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Building Tips & Tricks

Patti Poston

Nevada FIRST Senior Mentor

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FTC Kits

 

Actobotics

REV

Tetrix

Custom

Price for Starter Kit

$494 with team discount

$444

$532

~$1,000

Starter Kit Quality

Best

Good

Okay

No Starter Kit

Robot can be built to precise specifications

Good

Great

Good

Best

Build Materials are easy to use and learn

Great

Great

Best

Okay

Robot is easy to customize

Great

Great

Okay

Best

Will need access to tools such as bandsaws to use system most effectively

Sometimes

Often

Sometimes

Almost Always

Overall Score

Great

Great

Good

Great

Recommended for Veteran Teams only

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Building Tips and Tricks

  • Do few things in rookie season but do them well (maybe just 1 thing)
  • Don’t start with 18” cube frame – allow for space
  • Mount electronics under chassis
  • COG
  • Speed vs. Torque
    • Learn Gear Ratio
  • Reliability, consistency, wiring

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Building Tips and Tricks

  • Measure twice cut once
  • Design for easy repair
  • Drill access holes
  • Fasten nuts loosely
  • Protect wheels if possible
    • Use Wheel Guards
    • Protective bumper
  • Protect Wires

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Building Tips and Tricks

  • Make connections and joints strong
    • Use enough screws
  • Avoid crooked construction
  • Manage ESD (Electro-Static Discharge)
    • Static Spray or dryer sheets
    • Mount electronics on nonconductive material
  • Protect Power/Kill Switch
  • Protect top of robot from game elements

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Build Tips and Tricks

  • Use Metal Offsets for support
  • Use Bronze Bushings for Axles
  • Rubber Bands for Springs
  • Use Nylocs for final design

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Testing

  • Test each assembly
  • Test final robot
  • Test each modification
  • A small change can cause a big side-effect
    • Think about possible effects before making a change
  • Practice on field with game elements
  • Attend Scrimmages

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Tools and Workshop

  • Carpenter square plus a T-square
  • Tackle Boxes
  • Double-sided mobile rack
  • Loose part container
  • Testing/driving area

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Suggested Tools

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Tin Snips

Vise Clamp

Wire Cutter Pliers

Slip-joint Pliers

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Wire Stripper

Multimeter

Metal Crimper

Phillips Screwdriver

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More Tools

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New Additions

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McMaster-Carr Nut Driver

  • Seem better than REV drivers

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Chain Breaker #25

  • Dark Soul Chain Breaker
  • DarkSoul

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Advanced Tools

  • Electric Drill
  • Drill Press
  • Bench Grinder
  • Jigsaw
  • Rotary Tool (Dremel)
  • Band Saw
  • Magnetizer
  • T-handle Hex Keys in Tetrix sizes
  • T-handle 5/16” nut driver
  • 5/16” open and closed end combo wrenches

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Building Tools Links

  • Roboplex.org is dedicated to furthering competitive robotics. The site is a collaborative workspace where robotics groups can information.
  • FTC hardware, tools, and tips – From Roboplex Team

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Mark Tools

  • Red= 7/64" (#6-32 socket cap screws)
  • Green = 3/32" (hub set screws)
  • Blue = 5/64" (button cap screws and TETRIX collars)
  • Orange = 5.5mm/1.5mm (REV Robotics screws / nuts / collars)

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Chassis and Structural

  • Short Channels not L-Brackets
  • Flat Metal great for connecting channels
  • Center of Gravity Low
  • Axle Hub vs Motor Hub vs Collar Clamp

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Axle Hub

Motor Hub

Collar Clamp

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Types of Wheels

  • Stealth
    • Great for traction/torque
    • Heavy duty
    • Tank drive – good driver
  • Omni
    • Maneuverable
    • Light/small
    • Bad for traction
  • Mecanum
    • Maneuverable
    • Traction okay not great
    • Torque is good

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Miscellaneous Building Tips

  • Make mini goals
  • Keep Improving Robot All Season
  • Test Each Element – Don’t Wait
  • Draw Sketches – label, date
  • Do Notebook Every meeting (don’t get behind)
  • Neverest Motors over Tetrix Motors
  • 2-3 Batteries – 1 robot, 1 charging, 1 spare
  • 1 or 2 Extra Phones

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Building Video Tips

  • REV Resources
  • Hardware Tutorials from FIRST
  • Tetrix PushBot
  • REV PushBot

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Electrical Tips

  • Electronic Videos from FIRST
  • Label Wires – label maker
  • Spare Fuses
  • Power/Kill Switch Accessible
  • Use proper gauge wire
  • FTC Wiring Guide

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Battery Tips

  • Mark Batteries/Phones/Controllers with Team Number and Date Of Purchase
  • Use Rubber Bands to Mark Batteries that are Charged vs. Not Charged
  • Batteries keep at 14.0 V
  • Swap Batteries after each Match
  • Test Batteries with multimeter

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Prevent Disconnects

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Stress Relief!

  • Stress Relief 3D Parts
    • Design Your Own
    • Thingiverse

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OTG Cable

  • MonoPrice OTG

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USB WiFi dongle

  • Adapters provide computers with an additional wireless port

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Programming Links and Tips

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Help for FTC Teams

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Connecting with Teams

  • Facebook Account
  • Twitter Account
  • FTCTEC NETWORK
    • Discord
    • FTC Channel

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Links/Discounts

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Credits

  • This lesson was written by Patti Poston for FTCTutorials.com

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  • More lessons for FIRST Tech Challenge are available at www.FTCtutorials.com

Copyright 2020 FTCTutorials.com (Last edit 4/1/2020)

This work is licensed under a

 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.