I’m sorry, got switched around. Been a long day. Your absolutely right. You might have noticed, I’m not on the drive crew.
I have seen things as a rookie twice. Once as a student on a new rookie team and my first year as a mentor when I worked with a rookie team at college.
As a student, I wish I knew when we were rookies network, network, network. Whether it be a spare part or even an alliance, new friendships never hurt.
As a mentor during our rookie season, well I could probably write a book on what I wished I knew before starting that adventure. But one of the best lessons from that year…Even if the math says no, well sometimes the robot says yes and does what it wants anyways.
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On a side note I remember a few teams at BMR back in 2006 that didn’t understand the dot on the badge and thought it was the team captain’s badge.
This year, I learned to get started building as early as possible. Having to assemble/reassemble half of our robot at our regional wasn’t fun.
I’d say, AndyMark.biz and the importance of a good drivetrain.
Unless you really know what you’re doing, I’d go with an entirely off the shelf and KOP base drivetrain.
Actually, Dave’s advice is very good in this case.
Some more nuggets of wisdom:
a) Unless it’s acting as an axle, you generally don’t need any fastener bigger than 1/4".
b) The kit wheels hold up, really! If you need more traction, skin 'em for incline conveyor belting–but you can do fine without it, and you definitely don’t need anything bricklike on them.
c) Ignore everything after “If you need more traction…” in point B unless you have a working grasp of the effects. Read Chris Hibner’s white paper on the topic; it’s five years old, but it’s still just as relevant as ever.
Adam gets it. My previous comment was quite serious.
What would I tell a rookie? Learn to swim.
Figure out what you have to do to keep your head above water. When you hit the start of FRC build season, you will likely feel like you are drowning in new information, ideas, people to know, things to do, things to learn, and even team politics. Many forces will conspire to overwhelm you with a sea of demands on all your available time.
As a rookie, the very first thing that you have to do find out how to navigate through all this new stuff. Find someone that knows how to swim through it already. Follow them. Watch what they do. Figure out what works. Learn how they differentiate between what is important, and the meaningless drivel that is mixed in. Learn to swim with them. And don’t be afraid to ask for help and advice; your team mates can be life-savers when the last week of build season hits, and the robot still has four weeks worth of work to be done and there are thirty pounds to carve off and you have been running on 90 minutes of sleep for the past four days and you feel like you are about to go down for the third time. Think of your experienced team mates as your swimming instructors, and your mentors as your life guards.
If you do, you will learn to survive and float through the tough times during the build season and the competitions (and there will be some). If you don’t, it will be like trying to doggy-paddle in a heavy surf - you won’t make much progress, and you will quickly tire of the whole adventure.
-dave
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Do not expect others to solve your problems. Work hard at solving them yourself. Having others do that work for you doesn’t teach you a darned thing except how to be dependent.
Read the manual, it really does contain almost every fact you need to know. The manual is your best friend, read it often and completely.
Google is your friend. Find your answers there.
Chief Delphi is your other friend. What google doesn’t know, someone here does. And we love to share.
Take time off, don’t try to go 60 hours a week, you’ll burn out by week 3.
Lastly: Don’t Panic. Everything always works out at the competiton, if you ask for help.
Don
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- Fun later, work now.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
- Winning isn’t everything.
- Try to stay out of drama on the team and if possible try to prevent it.
- Bus drivers like to save gas, bring extra jackets.
- Despite what you may think, most people on the team do know more than you.
- Read the manual.
- Find one drive team early in the season and stay with them.
Where’s the hint… maybe it’s every other letter. 
Many will feel a part of something bigger. That’s ok, you are.
Many will feel a passion and it will fuel your drive, your creativity, your ability to think outside the box. That’s ok, too.
Many will fail at time management, risking a lot: grades, homework, sleep, build decisions. That’s an area to work on, improve, and appreciate.
Many will inspire and be inspired as rookies. That’s not just ok, that’s awesome.
Flexibility and agility work well with constants and change - constant change.
Great thread.
Jane
1)Keep up your school work. Even if it means missing a meeting or two. If you don’t want to do that, finish it before and after robotics each night.
2)15 minute naps are better than longer naps. The human brain is wired in such a way that a 15 min. nap is restful and waking up will not have any effects on it but any longer than around 15 min. and things start getting messed up and you become less alert and feel worse than before.
Say you start your homework at 9 and you have maybe 5 solid hours of homework. I, personally, start getting tired and lose focus after a few hours. Split the 5 hours into 2, 2, and 1 hour periods with 15 min. naps in between.
3)Do the homework where you actually have to think first and save busywork for last.
During the build season, I went a few nights sleepless (i.e. no more sleep than a few 15 min. naps), got 3-4 hours on bad nights, and 6 hours on good nights.
This is just what worked for me.
Also, I find that my writing skill seems to improve as I get increasingly sleep deprived. If this is true for you also, make sure to check your work in the morning.
Oh, buy an annoying as heck, screeching, almost painful alarm clock with a short snooze button (3-5 min. tops, none of that 10 min. junk) and get accustomed to using it before build season so when you hear it, you get up automatically. I got so accustomed to mine that I would get a little adrenaline rush every time our programmer’s watch went off (as it beeps once every hour) since it’s pitch is about the same.
Make every second count. Don’t be afraid to take a break.
Here was my usual weekday schedule during build season:
Wake up at 5:30, get on the bus by 6:15, get a half hour of sleep, finish homework, school starts at 7:30, school ends at 2:20, stay at school relaxing, answering email, and taking care of planning somewhat, get to robotics by 5, get back from robotics at 9:30-10 each night, shower and eat dinner (yeah, I eat lateish), start my homework around 11, and keep working until I finished. I had to get up around 5:30 each morning to catch our bus since I lived 7 miles away from the school. I moved to about a 5 min. walk from our school now so I can afford to sleep an extra hour.
Nobody said FIRST would be easy.
-Vivek
You don’t have to do everything at once. You can check the team out, see what interests you, find out what doesn’t and go on from there.
Join Chief Delphi early on, it really helps you get involved with the FIRST family.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions or talk to people at FIRST events, I’ve met some of my best friends that way.
The more outgoing you are the more fun you tend to have, don’t be shy 
Find out the websites that would really help you learn about FIRST teams like The Blue Alliance or FIRSTwiki and learn the history of FIRST robotics so you can reference things in the future.
Mentors are amazing people and they put a lot of personal time into the teams, remember to thank them for that.
Dressing up and cheering for your team is a lot of fun.
FIRST is an incredibly addictive experience for which there is no 12 step program.
Teaching a person to swim is one thing…
But a robot…?
That’s something else…:ahh:
Is Dave hinting about H20N09? That would really give the rookies a leg up.
Back to the real thread, have a well planned strong team theme/identity. Make sure your theme is solid from name, robot, pit, to uniforms. This will help with sponsorship and being remembered during alliance selection among many other things.
Oh, and this one is for CHET, BIG NUMBERS that can be read from the stands. The only way they can be too big is if someone from RUSH 27 comes up and says they are too big.
You know the funny thing… I think I have answered this question before… and certainly in plenty of detail.
But the more I think back… I think I would now change my answer to “Absolutely NOTHING”.
The reason being is that the rookie year is so much fun, its crazy, its hectic, its full of twists, turns and suprises… but honestly its the struggles and the triumphs of that year, of learning it all on our own, that made it so sweet. I wouldn’t change or trade any of my three rookie years (3 different teams) or the knowledge we didnt have, for the world. Successful or not, they were by far the most fun and perhaps even the sweetest years of the teams I have been on.
And I think Steve Jobs nailed exactly why in a speech he made when talking about being fired from Apple and starting all over again:
The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
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If you are stuck doing what you consider a meaningless job, like scouting, don’t complain. Always do things to the best of your ability, doing this will give them meaning.
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If you aren’t enjoying yourself (safely and responsibly) you probably are doing something wrong. This does not mean don’t do your work. It means enjoy your work (see above)
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Coopertition. FIRST is not about beating your opponent. It is about competing like crazy and then collaborating like crazy.
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Bad things happen, if your robot breaks it breaks, don’t get angry. Try your best to fix it.
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Ask for help. (not just for rookies)
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We are all equal. Yeah there are some smart people in FIRST. Don’t be intimidated.
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Just because you are in 35th place out of 35 teams do not get discouraged. You are competing against teams that have been doing this longer than you.
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There will be no water game. Game hints from Dave Lavery can be ignored. Anything else I advise you to listen to. (If for no other reason than you need a good chuckle)
By the way, veteran teams don’t know it all. FIRST changes every year and we all just hope we are right.
This is a great thread. All Rookies should read. Here is my 4 sense.
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Believe in Gracious Professionalism. I thought I understood what it ment and what it was, then my team was on the receiving end of GP. That is when I really got it. I would not think twice about helping another team in need.
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If you don’t have a mentor team, find one. Your rookie year is more chaotic than the rest because you are experiencing everything for the FIRST time. A mentor team will guide you through that chaos.
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Mentors are there to help you. They want you to succeed. Use them and enjoy them.
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Never underestimate the value of great team moms. My team might never eat if it weren’t for them.
if it works already, don’t change it
Have fun!
Ask for help, but try first and don’t let the mentors(or more experienced students) do everything.
Have pride in what you achieved. Building a 120 lb robot in 6 weeks is amazing!
Smile! It makes everything seem better.
Accept help - You might be able to do it on your own but 2 heads are better than one and it makes in more fun.
These tips are for everyone!
i learned always clean off your pwm ports before competition, and Don’t blame the programmers, it’s usually not their fault! (at least not on our team!)
Unfortunately, they are usually the first to get blamed for malfunctions!:rolleyes: