No Mentors..

[CrazyCarl461]

FIRST Alumni are anyone who has participated in FIRST in high school or, in the case of college-run teams, participated as a college mentor and are no longer involved with a team. This is usually because they move to a new city and start working a fresh new job and FIRST gets pushed down the priority list. I have dozens of friends from Purdue alone who are now scattered around the country working and going about their non-FIRST lives. Sometimes they can be brought back into the program if approached by a local team. 461 recently got an engineer from the local Caterpillar plant who was on a team in another city to stop by meetings this fall.

I'm not sure where FIRST gets their list of potential mentors willing to help, but it probably has something to do with the push the past few years (Dean's homework) to gather information about team alumni. The form had a place to indicate if you would be willing to continue involvement in the future.

College mentors are a similar case, they are usually former high school participants who want to continue the experience. We have found this is a good way to keep getting an infusion of different design philosophies from different teams from around the country every few years.

As for the kit bot, that will make more sense when you pick up your rookie version of the kit of parts. It includes a bolt-together chassis frame that is pre-built to be within the size constraints and work with bumpers, kit gearboxes and kit wheels. It limits you a little in design configurations but it provides a robust drive system that takes only minutes to set up, allowing you to focus completely on the other robot mechanisms. It is also a good way to get something up and driving to give your team practice driving and using the cRio platform early in the build season.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by CrazyCarl461

College mentors are a similar case, they are usually former high school participants who want to continue the experience. We have found this is a good way to keep getting an infusion of different design philosophies from different teams from around the country every few years.

Excellent, Carl - thank you!

And, to add, college mentors can also bring an understanding of the other aspects of the competition with them that will help in the areas such as business/imagery/marketing, etc. Powerful stuff.

Thanks again, Carl.
Jane

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

Excellent, Carl - thank you!

And, to add, college mentors can also bring an understanding of the other aspects of the competition with them that will help in the areas such as imagery/marketing, etc. Powerful stuff.

Thanks again, Carl.
Jane

Not to toot my own horn (because I'm actually bad at this) but college students bring perspective to many teams of how other teams are run. Students also feel more comfortable talking to them because in many cases they are only a couple years older. This can be a blessing and a curse because sometimes students will not listen to the college mentors. College students also don't always have the discretion that older mentors do when it comes to doing things.

[CrazyCarl461]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

And, to add, college mentors can also bring an understanding of the other aspects of the competition with them that will help in the areas such as business/imagery/marketing, etc. Powerful stuff.

Definitely! Purdue FIRST (461, 1646 and 1747) has been lucky enough to get Purdue students from various Chairman's Award winning and highly successful teams throughout Indiana such as TechnoKats, Hammond and Cyber Blue. It's been a good way to learn from their successes and leverage some of the methods that have made these teams so great.

[wendymom]

As everyone here has said, Yes you can do it without "professional" mentors. We have run for 5 years without a "professional Mechanical Engineer". We started with 4 college guys who had done FIRST in high school (one graduated, so now we have a "pro") and a team mom who cant even program her DVR. The college guys were a great resource, they knew all about how competitions went, how to market the team, how to judge whisper and everything else that goes along with running a team. We managed to win Rookie All Star and go to Champs our first year.

Everyone here on CD will jump at the chance to help you out if possible. Texas has some of the best teams in the country and some of the nicest mentors to boot. They will give you hand whenever possible.

Remember it's not all about the robot. If you look at the awards list you will notice that 2/3rds of them have nothing to do with the actual robot. Just have fun, be goofy, don't panic and if you make it to a regional (even with a box of parts) all the teams will help you out.

[Andrew Schuetze]

Thanks for all the helpful posts from the community that is FIRST. I did post in the KOP thread by the same OP that I'll be contacting this team ASAP.

I did not look at all of the quality resource links already provided in other posts but here are a few of my suggestions:

For Teams by Teams
The 2007 President’s Circle has selected resources that are particularly useful for helping start new teams. Our goal was to provide a substantial directory of useful resources, while not including everything available from the FIRST Community.
Resources

• Top Team Manuals for New FIRST Teams
• Top Web Sites for New FIRST Teams
• “Must Have” Resources for New FIRST Teams
• Where to Find Financial Support for New FIRST Teams

FRC Mentors Resources Library
The contents of the FRC Mentor Resources Connection have been accumulated and categorized through the efforts of many FRC Team Mentors and FIRST Senior Mentors. It is an exercise in Mentors helping Mentors. Their insight and contribution make this offering possible. FIRST would like to thank all of these dedicated volunteers for their time and support of this project.


I would say that in today's FIRST competition, a critical mentor/coach is someone who can program in C++/JAVA or use LabView as the mechanical end of things can be easier to achieve basic robot functions but nothing happens if one doesn't put in some code. We didn't need much of an autonomous mode or have to write much code back in 2001 when the control system was a BASIC Stamp robot controller and operator interface with just speed controllers and relays. Things are still a bit plug n play in that regard but setting up the wifi connection between the robot and laptop ... does require some skill but a good techie student might be able to read and follow the manuel to get things up and running.


As an additional FYI for other posters to this thread, FRC in Texas has been exploding in the last three years and these kinds of situations will be more of the norm. Corpus Christi, Texas did not have any FRC teams until the 2009 season so the local college scene is only going to have a few FRC veteran students with one or two years of FIRST experience. We will need a lot more of the virtual and tele-mentoring resources.

[maltz1881]

1322 has never had an engineer ( though we do have 2 engineering students from Kettering) and has won "Best in Engineering" a couple of times. This year we had an engineer join us!!! We are excited!! Parents can be your biggest resource. Ask a local team for some guidance. Is there a local college in your area? I would bet with you being in Texas there are some people who had been in FIRST previously who are looking for something to do. 1 more place (and I am sorry I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head) is the association of retired engineers. Those guys (and ladies) love this stuff!!!

[wendymom]

Also....our programming genius Skyler has been holding Skype sessions with our programmers. I'm sure if you wanted to join in he would be happy to fix it so you can. Just PM me for more info.

I bet you could set up the same kind of arrangement with Electrical and Mechanical people.

[synth3tk]

Originally Posted by wendymom

Also....our programming genius Skyler has been holding Skype sessions with our programmers. I'm sure if you wanted to join in he would be happy to fix it so you can. Just PM me for more info.

I bet you could set up the same kind of arrangement with Electrical and Mechanical people.

You just reminded me of something that the original poster should check into:
http://chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87994

A network of FRC teams on Skype. So far there are 15 or so contacts on the list. And with the latest Skype, video conferencing is even possible.

[IndySam]

The one thing you need to have is somebody in charge. It's best if that is an adult but not mandatory.

Pure democracies just don't work well in the engineering process. Someone needs to have the final authority to make decisions. Somebody has to have as their #1 priority focus over the overall robot project or the project will be doomed for failure.

[Carol]

Originally Posted by IndySam

The one thing you need to have is somebody in charge. It's best if that is an adult but not mandatory.

Pure democracies just don't work well in the engineering process. Someone needs to have the final authority to make decisions. Somebody has to have as their #1 priority focus over the overall robot project or the project will be doomed for failure.

I agree with this. Depending on the dynamics of your team, you need someone with authority to handle disputes. And don't forget the NEMO aspects of the team - an adult to handle (or at least oversee) the money, travel, paperwork., etc. can free up the students for robot building. Not that the students can't handle the NEMO aspects - this can be a good learning experience - but it is easy to miss details that can cause a lot of problems down the road.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by maltz1881

1322 has never had an engineer and has won "Best in Engineering" a couple of times.

Best In Engineering isn't an award...

[dtengineering]

In our first year I was the only adult on the team of 12 students. We had NEVER seen an FRC event, had NEVER seen an FRC robot in person, and had only met one person with FRC experience, once, for an hour, the previous spring (before we even knew were were going to enter FRC.)

And we... well... we did about as well as you'd expect. We got our butts kicked! At least for the first day or so until we figured out what was going on. We were doing okay come Saturday, and then went on to win at least one FRC every award each year for the next six years. So don't panic. Where you are going is FAR more important than where you are right now.

Based on that experience, here is my advice:

1) Build simple. There are usually multiple ways to score. Pick the easiest one, and do it as well as you can.

2) Follow the instructions and build the kitbot as early as you can. You'll be given the parts and instructions to build a decent drivetrain. Use them. You can get fancy next year.

3) Don't be afraid to use wood. Baltic birch plywood is a wonderful building material.

4) Don't assume that engineers have some special knowledge that makes them better at building an FRC robot. If you've got a shop teacher at your school (maybe you ARE the shop teacher...) then you've got a technical expert. Maybe not an expert at labview programming, but surely there is a techno-geeky kid or two in your school who can follow some instructions and get the machine up and running. Our first programmer figured out how to write autonomous code on the plane to Toronto for our first tournament....

5) Machinists, millwrights, welders, mechanics, and any number of tradespeople can offer practical advice and often assitance beyond what you might get from many deskbound engineers. FRC is a hands on game... find some hands on people.

6) But whoever you get involved, don't let them talk you in to building a complex machine. Focus on sturdy, reliable and simple... start early, work hard and leave time to test.

And whatever you do... READ the RULE BOOK. ALL of it! Especially the tech inspection parts that give size and weight limits.... build under size and under weight.

Oh... and have fun. You'd be surpised how far you get by working hard and having fun.

Jason

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Best In Engineering isn't an award...

Maybe "Engineering Excellence" is what they were referring to...?

Anyway, 816 has never had a true "Engineering" Mentor for as long as I've been on the team. (Since Fall of 2005) We've made due with some helpful parents, some brilliant students, and the right attitude. You don't NEED an Engineer or an army of them, it's just helpful if you do.

Come to think of it, this year we don't have any parents returning, so most of the Technical Mentoring is going to be Done by myself and another alumni.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Josh Fox

What might be a good start is to go to parents on the team first, and if anyone works for an engineering related business have them ask around at work to see if they would be interested.

After that contact local universities. College students are less inspirational sometime but they sometimes have good ideas as far as engineering goes.