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Tips for Rookie Teams

The Bionic Tigers - FTC 10464

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Engineering Notebook

  • Put time into it!
    • It takes a lot of time and thinking to develop a good notebook
  • Collaborate → Have everyone on the team contribute
    • Use platforms like OneNote, Google drive, etc to store documents
  • Look at examples of how other teams do things
    • Hot Wired Robotics FTC Team #7013 (https://youtu.be/jfefMCHO-LA)
  • Create your own format
    • Make it work for your team
    • Keep the format throughout the notebook
      • same font, size, style, etc

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Programming

  • Give yourself enough time
  • TeleOp
    • Program controls to assist your drivers
    • Communicate with drivers about controls
  • Autonomous
    • Figure out motor encoders
      • https://ftc-tricks.com/dc-motors/
      • gives a nice overview of how to program motors
    • Use sensors
      • good for awards and robot
  • GitHub
    • If you are going to use GitHub, our advice is to create a repository of the TeamCode folder.
  • If you don’t know how to do something, look it up! There are great forums for FTC

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Robot Design

  • Standardize hardware
    • minimize tool needed to fix problems
  • Use the off-season to plan ahead
    • Use off-season projects to learn new skills and test
  • Design first
    • Cardboard prototyping
    • Use CAD to your advantage
    • Design reviews
      • Allow others to contribute to the idea and prototype
  • Research to discover designs and speed up the process

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Robot Design

  • Parallel prototyping
    • Have multiple ideas going at the same time
    • Use data and scores to compare prototypes
  • Plan out where you will put the electronics in CAD
  • Plan wiring in CAD
    • Extremely important to avoid troubles and disconnects
  • Spend time together as a team
    • learn how each other work and form ideas together
  • Create priorities so that you are able to actually build a functional robot
    • If you focus on too much, you’ll end up with a robot that was supposed to do a lot, but doesn’t work

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Robot Building

  • Care about quality when building
    • It matters!
  • Use standardized hardware
  • Have easy access to nuts and bolts
    • As you’re putting it together make sure you can easily take it apart
  • Use the right tool for the job
  • Understand that building your robot will take longer than you expected
  • Clean up after yourself so that it is easier to find things next meeting!
  • Have a clean workspace and area to work and store multiple ideas

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Engineering Systems

  • Figure out what needs fixed before it does
    • Fail fast, analyze what is going wrong and change quickly
  • Set up systems so you are prepared
    • Have plan B,C, D ready in case A fails
  • Don’t forget to rewire things after fixing them
    • Plan wiring ahead and minimize connects
      • The more connections, the more places to disconnect
  • Full batteries are more important than you know
    • Change batteries frequently, systems run differently based on battery power (especially motors)
  • Work as a team to keep the systems going
  • Know your bot!

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Use the Off-season!

  • The off-season is a great time to build the team and figure things out
    • Team bonding, outreach, practices
  • Three main ways to use the off-season:
    • team planning
    • community outreach
    • and side project building.
  • Off-season planning
    • Analyze what didn’t work last season and design ways to overcome the problems
    • Create structure and strategy in advance
  • Community Outreach
    • Find local events to share about FIRST and demonstrate your robots at
    • Help others who are considering starting a team
  • Side Projects
    • Find something fun to do
    • These are great for helping discover what needs pre-season planning

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Things You Should Do/Know

  1. Have goals for the season
    • as a team and as an individual
  2. Set up a timeline of when different stages should be completed
    • plan ahead and leave more time than you think
  3. Communicate with your team, other teams, and mentors
  4. Make sure everyone on the team has a basic knowledge of everything
    • This is good for judging and in general
  5. Care about doing high quality work
    • You put in a lot of work, so make sure it is worth it

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Things You Should Do/Know

  1. Test everything thoroughly
    • know what your wear/tear parts are
      • servos, screws, etc
  2. Prepare for the judging presentation
    • practice questions and presentation
  3. Keep making progress in the off season
    • continue to grow constantly
    • look into off season competitions
  4. Find how you work as a team
    • every team is different
  5. Have fun!
  6. Attend scrimmages in your area
    • Great way to learn and meet other teams!

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Credits

  • This lesson was written by The Bionic Tigers 10464 for FTCTutorials.com
  • You can contact the author at:
    • Website:
    • Twitter:
      • @BionicTigersFTC
    • Email:
      • BionicTigers10464@gmail.com
  • More lessons for FIRST Tech Challenge are available at www.FTCtutorials.com

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