2011 build season: open to the public

[Taylor]

Partly inspired by this blog, the CyberCards will join Shaker Robotics in hosting a completely public build season. We intend to share strategies, designs, pictures, everything. No secrets.
Please don't be shy about keeping us honest! We welcome feedback of any size and shape.
Follow us here.
Cheers!

[davidthefat]

Now will you consider the fact that I in fact belong in the "case 5", I am a league of my own. LOL JK Super inflated ego aside.
(Just for kicks and giggle, nothing to offend anyone)


I personally think this is a great idea, kind of like it. "You know what we are going to run, we will just outperform you and run it down your throat" type of mentality.

Well obviously the intentions are just gracious professionalism. I am interpreting it in the way fit for me. I really think we should video log everything this year. Sure we had power points and pictures, but videos are a whole different thing.

I will be sure to follow and bring this up in our meeting. Video log every event and upload it all to youtube... Actually that might be overkill 36+ hours of footage every week.

[Chris is me]

Welcome to the club.

I do have to clarify that Shaker Robotics hasn't shared everything before, though it's less intentional omission and more "we're not actually that exciting". We also want to make sure teams experience the engineering design process and don't get hung up with preconceived notions of what is possible. That being said, we're going more or less open as well.

There's simply so much to gain and so little to lose. We personally will gain awareness, attention, and design critiques, and if we happen to do things well then the community at large will learn about a potentially viable design. What is 2791 going to lose? A competitive edge? If we honestly get beaten by our own mechanism, we'll have exceeded our goals for the year. How cool would it be to see your prototype more or less on Einstein?

I'm glad you guys on 1529 are following suit. You guys definitely have crazy, innovative ideas and I'd love to check on what you guys are doing as the season progresses.

As to where that will be "open", be it CD or my blog, I'm not sure yet... Probably major prototypes and designs on CD, more details on my blog.

[maverickfan138]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

A competitive edge? If we honestly get beaten by our own mechanism, we'll have exceeded our goals for the year.

This past year, we gave our appendage IDW's to other teams at Ann Arbor and let others take photos of our design when they asked. We found it flattering, especially when the team recognized us on their appendages. Even though others had our designs, we were still the ones that did the math and knew how the design worked. We still ended up having a competitive edge, even when a half dozen or so teams had the same design as us.

We had a no secrets policy for Breakaway, but we never went out of our way to share what we were doing. I don't see us starting a separate blog or anything, but we will probably end up using Twitter extensively and I'll probably start a thread here on Chief Delphi.

[Katie_UPS]

Its crazy that you guys mention this. Some kids from the Twin Cities alumni group (GO FIRST) are trying to do something incredibly similar (but I want them to talk about it).

[Renee Becker-Blau]

I think having an open build is a fantastic idea! I'll be sure to stay updated with your teams.

Originally Posted by Katie_UPS

Its crazy that you guys mention this. Some kids from the Twin Cities alumni group (GO FIRST) are trying to do something incredibly similar (but I want them to talk about it).

Thank's Katie, GO FIRST is planning a Post Kick Off Collaborative Strategic Design Meeting (PoKo CoS DeM, or PoKo for short) after Kick Off at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities.

After the game is announced teams will be meeting at one of the new buildings on campus (STSS building) to discuss the game.

The group will start together and discuss the game, going over key rules and running though game scenarios. Then teams will break apart and go over specific strategy ideas (Such as Kicker, Shooter, Defender). Then groups will come back together as a group and make a full list with out an duplicates of the strategy ideas. After the list is compiled the group breaks out and discusses different ways to use each strategy (Ex. A Kicker can be created in how many different ways) Once prototype ideas are on the board, the group decides who can prototype what and we break.

One week later everyone has to have documentation of their prototype finished and available to the whole group. Then the teams are free to build what ever they want.

This idea will save teams time with prototyping six different ideas and instead teams will be able to focus on prototyping two ideas very well and then collaborate with the other teams. Obviously this is just a summary of the process we've organized but we think even just thinking of strategies together after Kick Off would help teams.

We have four teams interested already with potential for more next week once we send out finalized plans.

[Peter Matteson]

This isn't that different from the info the the Rhode Warriors then AIR Strike have presented through their "American Robot" web series the last few seasons. This was also the reason a particiular design seemed to proliferate in 2008.

[thefro526]

Look at you, Chris. Making a Blog that changes the world.

I'd like to think that 816 has been pretty non-secretive about our build season, though I wouldn't say completely public. It was more like a "you ask and we'll tell you" sort of thing. I've been considering making a Blog for our team for quite some time, I just need to get it approved with the higher ups.

[Chris is me]

Bumping with a shameless self plug... I mean, some exciting news!

Team 2791 is still documenting their build season, but instead of using my personal robotics blog, we'll be posting them here at http://team2791.wordpress.com/ instead. This way, multiple students and mentors can write and edit posts, and all of the content is in one place.

Be sure to check early and often after kickoff on 2791's blog as well as 1529's excellent blog. If you're interested in joining in the fun of blogging your build season and would like some help, send me a PM and I can get you pointed in the right direction.

[s_forbes]

We have had a fairly open design process on team 1726 over the past few years and I have nothing but good things to say about it. The critique you get from other teams in the FIRST community far outweighs any competitive advantages you may have. It's also a great feeling to hear that your public disclosure has inspired or altered the design process of other teams.

Remember, there are over a thousand other FIRST teams with a bunch of super smart students and mentors - odds are you aren't the only team to think of a particular approach. Nothing to lose by showing your progress.

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Team 2791 is still documenting their build season, but instead of using my personal robotics blog, we'll be posting them here at http://team2791.wordpress.com/ instead. This way, multiple students and mentors can write and edit posts, and all of the content is in one place.

Chris, you mind going into how you're managing multiple users? Do they each have their own account, or is there one team account that anyone can use?

I think I'm going to get ours going shortly before or after kick-off but I wasn't really sure how to handle the permissions for each user or if having multiple users is even the way to go. I'm a bit leery about having one generic user such as "Team 816 Student" that anyone can use just in case someone decides to be funny and post something inappropriate. I'm also trying to minimize the amount of cross posting of progress by team members, so I don't know if more users is better - maybe just have an account for each of the sub-team captains?

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by thefro526

Chris, you mind going into how you're managing multiple users? Do they each have their own account, or is there one team account that anyone can use?

If each user that wants to write makes a Wordpress.com account, you can use Wordpress to set permissions for multiple users. Right now the team captain and I are both set to Administrator (the highest level). Contributor is all you need to write articles and doesn't have many limitations.

[TroyCDH]

I try not to follow what other teams are trying until week 3. Just from my observance, it seems that when people follow plans that someone else did--they do not give their own ideas a chance to develop.

I do like Chris's comments about teams with various levels of help and mentors. I also liked his comment that many #2 teams think they are better #3 or #4 teams. Know your team limits and strengths.

My 2 cents: Give an honest try for your ideas and prototypes before peeking at other plans. Also remember that failed prototypes are not a failed learning experience. That previous comment goes easier in build week 3 than build week 6! Design and prototype early and often.

Good luck

[Vikesrock]

I believe I've convinced 2175 to at the very least try to keep a Build Journal going on the team blog:
http://frc2175.blogspot.com/

We'll see how the students manage to keep up with that given that they haven't managed to get a post recapping the offseason written and posted yet

[Chris is me]

Giving this thread an additional little nudge. Congratulations to all of the teams that have done open build seasons so far this year! Being able to see what a dozen other teams are doing has given Shaker a lot of insight and encouraged us to really think about what we ourselves are doing.

This is also serving as a friendly reminder that it's not too late for your team to join the fun! A lot of teams like to keep a tight lid on the very early parts of their build, sharing more and more as it goes on. Even if you have some secrets in your pocket I would like to encourage you guys to blog or write as much as you can on your build in public.

We've been lucky to get a lot of exposure on our blog, averaging 180 hits a day! Hopefully that will help us in the competition season.