Robot in 3 Days is proud to be back and bigger than ever for 2016. This year we will have 8 teams competing against the clock to build a robot in 72 hours.
We are continuing the trend of mixing professional, college and community based teams. We are excited by the impact the efforts are having in their areas through sharing and partnering with local teams.
We are also making a few changes for 2016. Teams have been asked to limit YouTube video releases to 1 video per day and we’re hoping this cuts back on the video clutter. Teams will be using the Ri3D Blog, Twitter/Vine and Facebook so make sure to follow and subscribe to get frequent updates.
We’ve also allowed for a twist in the “build rules” in which teams may choose to build more game function prototypes in place of finishing an actual bot. This will allow teams to cover more ideas and game angles and hopefully have a more diverse showing. We really have no idea if this will actually happen as some games need a complete robot to demonstrate the ideas… But maybe it will?
The 2016 teams are:
Ri3D 1.0
Team Indiana
Team oRyon
Snow Problem
Team Redacted
Team Tesla
The GreenHorns
Team Cockamamie (New team at USC lead by Billfred Leverette)
Don’t know how I feel about this. While it certainly will reduce the video clutter and make finding videos easier, I did appreciate when teams were able to post multiple videos per day to answer questions and explain their prototypes in more depth.
I think the change makes sense. There are plenty of outlets for the individual teams to post supplemental material if people want to do a deep dive (Facebook video, Instagram, Vine, Snapchat, etc.), and it allows the daily YouTube videos to be an overview from each team as to their progress and let more casual viewers easily follow that progress.
I think these teams are still going to be able to answer questions and explain prototypes in depth without necessarily using youtube videos. Especially when social media is such a big factor these days.
This is exactly correct. The GreenHorns will only be posting 1 official YouTube video per day, but we will be posting any content we think teams will find valuable to our social media pages. I’m definitely a fan of this change.
I can’t wait to follow it again this year! Last year our students loved following the builds, almost too much sometimes, but it peaked their interest in mechanical design. Keep up the good work!
As the newbie on the block, I’m entirely and completely fine with one video per day!
I’ve got the Team Cockamamie Twitter account on my phone, and I’ll be more than happy to upload as many pictures as anyone wants of anything. I expect we’ll also be Periscoping live, barring wireless troubles in the shop.
Team 3946 would have been totally at sea without a paddle or sail without Ri3d in our second year (2013 Aerial Assist). In more recent years, we have worked largely on our own, but we certainly make a point of checking back on the Ri3d concepts as an aid to our strategy. The insight and information and inspriation provided by Ri3D is just plain off the charts. Keep it up!
Kettering University is also hosting a Ri3D team. The videos will be posted to the Kettering youtube channel. The first video should be up sometime tomorrow morning.
Team Name: Kettering Strong
Robot Name: The Boulder
There are so many great ways out there that teams can use to share updates on their efforts! YouTube is definitely a spectacular resource, but I would not underestimate Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or even Vine.
For The GreenHorns 2016, we are using all of the above! I was a tad iffy about using Vine at first, but I quickly began to appreciate it for its usefulness in posting short video updates in an effortless manner! I really believe Vine should begin to have a more prominent presence in the realm of FIRST Robotics; it is marvelous!
On the topic of social media, be sure to stay updated on what we are up to via the following:
Twitter: @GreenHornsRi3D
Facebook: The GreenHorns
Instagram: greenhornsrobotics
Vine: The GreenHorns
Team [REDACTED]'s goal is to help out those young teams and show that you can build a robot that can play the game w/o fancy tools, w/o CAD abilities.
We build at the Washington FIRST Robotics Fieldhouse which is why you see a set of Red and Blue road cases for the PNW District. Not really visible in this year’s video is the Washington FIRST Robotics machine shop trailer. That trailer contains a lathe, mill, welding equipment, taps, dies and many other tools. We used the Fieldhouse’s tool box stocked with mid grade basic hand tools. In the interest of time we did break down and use the table saw, chop saw and drill press acquired to build all those road cases. However those tasks could have been done with hand held saws and drills.
We do have participants versed in CAD but for our build the design exclusively used a white board and a calculator ap on a smart phone.
We would like to thank our sponsors who made it possible.
AndyMark for their donation of the AM14U3 and many other parts.
The folks at Ri3D who welcomed us into the mix.
The following Washington FIRST Robotic FRC Teams
Bear Metal 2046 from Tahoma HS for the use of a control system, motors, motor controllers, batteries and pretty much all of your basic KOP type items.
Lion Robotics 2907 from Auburn Mountainview HS (a PNW district event site host) for the use of some parts when we needed them in a pinch.
Tread 3219 from Auburn HS (another PNW district event site host) for the use of the field elements the built for the kickoff they hosted.
