Given the recent announcements from FIRST, a lot of teams are trying to figure out what they should do until we once again can safely have an in-person season. In these difficult times, we are reminded that FIRST is not just about the robots, and that there are greater and more important factors at play. This is absolutely, unequivocally true. No doubt about it.
That being said…
We are also told that the robot is a vehicle that is used as a way of accomplishing FIRST’s mission. I believe this to also be true. The two concepts are not mutually exclusive. I believe that if a team is capable of continuing to teach and inspire their students with STEM, they should try their best and do so. This is a proposal to try and persuade teams who can stay active during 2021 to do so.
As a precursor, I of course want to recognize that there are teams who cannot continue operation during this down time. There are teams who may not have the funding or resources to continue any form of operation, teams without access to their facilities or students, as well as teams with other extenuating circumstances that would make this proposal infeasible for them. I would not ask those teams to do anything outside of their comfort zone, or anything that may not be in the best interest of the sustainability of their teams.
I also recognize that a large part of standard operations for some teams involves meeting in person, which is something I am extremely hesitant to suggest until a vaccine has been properly distributed. I will discuss this later, as there are workarounds for these things.
My idea is simple: I propose teams with the ability to do so try and create a new robot during the 2021 year. My reasoning is as follows:
- A large portion of the robot can be done in a safe, socially-distant manner
- Given no official ruleset for a game, the scope and objectives of said robot can be tailored to better fit your team’s goals and criteria
- It is a way to keep most students engaged online, with options for growth for students whose typical contributions to the robot tend to require in-person attendance
- It helps suppliers test their new products as well as stay afloat during the gap year
For my first point, I believe a large portion of the robot can be worked on in-depth without any in-person activities. Kickoff, strategy, design, most of programming, business, media, finance, and some wiring planning can all be done online. Simple testbeds can help test specific concepts that require tuning, which can be created either by lone mentors or small, socially distant groups depending on what is safe for your location. Without the push to finish in time for spring competitions, many of these aspects can be done at a slower pace, extended over a longer period of time, and can better incorporate experienced feedback and iteration. There are greater opportunities for new students or those just starting to develop their skills to get involved in whatever division they are in. There is room for more discussion, more learning opportunities, and more chances to try new ideas without the cost of wasted time in a season. All of this can be done online and socially distanced.
Secondly, this “robot” can be whatever your team wants it to be. It does not have to be designed to play Infinite Recharge, it does not have to follow any specific rulebook, it an be tailored to better fit your team’s goals and criteria. It can be big, small, simple, complex, use technologies or ideas new to your team, or use components that aren’t legal in FRC. This is your time to explore and to design a robot goal that exposes your students to the exact kinds of engineering you want them to experience. As an aside, if you’re planning on competing with said robot at a 2021 offseason, consider checking with the people who run it to see if your modifications would be okay. Other than that, this is a great chance to give students a unique challenge that they may not find in FRC, or to give your team a challenge that better sets you up to succeed given your resource situation.
Third, there is room for growth for all students, even if they normally require hands-on activity to perform their role on the team. The biggest things that come to mind are manufacturing, wiring, and assembly. To a degree, some aspect of each of these can be done online. Manufacturing can examine parts and figure out the best way to make them, how to best nest parts in a CNC, and how to CAM parts. Wiring can provide feedback to the design team about designing with wiring in mind, as well as have a more complete robot model to plan wiring routing around. Assembly can also take a more complete robot model and discuss what order to manufacture and assemble parts in, what tools they need, and what sections of the robot may become tricky to work in or maintain in-person. From my experience, these are all valuable kinds of conversations that there isn’t always time to have during a normal season. Alongside this, if our situation does improve over the year, a vaccine is widely distributed, and at some point later on in the year it is safe to meet up again, teams can manufacture, build, wire, test, and maybe even compete with these robots. It is still a very real possibility that it will be safe to do these things at some point next year. If the opposite proves true, there is still something to be gained from online activity that I feel is worth it for any team who can support it, and arguably not much is lost. It doesn’t cost money to do all the online parts of building a robot.
Finally, it helps suppliers. I’ve said this before in other threads, but suppliers are the backbone of the FIRST Robotics Competition, and a lot of them are likely facing a difficult year, especially with the expectation that so few teams are planning on building robots. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, there is still a chance that there will be a point in 2021 where it will be safe for teams to meet, and if that does happen, having a robot to build will not only help your team, but it will also help our suppliers stay afloat, and get feedback on new products they may have released since the 2020 season ended. I would absolutely hate to see any supplier absent in 2022 because they could not sustain enough orders in 2021 due to the pandemic.
I hope that your team finds this proposal compelling. I want to reiterate that safety is the #1 priority, followed by sustainability. This proposal is not ideal for many teams, but for those who it could work for, I urge you to consider some sort of engineering project during 2021. I believe it will take more than a pandemic to stop the FIRST community from inspiring, even if it’s done through a computer screen.
