[FTC]: I'm helping to start an FTC mentoring program and need your help!

[Alexa Stott]

Hello, everybody! As you can probably tell from my CD profile, I come from the world of FRC. I am also a student at the University of Maryland and I, along with professors in the Science, Technology, and Society Scholars program and from the Maryland Robotics Center, am working on starting an FTC mentoring program where UMD would provide mentorship and other services to (a) local FTC team(s).

Basically, our goal would be to get together a group of undergraduate students (most probably freshman in the STS scholars program) to act as the actual mentors for the team(s). Professors and graduate students would be involved in running workshops for the teams, since their schedules are less likely to permit being available to provide consistent support for an FTC team.

Now, as I said, I come from FRC, so my knowledge of the specific needs of FTC teams is somewhat limited, which is where all of you lovely people come in!

Here are some questions that I have for you all:

1. What sorts of workshops would FTC students be interested in attending? Would teams even be likely to attend?
2. What are some specific areas where you see FTC teams struggling that you think could be helped by this sort of mentoring program?
3. Is one day per week enough support for the teams?
4. Is there anything else that I am overlooking or any other general comments that you have?

We are trying to put together a very rough draft of our proposal by the 21st.

Thank you all!

[normalmutant]

In NJ, the state has already given training opportunities for teams to teach teams at workshop days and outreach scrimmages. We've found that this works effectively - the older, more experienced teams teach the new teams in different classes (what we also do for things like labview that most teams don't use is have specialists from the companies come in.). Sort of an FTC boot camp. This was how our team got started 2 years ago.
However, our team has found that new teams need more help than just that, so our team invited rookies to come work with us during our meetings or correspond via email, and encouraged other experienced teams to do so as well.
So, in NJ, I think we're doing okay when it comes to mentoring. Plus, most of the teams I can think of right now are far from UMD.

What I think would be interesting is hearing lectures about how what we're learning is used in the scientific and engineering community. Some lectures about the technological tools used in the field would be very engaging, to sort of bridge the gap between FTC and colleges or careers, maybe. That would be worth driving down there to listen to.

Thank you so much for the offer. Our team will be looking forward to hearing further plans. Sounds great!

[Alexa Stott]

Originally Posted by normalmutant

In NJ, the state has already given training opportunities for teams to teach teams at workshop days and outreach scrimmages. We've found that this works effectively - the older, more experienced teams teach the new teams in different classes (what we also do for things like labview that most teams don't use is have specialists from the companies come in.). Sort of an FTC boot camp. This was how our team got started 2 years ago.
However, our team has found that new teams need more help than just that, so our team invited rookies to come work with us during our meetings or correspond via email, and encouraged other experienced teams to do so as well.
So, in NJ, I think we're doing okay when it comes to mentoring. Plus, most of the teams I can think of right now are far from UMD.

What I think would be interesting is hearing lectures about how what we're learning is used in the scientific and engineering community. Some lectures about the technological tools used in the field would be very engaging, to sort of bridge the gap between FTC and colleges or careers, maybe. That would be worth driving down there to listen to.

Thank you so much for the offer. Our team will be looking forward to hearing further plans. Sounds great!

That's really great to know that students would be interested in lectures! Obviously, as a large university with a highly rated engineering school and computer science program, that could definitely be something we could provide.

What sorts of workshops do the older teams run for the younger ones? As in what specific topics are generally covered? Do you focus mostly on the more technical aspects (design, build, programming) or do you also include other things, such as strategy and awards presentations/engineering notebooks?

[normalmutant]

We've had classes for all of those except strategy, actually. I'm sure that'd be good to hear about from some former FRC-ers.
However, we could always use fresh ways to do the presentation and some suggestions on how to make the engineering notebook more professional.
Of course, this is just my opinion - I'm sure the other teams and even my other teammates may say differently and request more technical help.

[PhilBot]

Originally Posted by Alexa Stott

What sorts of workshops would FTC students be interested in attending? Would teams even be likely to attend?[*]What are some specific areas where you see FTC teams struggling that you think could be helped by this sort of mentoring program?[*]Is one day per week enough support for the teams?[*]Is there anything else that I am overlooking or any other general comments that you have?

I'd suggest workshops on:

1) Basic Tetrxc building methods. Many mistakes to be made here. Simple stuff like axle/gear/wheel mounting sequence. Different drive systems (tank/omni/direct drive etc). How to determine what type of motor to use for an arm.
2) Basic wiring: When to daisy chain power and when not to. Best power distribution & wiring practices. Running cable for moving manipulators.
3) Programming: Autonomous and Teleop. Both are essential, and both are very different. Focus on using motor encoders, and how to get the most out of subroutines/subVIs
4) Communication/control issues: How the Samantha module works, and how data is processed.

1 Day per week would be fine. We meet for 6 hours each sunday for all of our season.