Greetings from team 907, Toronto Canada.
Our school is participating in the Canadian Regional this year. It is our first year. What is the most important thing to remember?
We have no shortage of recruits and a fully equipped tech lab. What is the best way to organize our team?
Do any of you have to deal with exams during FIRST? How does your team work through exams?
Appreciate your help,
Brian
the white papers ( http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/papers.php?s= ) have a few documents on how to organize a team, i believe.
(i know for sure theres one about the curriculum that ChiefDelphi uses for its FIRST class)
The single most important thing your team can do as a rookie is at the end of the build time, have a machine with which you can compete!. It doesn’t have to do everything, or anything the best, but you must make sure you have a machine. You will be doing a lot of work, and lots of people will be putting forth a lot of effort. The biggest dissapointment will be if at the end of the build cycle you have no robot!
Remember, as a rookie, keep it simple, keep it light ( overweight is really common ), and keep smiling… and last but not least… Ask For Help!!! There are lots of people on this website that will assist you with as much as they can! Answer questions, provide suggestions, and items to avoid. Good Luck and see you at the competition(s).
Gila Monsters
Team 64
Something we have finally learned is to start building THIS week. Use rapid prototyping materials like foamcore, PVC, wood, and definately 80/20 or BOSCH rail and get something this week working. Six weeks will come soooo fast and your school work only cuts into that more. The first 2 years we spent too much time designing and slacking in the first weeks only to be up against the clock in the final hours with little or no testing, its not the right way to do this thing. Build a ‘robust’ robot, counterbalance heavy loads and drive it hard in practice
Great Luck to you
I am also sure that there is the “TechnoKat Handbook” in the white papers section here…it may be useful for a rookie team, and it gives you an idea how we go about it…
KISS = Keep It Simple, Stupid
the greatest words of wisdom for a young FIRST team…
actually, some of us veterens would do well to keep it in mind ;-]
George
S.P.A.M.
Team 180
As a second year team I can offer you just two words…DON"T PANIC!!!
I know six weeks isn’t a long time and it’s amazing how fast it will arrive. Keep your head and everything will work out.
We divided our students into teams. We had OPS (operations), CAD (self-explanitory), Base (drive system), Payload (what 's attached to the base), Electrical (wiring) and Finance (money $$$).
One thing that really helped us get two Rookie All-Star awards was our full set of AutoCAD draqwings.
The politically correct definition of KISS is Keep It Simple Students 
Hope this helps
Wayne Doenges