Hi! As we are still unable to meet and will be for the foreseeable future, and FIRST has pushed back champs, our team is beginning to explore other options for a season (even if we do do FRC, which I would love, it would be somewhat burnout-inducing to have an online training and development season until the spring).
Although I’m focused on software, ideas for similar activites in other areas (i.e. build, design, business) would also be welcome and appreciated. Thanks!
You could definitely take a look at data-analysis methods and create a program that scraps blue alliance info to create information. That, or learning how to create scouting software, could be beneficial for future team use.
Thanks for the advice! We actually have another department (strategy) dedicated to that. They work in python and google sheets, get data from tba, and create a web based scouting form we also offer to other teams as part of a scouting alliance! We actually ran what we think was the largest champs scouting alliance ever in 2019. If we ever get back to champs again hopefully we can improve on that! (They definitely are working on improving the interface)
Code Wars could be another option. Programming challenges in whatever language you want, and I believe you could make use of the “Guild” system to handle “Teams” to track overall scores and whatnot. Though it is usually used more individually, perhaps the use of “group” accounts or something?
Also I know that HackerRank and CS Academy have been used to host the College-Level IEEEXtreme Programming Competition in years past. Not sure what support for running competitions they give to the average account vs bigger organizations though.
Robocode is an ancient but fun programming task. It’s in Java so it can be useful to most FRC teams. You can learn a surprising amount about kinematics and motion trajectory from it.
Video game? I guess you probably won’t be using Java for that, but C# is a similar language to Java. There’s some syntax differences, but it is very similar.
Hey I’ve been working on a new website that exactly encompasses everything your discussing: competitive, social, video game, and team-based. It’s called iKODAT.com. The teaching language is in Python, but the challenges are super engaging and simulate a corporate company where you can rise through the ranks by completing challenges. Factors such as the quality of code, and speed of completion factor into your rank. By the time you reach the higher ranks, challenges get very challenging, which has kept all the programmers at Team 612 engaged. You can also complete community curated challenge, which will allow your team to challenge each other. It would mean a lot to me if you could check it out and provide some feedback. Let me know if you have any questions.
Here’s just small writeup what it is.
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iKODAT is a rank-based educational, corporate simulation platform designed to teach students programming and problem-solving skills. Users compete and rise up a simulated corporate ladder of ranks in a gamified social network environment. Starting as an Intern, users can progress all the way to CEO by completing engaging challenges. The ranks are linked to a progression of programming skills and lessons. iKODAT is a perfect balance between the educational aspects of Khan Academy and the social environment of Scratch.
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