FTC upcoming kickoff event coming soon.

[carl.nartia]

I'm wondering if my team has to have experience in FreeCAD in order to have experience with the kickoff event. My robotics director told me that the FTC designs are already made, and that all my team has to do is just assemble it. I'm not sure what's happening right now. My question is if we use FreeCAD, what do we need to design, and is what my robotics director said is true?

P.S. This is my first time going to compete at an FTC event. Need advice and help.

[ttldomination]

Originally Posted by carl.nartia

I'm wondering if my team has to have experience in FreeCAD in order to have experience with the kickoff event. My robotics director told me that the FTC designs are already made, and that all my team has to do is just assemble it. I'm not sure what's happening right now. My question is if we use FreeCAD, what do we need to design, and is what my robotics director said is true?

P.S. This is my first time going to compete at an FTC event. Need advice and help.

"Already made" is a extremely inaccurate statement.

First off, FTC kick off is simply the game release. You can be a rookie with zero knowledge and still enjoy the event/day. Now, teams tend to take this day to discuss ideas and brainstorm robot designs. However, the amount of actual CADing on the first day is rather minimal.

So, I'd like to explain the "already made" statement. The fact of the matter is that the robots are not "already made". They come in a very strict kit of parts with most of the metal provided, but it's up to you to decide how these parts go together.

Finally, CAD comes into play when you're deciding how to put the parts together. If you have an idea, it's sometimes better to do a CAD rather than to dive right into the build, a concept that is particularly true in FRC. In FTC, most teams don't prioritize CAD because of the relative ease with which you can build/take down things. In the time you CAD a concept, chances are that you could've built it and torn it down already.

Hope this helps,
Sunny G.

[Carol]

There are teams who do use CAD. As to how necessary it is, and the advantages and disadvantages, I'll let someone who actually builds robots anser. But, one of the awards given in FTC is the PTC Design Award, sponsored by PTC (obviously) who provides their software to FTC teams:

PTC Design Award

This judged award recognizes design elements of the robot that are both functional and aesthetic. All successful robots have innovative design aspects; however, the PTC Design Award is presented to teams that incorporate industrial design elements into their solution. These design elements could simplify the robot’s appearance by giving it a clean look, be decorative in nature, or otherwise express the creativity of the team. The winning design should not compromise the practical operation of the robots but complement its purpose. This award is sponsored by Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC), developers of the CAD tools, Creo and Mathcad. PTC gives licenses to the FTC student teams for these software products to help them with their designs. Use of these tools is not required to be eligible, however, teams that use them in their design are given extra consideration for this award.

Guidelines for the PTC Design Award

Team must submit an Engineering Notebook with detailed robot design drawings
Robot differentiates itself from others
Design is both aesthetic and functional
Well thought out basis for the design (why i.e. inspiration, function, etc.)

http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc/ptcdesign

[jcarr]

If you are taking some of the RobotC tuturials, they come with a design for a robot. It may be that your robot director is planning to have the rookies put the robot together so it matches the expectation of the software. It is also a good building exercise.

Our team uses PTC's Creo software, which is given to the FTC teams for free, to design our robots. However, you don't need to use the CAD software to build a competitive robot, it just helps.

[carl.nartia]

Thank you so much for the info.