Written by Fiona Hanlon, Ted Hood, and Kevin O’Connor, FIRST Robotics Competition Staff
A few months ago, we shared a blog announcing that we were expanding the Kit of Parts to include a base robot specific to CRESCENDOSM presented by Haas. We are sharing more details to help teams make decisions before the Black Tote and Drive Base opt-out deadline (Oct. 19th 12pm noon ET).
This base robot will be called the KitBot. The KitBot is designed to be able to play some aspects of CRESCENDO, but not all. It’s also been designed so teams can build the KitBot and then further iterate on it to add additional features if they choose. Teams will still need basic power tools (drills, saws, etc.) in order to build this robot.
The KitBot is one component of the Kickoff Kit, and some of the materials needed to build the KitBot come in the Black Tote, Drive Base Kit, and Gray Tote (for rookies). The Gray Tote provides the electronics that teams need for the KitBot (veteran teams should have these components from previous seasons), and the Black Tote provides additional components. While the KitBot design could likely be adapted to any drive base, it is designed and documented using the Drive Base Kit, so teams looking for the smoothest experience should not opt out of the Drive Base Kit. Additional items that can be found in local hardware stores will need to be sourced for the robot. A shopping list will be made available closer to Kickoff.
KitBot documentation will be available to all teams, and many of the items from the Black Tote that are used to build the KitBot are components that Veteran teams likely already have on hand or can easily replicate. So, veteran teams should not consider the KitBot a significant factor in their Black Tote opt-out decision. We don’t want you to opt into the Black Tote for the KitBot, then be disappointed that you would have rather received the voucher.
We are developing a number of resources to help teams building the KitBot. These resources will all be available online so even teams who choose not to build the KitBot will have access to review and learn from them. Resources we plan to make available include:
Build instructions for the KitBot with photos.
Basic code to operate the KitBot as designed in LabVIEW, Java, C++, and Python.
Software guide for each language exploring the code and possible controls modifications.
CAD drawings of the KitBot.
A guide to describe the process of adding or improving the functionality of the KitBot.
Assembly Videos.
And hopefully a few more!
We’re so excited for teams to use the KitBot and can’t wait to see its impact on FIRST ® Robotics Competition!
I’m curious how challenging these items will be for teams to source that aren’t located in the US…
While not nearly as hard here in Canada than I’d imagine things are for teams outside North America, there have been years where sourcing game specific parts have been near impossible without driving to the states to collect parts.
It would be nice if FIRST sent the “shopping list” on to a few suppliers a month or two before it’s publicly announced so they could offer kits for international teams. Better yet, I imagine they could secure a sponsorship from one of those “local hardware stores” to get those components bundled with the KOP chassis or Black Tote for overseas teams.
I appreciate how honest this is. Sounds like we will still be able to have our rookie students follow at least some guidelines from this kitbot to build something for training purposes during build season.
So excited for this program and everything it will bring to FRC. I think any team from rookie to extra-veteran can benefit from this, whether it be for drive practice or an actual robot. I hope the videos and documentation takes a page from the FiM everybot series, those videos were seriously useful for teams. Great job FIRST
Fractions are harder to work with though
You see this in parents counting down for their kids, then reaching 1 but not wanting to reach 0, so they go “two… one… three quarters… a half… one quarter… one third… umm”
