What should new teams be doing?

Hi All,

As team leader for 9033, I’m looking for some ideas. Our school has not done a robotics team in years, and everyone on our team is a rookie. After researching, I bought a romi and we’re learning to code with that. Is there anything else me and my team should be doing to get ready for the upcoming competition?

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Read:

Watch:
The Spartan Series videos


Do:
Visit other teams
Talk with other local teams
Practice prototyping - look on Chief for the prototyping resources
Practice CAD - Onshape
Practice Code - I don’t mentor programming so…
Practice some wiring - make sure that the way you guys want to wire is done correctly and reliably.

Something that might be useful is to find a kit of parts chassis that someone will lend to you so that you guys can dry run assembling, wiring, and getting it moving.

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There is a lot you can be doing to prepare for the season. Probably the best thing you could do though, with only a couple of weeks before the season kickoff is to find an established team near you that can help you out. They will have the facilities, people, and knowhow to recognize the issues you (as a rookie team) are going to face before they stop you dead in your tracks. And most teams are happy to lend tools and shop space to help out.

Welcome, and wishing you the best success in your inaugural rookie season!

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I have no idea how I missed this document’s existence but thank you for posting it.

I have been trying to find an easy 1 stop document for our Rookies to get more familiar with common frc parts/materials/designs and this is better than I could have dreamed. Seriously whoever worked on this deserves every praise imaginable.

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Depends on the resources your team will have, the Everybot is a resource that I cannot stress enough to young teams to have a quick impact to competition.
Take a look at their website, where they discuss the theories behind the decisions made, which can be a great resource to take into Kickoff discussions.

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I think a cool technique is to do a modified Everybot for a team that is still learning. It gets you a working machine early in the season, and gives you room to iterate from there.

I saw teams that replaced the climber on it with a COTS climber kit, which I think was a good choice.

I don’t know their process, but 45 had a very effective Everybot-esque robot. It has the same feel, but they figured out how to make it shoot in the high goal (mainly in auto), and make it climb to the traversal rung. It was one of my favorite robots to watch this season.

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Setting realistic objectives with one or two reach goals.

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Writing out a basic schedule, including what you’ll need waiting for orders to come in and sufficient practice.

Deciding on meeting times and having some basic idea of what you’ll do for the first week or two.

Reading & training, but cramming it in may be worse. More directed stuff is better.

Know basically the drivetrain you think is most likely and study how to get it together more quickly. If nothing else, the KoP chassis is solid, but if you can get some local teams help to put it together (we have kc quick build for that) it can work past any issues you might have, like putting the gears in backward for example (bosses set against the bearing).

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For a rookie team I would start with an every bot and upgrade from there unless your students have prior experience in CAD, CNC machining or a way to outsource CNC parts, and collaborative design. If you don’t have all of those before kickoff the every bot will be a good learning experience and get you a basic functional robot. If you have time to design and build upgrades do that but don’t forget drive practice.

Once your competition season is over, get everyone into CAD, and design and build something for practice. Build major new systems for an off-season, or even build a whole new bot if you have the time and resources. Get your concept->CAD->fabrication->assembly->software->drive practice process figured out before kickoff or you will be playing catch up all season if you do a fully custom design.

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Set your priorities and revisit them regularly.

Your mileage may vary but for us it has always been:

#1. Learn useful things
#2 Enjoy the ride
#3 Win stuff

The first element is non negotiable and if you have something else if first place I’d ask why.

2 and 3 are interdependent and so at near parity. It is hard for students to have an enjoyable season if they are squished like a bug at the competition level. Of course that can teach you useful things. On the flip side an excessive focus on Winning can get unpleasant and if it takes shortcuts might reduce the Prime Directive: Learning.

Saddle up, if this is your first season you are in for an epic ride!

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Various people have already posted links to some very good resources and videos to study. I re-watch the Citrus Circuits “Strategic Design” video as well as Karthik Kanagasabapathy’s “Effective FIRST Strategies” before Kickoff each year.

Set goals appropriate for your team. This requires an honest assessment of your teams current capabilities and resources. Many teams fall into the trap of “trying to everything in the game” when history has shown that even the most accomplished teams find this challenging (see Karthik 's “Golden Rules”).

Iterate. Iterate. Iterate. I have found that in robotics and my professional life (designing electronic circuitry), one has to be willing to go through at least 3 iterations to get a good result. Allof the accomplished teams I have talked with have gone through many iterations of their robot during every competition season. The only exceptions are when executing something that you know so well you can do it in your sleep.

Include ample practice time in your schedule. A well driven robot with fewer features will most likely outperform a robot with more features that the driver is still learning to use. If possible, arrange to scrimmage with other teams at least a week before your first competition.

@veg suggested getting help from local teams. Choose teams that are already established and have a consistent track record of doing reasonably well. Ask those teams to help your team with aspects other than designing and building your robot. Ask about team structure and management techniques, how to work with the schools and fundraising. Many of the video series will have episodes discussing these various topics so you know what to ask about.

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