FiM Idea: Build SeasonRookie Round-up

[IKE]

This past year, team 27 did a really cool thing:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...t=rookie+event
Basically they invited mentors for new teams to talk about the hard lessons learned.

I think there is some unique opportunity for something similar to be done in the build season.

The First Saturday after Kick-off, have the Rookies (and possibly 2nd year teams) bring their kits to an agreed upon space. Vetran teams would be there with tools and some extra parts, and possibly a bot that played a similar game (like a 2006 bot for this years game). That Saturday morning, the Vetrans would help the Rookies assemble the Kit-Bot chassis. Some would do wide, some would do narrow. Then the Rookie teams would get their bots flashed with either the standard skid steer or arcade modes and get the chance to drive the bots around a bit on a mock field. A kit bot can literally be put together within a couple of hours with almost no tools.
While the bots are being assembled, the CRios can all be tested and flashed on a common test bed (you would likey want 2 or 3) and then swapped into the Rookie's machine. Rookies can be shown on their hardware how to flash and how to add in a motor.

By mid afternoon, everybody could have a driving chassis.

In the afternoon, some additional parts could be thrown on to show the mock-up process and play around a bit.

Vetrans get good Chairman's award material, and a chance to see multiple chassis interacting on a mock field. This is early enough in the build season to correct some assumptions.

Rookies walk away with a working driving chassis at the end of week1. Working with a Rookie team this year was an eye opener. It only took us 3 weeks to build a pretty decent little bot, but they didn't start until week 3!

This would also help with the Week 5 crunch where the Rookies need help with programming right as the Vetrans are trying to finish the overly complex robot that is killing itself. With the basics covered, there should be a lot less of that sort of stuff.

If anyone has done one of these in the past, please let me know the lessons learned. I am trying to put this together as possible ideas for next year. Please add on anything you might like to see.

Also any volunteers or ideas for Venue or teams interested in participating would be great. Ideally we could set up a Southeasst, West, and North one of these.