[FTC]: Resources for Rookie Teams

[brlindgren]

I am just starting up a rookie team and was wondering if anyone could provide me with resources that were helpful when your teams started FTC. We have some knowledge from FLL, but are completely new to FTC. Any websites, youtube videos, or pdf handouts that you think would be helpful would be greatly appreciated. I was also wondering what your greatest team challenges were when initially starting an FTC team.

[Nemo]

Originally Posted by brlindgren

I am just starting up a rookie team and was wondering if anyone could provide me with resources that were helpful when your teams started FTC. We have some knowledge from FLL, but are completely new to FTC. Any websites, youtube videos, or pdf handouts that you think would be helpful would be greatly appreciated. I was also wondering what your greatest team challenges were when initially starting an FTC team.

We have a ton of teams in Iowa and several in Nebraska - my suggestion would be to get in touch with a veteran team that is in your general area. I've PM'ed you my contact info in case you want to get in touch with our teams.

Robot-wise, I'd suggest going through the FTC Getting Started Guide that comes in the kit of parts and building the basic "Ranger" robot drive. One doesn't necessarily need to build the whole thing and do the exercises, but making the simple 2WD robot platform would get you your first robot so you can quickly figure out how to get it wired, programmed, communicating wirelessly, and driving. (That's assuming you chose Tetrix - if not, nevermind)

You should have your students go through the stuff in the FTC Toolbox. It includes resources for programming and wireless communication (see Samantha and FCS sections).

On the strategy side, I like Karthik's strategy presentation. It's written for FRC, but the basic ideas in there apply to any robotic competition.

The FTC Mentor Guide is a great thing to look over.

[FTC5202]

you should and try and contact a local FTC team so that you can talk to them. When teams first start, some do not realize that the engineering notebook is a major and necessary item for all of the judges awards. The game manual part 1 has a lot of information on the engineering notebook. Also, just read the game manuals in general. there is a huge amount of helpful information in the rules.

[Andrew Rudolph]

I always recommend picking up a copy of this book, it covers pretty much everything.

http://www.amazon.com/FTC-Robotics-S.../dp/146378872X

[Blackphantom91]

http://www.cougarrobot.com/ Is an excellent resource created by a FTC team. Other than that amazing source, The FTC page has a ton of information on it at usfirst.org checkout the samantha module part especially.


the landroids http://www.landroids.org/ put together a pretty great resource website also.

I hope this helps rookies on there wonderful FTC endeavors.

[robogamers]

We just launched a series of youtube videos and we'll be making more as the season progresses. The link is:

http://www.youtube.com/user/robogamersonline

or we have other resources on our website: robogamers.org

Feel free to email us!

[orangemoore]

If anyone ever is having issues with flashing your samantha make sure you are following the guidelines about the size of flash drive. That was the root of our problems with it. It doesn't seem like much but it does actually matter