Team in ruins

[Chris is me]

I would much rather suggest having all of the students buy Vex kits rather than Lego kits. It's a much more accurate-to-FRC way to train new members in the ways of competitive robotics, programming, subsystems, etc.

[cactuarman]

Thanks everyone for the advice. It all helps a lot. After posting here and receiving all the help and advice the problem doesn't seem as bad. I'm sure that with good recruiting and with help from mentors, other teams, and Chief Delphi we will have a successful year.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by cactuarman

Thanks everyone for the advice. It all helps a lot. After posting here and receiving all the help and advice the problem doesn't seem as bad. I'm sure that with good recruiting and with help from mentors, other teams, and Chief Delphi we will have a successful year.

I heard tell that an ice cream float does wonders for celebrating mind over matter, clear thinking, and asking for help and being gracious upon receiving it.

The rumor is that a coke float is the best with some of it dribbling down the sides of the tall glass and making a happy mess, but some people for some reason insist that root beer floats rule. I'm not so sure about that, myself, but I definitely trust the coke float rumor. With 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream.

Good luck with the team, they are lucky to have you,
Jane

[dtengineering]

Team turn-over is natural. Following our rookie year, every single student on the team graduated. I was the only mentor/teacher.

To say a team is in ruins because you'll have a lot of rookies is a significant overstatement. In sports that is called a "rebuilding" year.

Now, if you can't recruit some more people... yeah, that might be an issue. But that is pretty much an issue that is in your hands, isn't it?

Jason

[Cynette]

I'll join the consensus that meeting once a week is a good practice in the fall. You may want to also plan some extra times for some focus areas, like special time for programmers, animation, web page development, cad workshops, that sort of thing.

We also have mock build season sessions where we simulate the whole build season from game release through prototyping in an evening or two. That helps the team get the whole picture a little better as well as understand the urgency and connections between the different tasks.

Don't forget about team building, especially for a rebuilding year! You need to plan for activities that pull you into a cohesive unit so that when the stress of build season hits you don't fracture!

Good Luck!

[Donut]

Many helpful resources have already been posted, but as mentioned your team is not in ruins simply because knowledgeable members graduated. It is simply a year to rebuild, and you can even think of it as an opportunity to improve your team since you are forced to reorganize rather than doing things "because it's always been that way". You've already made a very important step in learning to use ChiefDelphi since there are very few other sources you can get such a wealth of information from.

And as Allan said, take advantage of your local teams. Powerhouses 842 and 39 are both here in Phoenix, and a number of Arizona FIRSTers frequent ChiefDelphi and can work with you here or in person (Freddi, Allan, the whole Forbes family, myself, Frank, Borna, and some others I'm sure I'm forgetting). We're to help and don't want to see any team falter!

Let us know your questions throughout the season and it's sure to be a good one.

[jmanela]

Originally Posted by MooreteP

Purchase a Lego MindStorms kit. ~$250
Buy a tackle box with about 40 compartments, I found a great one:
Flambeau 7-tray Hip Roof Box model 2059. ~$30

Have students segregate the pieces and organize them. This is an important skill when building robots, organizing your work from nuts and bolts through components. It also teaches them to clean up their work area when they are finished.

Have new students sit down in pairs and build small robots.
The MindStorms kits can be programmed to perform maneuvers and include sensors that respond to inputs. The programming is visual and similar to FRC. The instructions included in the kit are visual and appropriate.

This activity is an appropriate microcosm of the build season.
Watch the new members closely and you will see where their natural strengths lie. You can also use it to teach all students about problem solving methods and processes.
Set specific tasks that increase in difficulty:
Drive forward 3 feet and stop.
Drive in a circle and stop.
Drive in a square path and stop.
Drive until touch sensor is activated and drive backwards to the start position.
Increase the level of complexity..........as you see fit.

Perform these tasks first, so you can appreciate what they will be experiencing.

Consider meeting once a week in the fall. Focus on marketing / fundraising and engineering principles. After training students in MindStorms, ask them to explain how your previous robot performed its tasks.

You can practice brainstorming with previous games.

"The darkest hour is just before the dawn"
~lots of folks

you could also use labview to program the lego mindstorms robotics using the LabView Mindstorms Toolkit