that year and this year. To say what would become a spoiler.

Other than that, its like the first year that I have heard the term 'swiss cheese' used liberally in this team. Oops, I just dropped another teaser... can't wait until Wednesday night!

[Dan Petrovic]

I learned that no one person can do anything alone.

Especially when it comes to designing the robot.

We had two guys designing different sections of the robot. One did the chassis, one did the arm and manipulator. They didn't have anyone looking over their shoulders so a bunch of mistakes were made.

Also, we calculated the torque required to drive our arms based off of estimates we were given by the CAD guys. Then we (and by we I mean one person) looked at Banebots to see which gearboxes would give us enough torque to power them. However, not realizing that fisherprice motors only run with 20 amps of power and now 60, the gearboxes we ordered weren't strong enough to lift the arm.

Had someone else been working with that person, that could have been avoided and we could have had a completed robot a week earlier.

Also. If you're going to have a welded frame, make sure critical holes are drilled before hand. We suffered because we didn't drill holes to mount certain things in the aluminum peices before they were sent to get welded. We pretty much had to buy a right-angle drill to drill the holes we needed.

Hardware in CAD is just as important as everything else. It make look like it fits on the model, but the hardware might not. That happened several times this year.

No one knows if this is true, but the first wheels were could have been squares. That didn't work too well so then they came up with round wheels. Making mistakes is a huge part of learning.

[Billfred]

What have I learned these six weeks? Too much--my brain is still hurting.

Perhaps the biggest and most visible thing this year is that I learned what goes into creating a jointed arm. Until this season, 1618 hadn't created any significant manipulators, and 1293 had only done one successful manipulator, a 80/20 elevator that could largely be ruled out for our purposes due to cost constraints. (People are said to have champagne tastes and a beer budget; we had 80/20 tastes and a PVC budget.) The arm came together with a lot of help from folks far too far away, like Madison Krass, Mike Walker, and Roger Riquelme, along with staring at pictures for far too long on CD-Media (particularly this one, since it shows 330's method of rigging it up quite well).

I also learned a thing or two about double-checking work. Much of our coulda-been practice time was debugging generally silly mistakes, ones that could have been prevented with a little documentation check. Irritating, but you live and learn.

This season, I learned to love the KOP joysticks. I went into the season planning on continuing the controls approach 1293 took last season--chop the top, replace with a smaller handle--but we shipped four stockers in the crate. One might get replaced at Palmetto with switches, but overall I've been surprisingly satisfied with them.

We had a really small crew this year--we'll be bringing about six or seven kids to Palmetto, plus three mentors. It took a lot of five-day weeks, a lot of early mornings, and a lot of worrying about whether we'd actually get it done, but the gut feeling I had as we crated it up was one I hadn't had since my rookie year back in high school (and this time, there's no rookie naivety mixed in). There weren't many of them, but the ones that held on were some of the best kids I've had the pleasure of working with in this program.

One thing that frustrated me to no end was learning some of the limitations of CAD, and not getting some of those elements that seem too trivial to CAD, like chain and spacers. I hadn't anticipated chain interfering with the AM Shifters' mount (the Kitbot chassis stiffeners), which led to a change to implement idler sprockets. So far, so good.

Perhaps the single most important thing I learned this year is that of staying in touch. This is my first season with 1618, and my first venture out of the familiar waters of my high school team, 1293. I claim no credit in the construction of their robot this year, but keeping ties with them has been beneficial for both teams. Whether it was throwing our robot in my car to check its weight at their facility, bringing over a BaneBots transmission to replace a blown unit, or just shooting the breeze with each other, we've sort of succeeded in covering each others' bases. It's an important lesson I'd tell anybody who's going to be moving on soon, particularly to another team in the area: keep in touch.

I learned not to trust USC Postal Services with any parts whatsoever, and I found out why AM Shifters are so darn popular. (I also found out how awesome AndyMark's service is, certainly awesome enough for some real estate on the back of the robot--look right above the plywood sticking out of the back of the tower.)

Oh, and I learned that is, in fact, possible to have a virtually leak-free pneumatics system. Naturally, this happens the year we have the weight to leave the compressor on.

[Arille]

Before the 6 weeks even started, my team and I were always advised one thing: "Rookies: Measure EVERYTHING"

And did we?? ... of course not

We ended up being 10-15 lbs overweight (yeah, it's possible!) when we put everything together, and had to "swiss cheese" our entire chassis, and cut our beautiful claw design to , well, something not as amazing (look at attached before and after photos)

Life lesson #987345: Listen to the pros. They know what they're talking about. And don't just LISTEN -- actually DO IT.

Other than that, because it was my rookie year to do all this, I learned a whole bunch. I learned how to wire a bot together, that a "jigsaw" is more than a puzzle, the mere difference between different types of screwdrivers (yeah, go ahead --laugh ), and a whole lot more.

And not to sound cheesy and all, but I also learned a great deal of "gracious professionalism". During these past 6 weeks, I have been in touch with various teams that have reached out to mentor us (e.g. 604), and have been given the opportunity to work with engineers of the highest calibre. It's definitely been an experience I've learned from -- not only about the mechanical and electrical sides of engineering, but also about how you deal with people and interact with your community -- which, in essence, is FIRST's goal, right?

Silicon Valley Regional, here we come.

[artdutra04]

One of the things that I love about FIRST is the fact that I never stop learning how to do something new, or about a whole new process or idea. For this build season, I took the crash-course on designing CNC aluminum sheet metal parts.

A week before the kickoff event I took a tour of our new sponsor's sheet metal shop and got to see their turret-punch machines in person. What I thought was a simple process - just punch holes and bend it up - turned out to be a complex process involving minumum bend radaii, using bend relief cuts to minimize material fractures (or just position your flanges far enough away from edges to eliminate this issue), the positioning of holes in relation to flanges and other bends, and general sheet metal working ideas and protocols.

I actually enjoy designing sheet metal parts now, so there was definitely something good to come of it. (Although all my experience with Vex hardware and robots may have biased me towards sheet metal.)

[RoboMadi]

(its too late so i'll try to be as quick as possible)

This year has been really weird but fun for me.
This year I've founded two FIRST related organizations.
This is the first year I'm mentoring a team.
This is the first year I'm volunteering at the FIRST events.
This is the first year I'll be a Robot Inspector.
This is the first year I'll be evaluating websites with the committee.
This is the first year I'll be a Judge Assistant.
This is the first year I'll be giving VIP tours at VCU Regional.
This is the first year I'm going to attend more than 2 Regional (attending 4).

All that pretty much happened in last six weeks...........whew!

This year, I've seen a whole new side of FIRST. Instead of getting inspired by others, I've been an inspiration for others........which is kinda chessy but fun in its own way.

BUT its not over..... its just the start of one heck of a rollercoaster ride called FIRST.

[Ryan Foley]

What have I learned?

1) Being a team captain as a high school student is COMPLETELY different from being lead mentor/ main contact/ team director. There is a lot of paperwork and behind-the-scenes coordination that goes into a team that I had no idea about.

2) stocking up on raw stock before the season saves gas, time, and sanity during the 6 weeks

3) You can't waste any time in ordering parts. That was 1995's biggest setback this year, we took our time ordering parts, which lead to a late start on actual building of the robot.

4) Inventor is a great tool, but you can't depend on it without doing at least some prototyping.

5) There is a reason why AndyMark has such a good reputation (AM shifters make driving so much more fun)

6) Always double check things, we had a couple machined parts come in with holes too small because I got my wheels mixed up (kit wheel = .5 bore, AM traction = .75 bore)

7) "3 weeks left" is NOT "plenty of time"

8) All-nighters are very productive (yes I'm being serious)

I'll add more as I recover from the past 6 week and my memory returns

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by Ryan Foley

What have I learned?

1) Being a team captain as a high school student is COMPLETELY different from being lead mentor/ main contact/ team director. There is a lot of paperwork and behind-the-scenes coordination that goes into a team that I had no idea about.

If you haven't already, check out all the resources www.firstnemo.org. We hear you!

[vivek16]

tru dat

[raymaniac]

I learned how to animate

I also learned how to use all the tools in the shop, but by the time I was done with animation stuff and could help in the shop, I'd forgotten most of it. That's why most of my work in the shop involved moving obgect X from Point A to Point B and/or cutting it.

[Billfred]

Oh, one other thing I learned: the font Impact, in 365-point size, meets the height and stroke requirement for robot numbers.

[brinsy625]

From the six weeks i have learned that...

-its very depressing to see six weeks of hard work and labor summed up into a 3 minute video

- people need to be taught curtesy when given food not purchased by them... we ran out of enough snacks for about 4 weeks in 1 week, which has never happened before

- Work ethics and team pride are not necessarily gained in one build season... new members need to be taught more than just how to use tools, how to set up a pnuematic system, or what a tap does. They need tobe introduced and fully submerged into all aspects of robotics instead or just the technical points before they can be officially part of a community

-it is possible to clear out an entire room of animation kids by simply blasting heavy metal and hardcore music

-There are way too many types of people in robotics for it to be regarded as a geeky or nerdy thing...I have met some very interesting people in this organizationin from my past years on this team, many of whom have absolutly nothing in common other than the organization itself

-one man cannot live on soda and expired beef jerky alone(there was absolutly nothing left