What does your team do during the first few days?

[usagi1483]

We like to get the whole team together at the shool where we build and we connect a proxima to the computer and the whole team will watch the broadcast to start brain storming.

After the broadcast we will talk about it for a little bit, and then it is off to the University of Miami Convocation center for Fund Raising.

The following monday after classes all the students mentors engineers coaches and parents will come and we start to vote on what the best approaches are.

[SlamminSammy]

In the past: nothing. This year, however, we made a resolution to finish the robot AND test it before it ships. Therefore, we will meet and watch the kickoff together Saturday morning and brainstorm strategy that afternoon. Within 1 week, we hope to know what the robot will do and how.

[Gope]

Wow, all of you teams seem to get the whole thing done rather quick, and perhaps hasty. My team takes a week or week and a half just to decide strategy, then we spend the next week discusing robot design then the next 2 weeks prototyping. It just seems kinda pre-mature to be prototyping and even wiring and testing in 7 days like some teams say they do.

[Robb Gerber]

Our whole team will be at the Ontario Science Center for the live kickoff and eating Krispy Kremes as we wait for our kits.
This year we're going to organize the design process by grouping people into sub-design teams. Rather than having the regular groups get together they'll be split up and mixed so that there'll be someone from media. mobiltity, function, game crew, etc in each desing group.
This will give everyone a chance to work together with other people they'd usually not have a chance to.
All the design teams will present their ideas/ models and after all
the ideas are in everyone on the team will vote with post-its.
Got this idea from the people at IDEO (www.ideo.com)
Goal/ Game Stuctures are also built during the first week.
By Wed/Thurs the robot requirements will have been developed-
this includes the mobility chassis, drivetrain, function, and strategy. Prototyping will occur for the next 3-4 days during which time the parts for the drivetrain get ordered and its Fab begins. If the designs workout we'll be fabbing during the week 2 & 3.

[Cory]

Originally posted by Gope
Wow, all of you teams seem to get the whole thing done rather quick, and perhaps hasty. My team takes a week or week and a half just to decide strategy, then we spend the next week discusing robot design then the next 2 weeks prototyping. It just seems kinda pre-mature to be prototyping and even wiring and testing in 7 days like some teams say they do.

You build your robot in TWO WEEKS?!?!?!?!?!? that is crazy. we spent four building ours, and it still wasnt running when we shipped it, although we did waste time on a turret and tether tat never worked. Still two weeks!!! how do you get any testing/driver training done?

[Gope]

well, we used the same driving style as a robot we built in a previous year so the drivers practiced the basics on the old robot while the new robot wasnt available....2 weeks isnt bad, as long as u have sound prototypes that work very well, all u have to do is go re-machine them with some very minor tweaks and then bolt them all together....

i also wana say(not to brag on my team), that our driver, Lance Taylor, was one of the best drivers i saw all year long....GO LANCE

[hacksaw692]

well, this year we're kind of starting off a new...

friday: there's a meeting and i hope to have everyone separated into sub-groups. i know, should've had that done earlier, but due to circumstances, that didn't happen...

saturday: four of us are going to san jose for the remote kick off to pick up the kit. it would be nice to have everyone together to see the live broadcast, but the school is closed during the holidays. someone else's house would be out of the question since we are a commuter school. so i'm hoping that anyone who can watch it is going to watch it and record it.

two friends (lead strategist and programmer) are going to spend the night at my house so that we can go over the maual thoroughly together and start some early plans. i can already tell that it's going to be a long night...

sunday: we are meeting at our worksite and (hopefully) watching the recoded broadcast. those of us at the kick off will explain any extra things about the game. we'll start brain storming all the possibilities. just basically get all the ideas out in the open and leave them to settle over night.

then for the next 5 days after school, we'll narrow down the ideas. pick what functions we want the robot to do and start designing what it will look like. there will be also a group to prepare anything needed for the field (goals, ramps, etc etc).

by that saturday, hopefully (if all goes well) we'll get the drive train started. if not, at least buy anything needed. i guess we shall see though...

everyother week after that will depend on what we want the robot to do...

[Rich Wong]

[quote]Originally posted by M. Krass
[b]A team member is going to record the NASA TV broadcast to VHS while teachers and myself attend the remote kick-off in Brooklyn.

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Bring an A/V cable, the NYC R-Kickoff MAY have a place for you to connect your recorder.
They are working really hard on adding additional output jacks (RCA) from the Satellite downlink.

[Madison]

[quote]Originally posted by Rich Wong
[b]

Originally posted by M. Krass
A team member is going to record the NASA TV broadcast to VHS while teachers and myself attend the remote kick-off in Brooklyn.

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Bring an A/V cable, the NYC R-Kickoff MAY have a place for you to connect your recorder.
They are working really hard on adding additional output jacks (RCA) from the Satellite downlink.

Okay, great Thanks for the head's up. I'll try to swipe a VCR that isn't being used and bring it along.

[jonathan lall]

Originally posted by Robb Gerber
Our whole team will be at the Ontario Science Center for the live kickoff and eating Krispy Kremes as we wait for our kits.

No Krispy Kremes this year. I know, the highlight of last kickoff is missing, but the Science Centre is catering.

[BBFIRSTCHICK]

What Team #1077 (former members of Team #59) are going to do the first few days are. On Saturday we are going to meet once our adults get back from the remotoe kick off. We all will then go over the game and start throwing out ideas for how the bot is going to be designed. On Sunday we will continue to do what we were doing the previous day, and we will begin building our to scale model of the playing field. That's about it... So the first week ideas, and designs will be thrown around. At the end of week one going into week two is when all the fun stuff begins. We all split up into our separate teams (Mechanical, Electrical, ect) and get to work!
-adriana

[PatMoran]

First, we go to BAE to watch a telecast of the kick off, then we go back to FIRST Base (our meeting place, the school has no room) and eat lunch while tossing around ideas.

Then we split into basically two groups. The first, GOD Squad (Governing, Objectives, Driving) frantically memorizes the BIG BOOK. The rest is the brainstorming team, they go over the basics and think of what best ways to approach the game.

Then we write down on a huge piece of paper what functions our robot could perform, and later slim down the list according to the best strategy to win the game the GOD Squad came up with during the memorization process.

It' s a crazy process: organized on paper, frantic in action, and constantly changing.

[DanLevin247]

Well, in typical 247 fashion, it will be a disorganized mess for the majority of the time. That problem has always plagued our team.

Although once class has met and we have some ideas in our heads, and we go to U of D ( local college where we actually build our robot ) We talk more in depth and in a less hectic manner, and actually get out stuff together, and hopefully like last year, make something great.

[Jay TenBrink]

Sat. am we will attend the remote kick-off. Later in the afternoon the whole team will replay the tape of the kick-off and we will have some discussion about the game, rules, scoring, etc. over pizza. Homework is to absorb everything you can and start incubating ideas.

Sun the exec committee will meet for some general discussions regarding game rules and strategy, likely 'bot construction variants, the field, etc.

Mon. The whole team will brainstorm how to play the game: offense -vs- defense, autonomous mode, etc. The team will reach a consensus on our "functional objectives:.

Tues. The whole team will brainstorm robot designs and construction methods to accomplish the functional objectives set on Mon. and decide on a design direction.

Wed. - Thurs A full scale mock-up is built of the entire robot and the various detail sections that will help to prove out the design concepts. This will be made of wood and foam core board held together with screws and hot melt glue.

Fri. A representative section of the field is complete, and a review of our functional objectives takes place. Overall design concept is critiqued, and we prep for a multi-team design review on Sat. Components are ordered and hard design begins. Whew!

[danielkitchener]

Curl up in a fetal position, cry, whimper, and pray that the Gods of FIRST give us some sort of inspiration. Then, we put off the inevitable and finish up the robot last-minute.