Scouting is one the most important things in FIRST, just ask the winning alliance: 1114, 217 and 148. They have a great scouting program.
Itâs also nice to work together during build season.
I know, I headed scouting on RUSH for a couple years. I know scouting isnât worthless, but some people think of it as worthless and a waste of time. They should always do their best regardless of what they think of their job. I agonized over the phrasing on that one for a while, I guess I still didnât get it right. Sorry for any confusion.
I really havenât got any sleep so i misread it, and thank you for clearing it up.
Iâll have to agree with that â I put off uploading my custom (if rudimentary) CMS built upon the Zend Framework to a public server 'til the last moment, and found, to my horror, that my host had a horribly misconfigured Apache installation (specifically, a consistently incorrect REQUEST_URI env. var.) that hosed Zendâs front controller, which in turn hosed the site.
MAKE FRIENDS!!! not only will they maybe get you on an alliance (the winning one in my case) but they could become amazing friends forever. I have made friends on other teams that i couldnt live without talking to.
If you are a pre-rookie or know of a pre-rookie team forming, make sure they notify their FIRST leadership team in their area! We can be of help! Thatâs usually the Regional Director, VISTA Volunteer, FIRST Senior Mentor, FRC Regional Planning Committee Chair.
Step outside of your comfort zone. If traditional methods of learning in the classroom donât excite you, hereâs your opportunity to learn doing hands-on stuff!
READ EVERYTHING FIRST PUTS OUT - the manuals, the deadlines, the rules updates, the forums, the e-mail blasts - and share the info with the team! This especially applies to you, âmain contactâ people!
If youâre a mentor, join NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization) - every team has a technical side and a non-technical side and weâve got a lot of great resources for you (www.firstnemo.org).
Focus on team organization in the fall (or summer) - and realize that what works for you as a team this year may have to be revised next year. Form your team like a small business complete with a business plan, leadership structure, job descriptions, job application process and termination process, annual review, budget, minutes from meetings, etc. Many of the issues and complaints I hear from teams stem from a lack of any kind of team organization. Take the time to create the team handbook, identify the rules and consequences, decide who will be the ultimate decision-maker if a difficult decision needs to be made, etc.
Do lots and lots of teambuilding exercises before kickoff. FIRST tends to attract us introverts, who are very happy and content doing our own thing, and frankly, our ideas are better than anyone elseâs on the team, right? WRONG! Get used to working together as a team. Donât like the team t-shirt or color? Learn to love it and respect it. It is your teamâs uniform and soon enough you will be very proud of it. (I often use the analogy of a freshman football player telling Coach (s)he doesnât really like to wear the color gold, so could they change the uniforms? Or better yet, the freshman showing up with his/her jersey cut at the shoulders or pulled back into a knot so a little bit of skin shows⌠um, yeah, youâd last how long on the team?)
Speaking of which, team identity has been mentioned - establish your âmedia lookâ - will you wear khaki pants with your t-shirts? Ironed clothing looks best before the cameras, and before prospective sponsors! practice your 3-minute elevator speeches!
Prepare a media packet. Prepare a press release you can take on a laptop with you to your event and a list of who to e-mail/fax it to. Prepare a wish list of everything youâd like to have, from a white board to a CNC machine, and hand it out to everyone.
Figure out by October if you will go to Championships if you win the Rookie All-Star Award at your regional event. You DONâT want to have to make that decision at the event in March when emotions are running high. Can you get the time off from school/work? Will the school system allow a last-minute request to travel out of state? Can you fundraise enough to cover last-minute travel expenses? Will the whole team go, or just a few people?
DOCUMENT your rookie season (and every one that follows!). Take lots of photos/videos, identify the people in them, keep a scrapbook, save a t-shirt, use the info to create a website and/or Chairmanâs Award entry. On your teamâs 10th anniversary you will wish you had saved these items in a box somewhere. Even if you donât create a CA entry, make it a habit to create an annual report for your stakeholders - sponsors, parents, school administration, team.
Network, network, network. Go to the off-season events in the spring and fall before you start your team. Hang around other teams and explain you are a rookie and ask questions. Most teams will be glad to help you! Be proactive and ask your FIRST leadership team if you can host an event in the fall - maybe a workshop day or maybe just a get together so teams can meet one another.
Be humble and say thank you a lot and celebrate your successes.
My first year of FIRST was also my freshman year of college. Its funny how very different I wasâŚ
- Cutting metal will not kill you. I was not a shop guy and had no interest in being a shop guy.
- Its ok to put students to work, if they are a fooling around to much kick em out of the lab.
- Donât invest your heart into a project none of the team cares about.
Back then all I was interested in was Design and CAD. So I locked my self in the lab, didnât interact much, only worked on the inventor & animation awards, and never touched the robot. When every thing was said and down, I had a partial finished project that couldnât be submitted. I donât know which then was more discouraging: that it didnât work out or that no seemed to care.
It wasnât until my junior year of college that I made any sort of part. My machining was horrible (still is in fact), but at least was able to help out and feel like I contributed. I even kept a small peice of scrap (with its S-Shaped straight cut) as a momento which is still in my wallet to this day.
Oh and scouting is huge. Iâve been doing it seven years and donât plan on quiting. There is no doubt in anyones mind on Chuck that we won the Philly Regional twice these past years because of our scouting team and alliance pairing. We even take the extra step of running match results to the drive team then organize our big book by match order. This way the drivers actually have an idea who they are up against (or with), and since typically all they get to see is their match or plan for the next, it becomes a huge advantage.
Rookie Year? One of the veteren teams in my area (Iâm pretty sure it was 192) told me something that has only remained true since.
Get a rolling base before everything else. If you donât have the resources to run separate projects then make sure a rolling base happens first. Code only works on a moving robot, a driver can only practice on a rolling baseâŚyou get the point.
But that is advice after the start of build season. Before build, work with the students that will be the team. Team building is a good idea. Odds are not everyone will like each other and they donât have to, but they will need to work together.
Simple things
4 Square (you would be surprised)
Pot Lucks
Movie nights with a projector in a garage.
Paint ball.
Find a FRC team nearby, any team worthy of their number will be happy to help
Also raise money, you will need it for next year at least, most likely youâll need it for tools, or spares or travel to Atlanta.
In Hind site I am really glad I didnât know how much of my life would become wrapped into FIRST. I may have backed away from it as a cult or something. But I am glad I did.
If any rookie team or any team for the matter needs machining help or need parts made. Email me at rcthekid1323@gmail.com and we can help.
http://www.firstnemo.org/PDF/first_competition_tips.pdf
lots of resources here: http://www.firstnemo.org/resources.htm
I know this threadâs sort of old, but it seems like a good topic with no larger thread like it, so I think itâs ok to bump. Tell me if thatâs poor manners.
In no particular order:
Never be afraid to ask questions, even when you think theyâre stupid.
The mentors have a lot they can teach, listen!
Make friends!
Find something you love, but still learn a little about everything.
Donât worry, we all get stressed.
Take initiative and speak up.
Checking CD can save you a lot of time, energy, and money.
Prioritize, school and some sleep come first.
If you have a problem, tell someone.
Have fun!!
Some of this I knew my rookie year, but I think itâs still important.
I think the one thing I wish I did was got in the shop sooner. I was a rookie this year ('08) and I spent the first two or three weeks in the lab. It wasnât bad, but once they got me in the shop I couldnât leave. I asked questions about everything. I learned how to use 75% of the tools I would ever need to use in about two-three weeks.
So I guess what I wish I got in the Shop sooner. I feel like I missed out on a lot because I didnât have that two extra weeks of Q&A.
I also wish I knew how much I loved getting dirty. I liked having to clean grime off my hands, and I loved having to go underneath the robot (propped up on tables) and I loved learning how to use tools.
Learn your stuff. Study the manual, to learn the rules. Then do research about things youâre not quite sure about, or want to know more about.
Also talk to other teams in your area, and build relationships with them. Itâs great to have someone to go to when you need some help, or if you just wanna hang out and do some team-building.
Most importantly though, HAVE FUN. Things might get stressful at times, but you gotta get that out of your head, and remember that youâre supposed to be having fun.
I wish we hadâŚ
- gotten mentors to stick with the team instead of just helping us get started
- asked mentors whether certain things were even feasible before starting to build them
- formed smaller groups to work on things (because when everyone is equal and has an opinion, nothing happens)
- read the rules thoroughly and checked them before doing things (which is why we had to spend a day replacing the duct tape with bolts)
- prototyped questionable parts before just assuming weâd be able to do them later
- thought about the center of gravity and planned accordingly (because we ended up with a robot very good at doing donuts, but not much else)
- left time to test the robot before shipping it and assuming it would work
âŚand a lot of other things. Really though, the rookie year is for learning. The key is to take what you learn and not to make the same mistakes the next year.
lol i was talking about this today with a few mentors.
I wish I knew or didâŚ
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About ALL the different Drive Trains out there
-
Different Gearboxes,motors and transmissions out there
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Got on Chief Delphi :rolleyes:
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Talk to mentors about what i disagree with and not just agree with what they say
the list can go on but i basically wish i knew everything i know now 
Welcome to my world. Our one and only mentor left at the end of last year. And I am the only returning member (Our two leads graduated). This makes me lead mechanical, driver, programmer, electrical, etc. Oh, did I mention that last year was my rookie year? Luckily, we have a mentor coming from another team that is amazing at CAD. We also have a great new physics teacher that will be our mentor who is willing to learn and do her best to support us. Plus we have a very solid mecanum drive base to work with from previous years, plus some cool prototype wheel designs.
I think we will pull it offâŚ
[EDIT]Oh, right the topicâŚ
My advice would be to get involved in as many things as possible. Learn as much as you can. My summer/fall would have been a lot easier if I had followed that advice.
[/EDIT]
I wish someone had given me these two words of advice:
UNDERSIZE
UNDERWEIGHT
If you design it 1" small on length and width, then when you add those extra bolts and last minute switches to the bot youâll still be âin the boxâ
If your goal is 15 lbs underweight and you keep shooting for it and keep it clearly your goal - every week, then when you magically put all those parts together that weighed 105 lbs by themselves and they come up to 119.5 lbs youâll be a very happy person!
- 10 amp fuses donât exist.
- âFinding the aluminum stretcherâ is a clever way of saying âYou messed up, kid.â
(Yeah, the amount of cynicism on the team my rookie year was startling.) - FIRST is more about people than robots. Incidentally, people still call it âRobot Club.â
- Donât be afraid to talk to the mentors, no matter how intimidating they may be.
We are getting ready to start our second season. I am so excited.
I am the Teacher/Adviser at the school.
Most importantly: Find a mentor from another team. My mentor was Richard McClellan from Team 2158. He is a college student. I am teaching my 22 year of school. The age of your mentor is not important.
Read the manual.
Ask questions.
Join CD, read and ask questions.
Delegate responsibilities. You cannot do it all and cannot know all the answers.
But most imporantly: HAVE FUN.