List of Rookie Resources

[Kim Masi]

http://www.thebluealliance.net/

Thanks to Greg Marra and Tom Bottiglieri, the Blue Alliance is a great resource for any team, not just rookies. Check it out!

[vivek16]

I recommend just going to www.usfirst.org and just clicking every possible link possible. I found a lot of gold nuggets when it comes to recruiting new members or sponsors this way.

thanks, vivek

[Wayne C.]

Resources has been the focus of the Presidents Circle this past fall. There is a link of resources for team on the FIRST website that has links to most of those in this thread under "for teams by teams"


To plug our own program- I suggest you visit the www.raiderrobotix.org site and go to the RINOS page. The Manual for Rookies (downloadable) was written with all this information in mind. It is a great paper complement to TIAB from 341 and Moementum. There is an extensive link list in the back of the manual as well as the team 25 team manual and organizational charts.

In the near future watch for www.FIRSTrinos.com to be posted. It will have EXTENSIVE resources for new teams, links between teams and mentors and funding sources. The page is being coded now with a deadline in December.

For those going to NH, my wife Lauralynne (1089 mentor) and I are giving a workshop called "Making 1000's of Dollars Appear out of Thin Air for Your Team" where we will have lots of the contact resources out there and maybe give new teams some fund raising ideas. Maybe we will see you there.

Happy holiday!!

WC

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by Jay Trzaskos

I found the presentations by Ian Mackenzie and Karthik Kanagasabapathy on FIRST Canada to be very helpful and informative along with JVN's Fall Seminar Presentations.

We've just updated the presentation section that Jay mentioned. Notably "Running a Team" and "Strategy" have been refreshed, while "Mechanical Design", "Programming FRC Robots: CMU Camera" and "Programming FRC Robots: PID Control" have been added.

[BandChick]

Remember the FIRST resources out there too!

FRC Handbook, and the Team Timeline are great for getting organized and making sure you meet all your deadlines.

The NYC/NJ folks have also put together a pretty great collection of resources, including tutorials & guides, fundraising help, and a list of the some common suppliers and manufacturers - http://nycnjfirst.org/team_resources.html

[Ed Sparks]

The FirstCadLibrary is a site I started years ago to help teams be more productive with the donated CAD software (Inventor) from Autodesk. You can download these models of various robot components and save yourself the hundreds of hours it would take to model them yourself.

[Cheerleader1073]

Hey Everyone!

Our team created a manual one year ago (it's in need of a thorough grammar check and this year's game update) but it's a good manual for first-year teams and veteran teams who need help with team structure, etc. The link is on our website here: http://theforceteam.com/handbook.html . I was our team's "VP of Business" this year and will be our "CEO" (our version of a president or captain) next year so I've had a lot of experience in the community, public relations, financial, and spirit side of a successful FIRST team so if any new teams have any questions just send them over to my e-mail at genevieveb12@gmail.com and if I can't answer your question then I'll find out for you as soon as possible!

Thanks,
Gen

[RoboMom]

Great thread revival.
Although in need of a tune-up (updating, removing the 404 links), the Mentor Resources Library was created exactly one year ago.
http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr....aspx?id=14034

[Nikki Haux]

Team RUSH 27 has a great toolkit for everything you need to know to start a team, from fundraising to team organization to the build and competition seasons.
http://teamrush27.net/resources/toolkit.html

[panicnot42]

Our team wrote an excellent guide on what to expect from competition and how to prepare for it. Link here

[Daskov]

Team 781 has created a Robotics 4 Rookies booklet that is so great it's actually being distributed by FIRST Canada by all Canadian teams next season. You can probably email them and ask for a copy or find it here:
http://team781.com/frc/robotics-4-rookies

[SMR Vault]

Hey all! We're SMR Vault, a student run media group that covers happenings within the FIRST community.

We recently released two videos in which we interviewed veteran teams about build season strategy, team structure, etc. We made these videos with rookie teams in mind, and we recommend your team (rookie or veteran), sits down and analyzes these videos in order to have some sense of structure as your team embarks on the daunting task of "starting up," in the case of a rookie team.

We’ve summarized some highlights below, but we encourage you to check out the videos for yourself!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pdC5BnXAys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI48...ature=youtu.be

Alexis Longmire, captain of the Hardin Valley RoHAWKtics, has emphasized outreach, ranging from integrating sub-teams all the way to running a foreign exchange student program to promote FIRST internationally, throughout her leadership. Our biggest takeaway was HVA’s regard for the well being of students; this has been highlighted throughout their safety program, which extends beyond the realm of FRC, and their outreach to other teams during competition and throughout the season. Alexis had sound advice to offer in regards to kickoff strategy and team structure, so definitely check that video out!

Alijah Lawson, business lead of Blount County Robotics, places a large emphasis on student leadership and learning from experience, as evidenced by the unique student-mentor relationship, which differs greatly from that of HVA, and the simplistic team structure that allows students to drift in and out of sub-groups to find where they fit best. The team also has a very straightforward, yet effective method of managing priorities, and we think teams will find this particularly helpful this season!

The most relevant subject that both teams touched on was kickoff strategy! Both HVA and BCR take a relatively similar approach to beginning the season, and both strategies are certainly noteworthy!

Hope this helps!