Rookie member here!

[dmoody92]

Hello everyone. My name is Dan, lead programmer on Team 3015 based out of Spencerport NY and will be competing in the RIT regional this year. As stated this is our first year and we are a bit worried. We barely were able to compete this year, by getting a large grant from NASA at the last second. I'm am very excited to make a robot but I feel a bit worried.

FIRST to me seems..well, hardcore. Every piece of building this robot from the mechanics, electronics and programming is much over the education that is offered at our school. As the programmer, I am very worried about failing, and not learning labView well enough to make a program.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice for us, something to get us going a bit. We are pretty hard at work attempting to design this thing but we would appreciate some help!

[acdcfan259]

I hope you aren't a completely student-run organization. If so, find mentors ASAP. If not, work hard and try your best. Not trying to be a pessimist or doubt your skills, but you're not likely to see great results your rookie year anyways. Just try to have have fun.

[Vince lau]

I'm not in the NY area but feel free to email me at vince.lau78 at gmail.com or add me on msn at scorpions78 at hotmail.com if you need any mechanical or pneumatic help, or if you need some help on your ideas. I've been mentoring FIRST teams in the Toronto area since 2002

Vince

[dmoody92]

No, we are not student run infact as right now we have like 6 official mentors and pretty much every tech teacher is helping out if they are not officially mentors. I don't expect to win, or do real great. We are trying to win the rookie award in our regional to go to Atlanta. We only have to beat 5 other teams so it is a possibility.

I am not trying to be pessimistic, it's just after going through all these FIRST workshops it's all so overwhelming!

[Molten]

My best advice to you is to get a really good drive base. If your robot can drive ok, you can have some fun. If your robot could do something amazing but can't drive that well, your not going to have much fun.

Alot of teams seem to try something really big and then when one thing breaks they turn defensive. My suggestion for a rookie such as yourself is to start out defensive. Especially for a game like this one.

Similar to Vince, I'm not in your area but if you get some general physics or design questions, pm me and I'll be glad to help as much as I can.

[Tetraman]

RIT has a RIT FIRST group of students that go to various Rochester area teams to help them out. It's also the main group of people that set up FLR.

I'm not in RIT FIRST (even though I go to RIT...lame bit on my part), but I know some people in RIT FIRST. I'll send this link to one of my friends who is in that group and they'll see if they can help.

[dmoody92]

Actually, I believe we do have one of those mentors from RIT. He has taught some of those workshops and he is a huge help. Thanks though

[Tetraman]

Originally Posted by dmoody92

Actually, I believe we do have one of those mentors from RIT. He has taught some of those workshops and he is a huge help. Thanks though

In addition to those mentors, also contact the other area Rochester teams. There are so many, you are not alone in Rochester.

Good luck this year, I'll see you at FLR.

[HighLife]

As a programmer don't worry too much. There is a new more complicated control system this year, but the default code that's out there will probably preform most of what you need it for with minor tweaking.

[Liz Smith]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

RIT has a RIT FIRST group of students that go to various Rochester area teams to help them out. It's also the main group of people that set up FLR.

I'm not in RIT FIRST (even though I go to RIT...lame bit on my part), but I know some people in RIT FIRST. I'll send this link to one of my friends who is in that group and they'll see if they can help.

*cough*Lame!*cough*

But yes, the above stated is true. RIT FIRST is going out to numerous teams in the Greater Rochester Area this year and are available to answer questions for you and any other team. We are also able to go out to directly help any team in and around Rochester.

You (or anyone else) can let me know if your team needs any additional support. Send me an email or a private message, or check out ritfirst.org .

[DonRotolo]

My goodness...you would be crazy to NOT feel overwhelmed. Even us adults, who have years of experience and the confidence to back it, are overwhelmed a bit.

Breathe deep, and keep saying to yourself "it's not as bad as I thought".

OK, your first priority is to get something that works (drives) going. In an ideal world, you'd have that in 2 weeks - if the mechanical team hasn't starting putting the kitbot together yet - what are they waiting for, July? (Oh, and make the bot an full inch smaller than legal. Easier now that at inspection, trust me).

Then come up with something that can take several balls (either preloaded or from a human player tossing them in) and put them into a trailer (build a trailer this week).

If you can get all that done by week 4, you'll have 2 more weeks to write the code and give your drivers practice - which they will very much need.

Reality is that you'll have about 10 minutes with the robot to write code, but that has a way of working itself out. You might have to fight for access to the bot.

Anyway, anything that's not quite right at ship date can and will be corrected at the competition - simply ASK FOR HELP and you'll have more than you can use.

You know, getting on Chief Delphi and expressing your fears takes courage, and is probably the smartest thing you could have done. The CD community will answer ALL of your questions with really good info. And, take a chance and ask some other local team for some help, I guarantee most teams will leap at the chance.

As for Rookie All-Star: It's not about the robot. Willing RAS is more about you as a team, how you do things, how much GP you show, and if you "get" the concept of FIRST: sharing openly, giving freely, helping each other be the fiercest competitors they can be, and helping spread this to the community at large.

Good luck, but you won't need luck - I predict good things for you and your team.

Don

[dmoody92]

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

My goodness...you would be crazy to NOT feel overwhelmed. Even us adults, who have years of experience and the confidence to back it, are overwhelmed a bit.

Breathe deep, and keep saying to yourself "it's not as bad as I thought".

OK, your first priority is to get something that works (drives) going. In an ideal world, you'd have that in 2 weeks - if the mechanical team hasn't starting putting the kitbot together yet - what are they waiting for, July? (Oh, and make the bot an full inch smaller than legal. Easier now that at inspection, trust me).

Then come up with something that can take several balls (either preloaded or from a human player tossing them in) and put them into a trailer (build a trailer this week).

If you can get all that done by week 4, you'll have 2 more weeks to write the code and give your drivers practice - which they will very much need.

Reality is that you'll have about 10 minutes with the robot to write code, but that has a way of working itself out. You might have to fight for access to the bot.

Anyway, anything that's not quite right at ship date can and will be corrected at the competition - simply ASK FOR HELP and you'll have more than you can use.

You know, getting on Chief Delphi and expressing your fears takes courage, and is probably the smartest thing you could have done. The CD community will answer ALL of your questions with really good info. And, take a chance and ask some other local team for some help, I guarantee most teams will leap at the chance.

As for Rookie All-Star: It's not about the robot. Willing RAS is more about you as a team, how you do things, how much GP you show, and if you "get" the concept of FIRST: sharing openly, giving freely, helping each other be the fiercest competitors they can be, and helping spread this to the community at large.

Good luck, but you won't need luck - I predict good things for you and your team.

Don

Thank you very much Don!

Well, at the moment we have attached the electronics to motors and are able to control them with the joysticks. Also in the past two days we have created our robot transport cart, as well as a metal frame that we attached the wheels to get a feel for dimensions, and possibly test out drive methods even though I know we don't have a lot of time for that.

One big question I have is about coming to a decision on design. We don't have a ton of people, but the people we do have are opinionated, and we have tons of ideas on the table. This maybe an irrational fear, but I am a bit nervous that this competition to get their idea in motion will cost us time. How do most teams settle on an idea? Is there a vote? Is usually unanimous? It will probably work itself out but I think it's something worth noting.

[Booksy]

We have almost no budget (literally), and we get by. Our only mentor is our physics teacher, so I'm pretty much alone on the programming and electrical side of things, but even so we managed to successfully run every match last year, finish 21st or something, and win the Judges award. Our bank account right now is sitting around the empty mark, and we get the majority of our parts and stuff for free as donations or from team members. By the sounds of it you are well poised to do good.

1. You joined Chief Delphi, that's crucial
2. You have many mentors
3. You live around many other teams that can assist you
4. You sound like you are willing to put in the work to get things done.

A robot doesn't have to be super high budget to be effective (although it helps). You just need ingenuity, and if you're low budget (as it sounds like you are, (relative)) creative solutions(hacks) are key.

Welcome, and good luck!

[Otaku]

FRC robot programming isn't too difficult (well, don't know about this year, but to give you an idea: I'm pretty much the drivetrain leader this year and I did chassis the past two years and I was able to grab the programming laptop and fix an issue we had in the code on our test bot), this year it's C++ instead of C iirc, but they give you a lot of tools to do it because they understand that we're high school students and probably don't expect us to know programming as well as say, the people that write code for a living.

If I were you I'd do a few things:

1. Ask lots of questions here on CD. There's lots of good information and helpful people here.
2. Read a lot about programming this year. Older information won't apply as much because of the new control system and different coding language.
3. Have fun. I can't think of many rookie teams that do outstandingly well their first year.

The biggest part of FRC isn't winning, it's about learning and having fun. I can honestly say that just being at a regional, nevermind competing or placing well, is one of the many experiences in my life that I'll remember. Team 100 getting pushed over in '07... like, twice or three times, at Davis, during the semifinal matches. The sheer volume from the crowd as their robot tipped over. The different teams all cheering their little chants. All the different colored shirts and people with interesting outfits. Stuff like that.


FRC is more than just robots. FRC is learning. FRC is growing. FRC is having fun, socializing, and changing how you look at challenges. FRC is probably one of the most interesting things you'll do in your life.


Welcome to the madness of it all.

[MikePres]

Welcome to the FRC! =D
I completely understand your fears, as fellow rookies, we have the same ones.
I think that the game this year is a real helper for us and is a problem for old teams that never thought in that direction before. so we're kinda more even now with others.
Look for info and help from older teams, that will be a nice thing to start with...