Thoughts after my first "FIRST" season

[EricH]

I really appreciate the honesty that you're expressing here. Frustrations happen, and knowing what they are can only help the competition improve (after clearing the air a little bit).

I think a lot of control system problems can be traced to: We're putting together a network full of stuff that isn't designed to take dynamic shock loads and putting some key connection pieces into places where they can just get slammed around. This in addition to using a lot of parts from various manufacturers... That said, the FTAs and Field Supervisors know the full system very well. They're trained on it. No offense to your kids, but I think they'd be out of their depth if they were to try to operate FMS without any training. (How much trouble do teams have with setting up their control systems every year?) I would be too--I'm an ME student, not an IT expert! Even the FTAs sometimes have to call in backup; I've seen the guy who designed the system called in to deal with issues.

If there is a problem in the FMS portion of the system, they will either know about it, or it'll be virtually impossible to trace. If it's on a robot, it's anybody's guess what it is, hence the designated issue-trackers at L.A. and AZ.

Regarding your comments on the powerhouse teams: Yes, there is that disparity. Not every team in baseball is the Yankees or the Red Sox. But here, there's an invitation that the powerhouse teams issue: Come, join us at our level. We'll be glad to help. Maybe they can't help with funding or machining directly, but they can help you find your own sources. Maybe they can't ship you a couple of mentors--but their mentors have contacts, and maybe some of those contacts are interested in helping out a team who wants help. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em and then beat 'em at their level.

One thing that can really help you for next year: So the teams who travel to multiple events get more practice time with their robot, right? Time to improve, tweak, and do other stuff like that.

If you can keep the materials from this year around, you can negate just about any of those advantages except competition conditions. Keep the motors, gearboxes, kit framing, all that sort of thing; keep your robot together if you can until right before a new one is built. When you build next year's robot, build 2. One gets the older equipment; one gets the new stuff. Small differences are OK in this case. Now, as soon as the competition robot goes out the door or into the bag (with or without its control system--you'll want one on the second robot), start driving the other one around. Start driving both as soon as possible. If you have charged batteries, you can use the practice robot to drive, test automodes, score, and try other cool things. If the tread on the wheels goes down to nothing, you're probably doing something right--replace the wheels/tread and keep going.

You'll notice some tweaks that can make your competition robot better--those go straight into the Withholding Allowance. You can do scouting--watch a couple other regionals and see what strategies are used, then try to beat them in practice. Call up any other local teams who have some form of practice/old-but-still-running robot and invite them over if you have space--both of you benefit from the driving/strategy time. Hey, even scout the teams that will be at your event ahead of time. Do they have tendencies that you can use against them?

You'll be back for next year; I expect you guys to come back ready to play at elite level. And I'm sure I speak for most if not all of CD when I say: "How can we help you do that?"

[PayneTrain]

I'm not dropping a plug or anything, but if your team has $500 in the bank account and hotel expenses for two nights, you should go to the Indiana Robotics Invitational this summer. Not only is it three hours away, but it has built a culture of a "who's who" in FIRST. You'll get regional champions, past and current CMP division and Einstein winners, and there is no pressure at all: it's not the real deal, but a really great team experience.

I'm certain teams like 33, 111, 234, etc., will be happy to explain to you their team structure and show you how they designed their robot.

The time between now and July is your opportunity to grow your team's operations and hone more technical skills. Improve your robot in any way you see fit before IRI. Construct a pit that can convey your team's message, build a better control board, build a better robot cart, and get your kids to buy into becoming the next 1114 or 365.

You will have to WORK for your team to become self-sustainable. I know this to be true: your team either has to be smart enough to run itself, or has to be too stubborn to quit (like us). When you work towards goals you can form between now, IRI, and 2012 kickoff, try to snatch up any victory you can get, and parade around your schools, your town, and your district.

To win year in and year out, you have to not just embrace the change in culture yourselves, but become the change your community to embrace. The more people that know you exist leads to more members, which leads to more success, which leads to more outreach, and allows the perpetual cycle of awesome to continue. Don't let the haters bring you down, and don't badmouth the powerhouses; work to prove your supporters right.

We expect great things from you, as with all other FIRST teams.