Through the ringer and not done yet

[KleinKid]

I don't think i've had a good night sleep in about 4 weeks now and i'm pretty sure i've gained 5 pounds since then too. It is my teams rookie year in first this year and it has been fun but if i look back i think i could save myself a ton of headaches. With four computer science teachers, two mentors and four high schools for the team to draw on i thought this would be a lot easier.

A week into the build season my teams leadership collapsed. I was sub leader of mechanics but seeing as i was one of the only people in any leadership position showing up to the meetings i was thrown into a role i wasn't prepared for. I took over nearly all leadership duties in my team and have been trying to turn things around. This weekend we got the robot to run wireless and have been switching our focus to the minibot and manipulator. Now if i can just finish building that practice field.

How has everyone else's rookie or 2011 year been going so far?


KleinKid
Team Coordinator for 3735

[BrendanB]

Rough as expected! I think what makes it harder is all the little items that was already in place at my old team after 6 seasons that you forget about until you need it and have to wait for it to come in. I am very optimistic that we can get our robot finished by ship date with some hard work!

[DonRotolo]

No doubt, 6 week is too little time. That's what's so great about FRC.

Just remember your health first, grades second, robot third. The world won't stop spinning if you leave early one night. It WILL get done, trust me. But a wireless, driving robot is HUGE, the rest is gravy.

And don't sweat it if you're not completely done on ship day: Just be sure to ask for help from veteran teams at your first event, very first thing in the morning. Again, trust me when I say that you WILL get all the help you need.

Good luck, remember health, grades, robot - in that order.

[Bob Steele]

Well don't fret too much....
It sounds like you guys are already ahead of the pack... if you have a moving robot and are working on details... you are in great shape!!

Congratulations on getting through most of the hard part... now finish hard and put the robot to bed (in two weeks..) Remember you can finish any last minute things on the Thursday practice day but just having a moving robot is a great accomplishment.

Good luck on the field!!
It sounds like you have already learned a lot...
Remember to write down the lessons you have learned so you can start preparing for next season!!

see you in St. Louis!!

[lwhipker]

No advice -- just a "feeling in the same boat" post!

We're also a rookie team who are lucky enough to have committed students and great mentors. But we're definitely entering stressed mode (well, the mentors are -- many of the students are not stressed! ). We deliberately chose to be 100% rookie (students, mentors, parents) and are dealing with all 8th-10th graders which is great in many ways as we create our FRC team foundation but we're all working pretty hard to figure out how to get this done (the light seems far away some nights!).

From a cRIO that burnt out a fuse when we took the robot for a test run Saturday night and no known date for getting a replacement from NI due to out of stocks -- to needing some banebot motors/gearboxes that we didn't realize we needed until they were sold out everywhere we've looked, we're hoping that we've got a demonstratable robot for a public JCPenney display on the 19th!

Lots of learning and thinking through the process for students and mentors right now! And not much sleep as FRC permeates every waking moment.