Rookie FIRSTs

FTC is another program in FIRST. The Girls of Steel FTC (First Tech Challenge) team is made up of the 16 Junior Girls of Steel members. Originally the Junior girls shadowed the older girls, but this year there were too many to just shadow, so they formed the FTC team, 9820. The FTC challenge this year was “Res-Q”, which included mountains to climb, debris to pick up, and other features to challenge the teams. Being in the FTC team helps the Junior members learn basic engineering and programming skills they can use when they move on to FRC. It’s been a very rewarding experience for them because they built their own robot that did well aside from some technical difficulties (which included one faulty wire that cost them a qualifying competition).  Over the season the girls learned more skills needed to be in Girls of Steel than they would have learned by shadowing the older FRC girls.

3 FTC members

Though most cuts on the bandsaw are straightforward, there are times when angled cuts or small cuts are needed. Safety is always important in anything shop related, but extra precaution should be taken with these type of cuts. One of the most important precautions should be making sure your hands aren’t lined up with the bandsaw’s blade. In case control over the piece is lost, for example right after the cut is done, making sure your hands aren’t lined up with the blade ensures your hands are safe.Another safety tactic is to use a scrap piece of wood or metal to give a spot to grip for smaller pieces to cut. Along with giving extra clearance from the blade, having the extra piece helps keep the main piece steady. When approaching the end of the cut, you should slow your cut rate down to keep the piece under the control as the final part
of the cut is made. Due to the extra bit of force required, if you continue to go at the rate you started with, your hands could go flying and if positioned badly get injured by the blade. In line with cutting slowly at the end, a slower rate for small or angled cuts should be taken, especially for angled cuts. With a slower speed, it’s easier to get the precision needed for the these two cuts. Giving a bit extra clearance to the cut is good for these two cuts as well, as it’s much easier to leave a bit extra material on and file or sand it down then having to cut an entirely new piece because the first attempt was too small. And in general, if you don’t know what you’re doing or need help, always ask a mentor or someone more experienced!

Jisue L.

CAD is a very useful and important skill to learn as a team. It allows you to see a whole model of your robot before assembly, as well as keep track of precise measurements and details. The Girls of Steel, along with many other FRC teams, uses Solidworks to create CAD models. In the past, we have had a habit of designing overall parts first and then working out the details as we built them. This is not recommended. When parts are made this way, there are often unexpected problems that cause setbacks. However, using CAD lets us work through the little things, like hole size and allocations, before we even start building. This way, we already know how everything fits together and the machinists can easily fabricate parts with convenient printable drawings also created in Solidworks. CAD is a powerful tool for any robotics team, and Solidworks has many beginner-friendly tutorials that can teach you step-by-step. If your team doesn’t use CAD already, then we strongly suggest it and are always willing to answer questions.

-Maddie O.

Safety is an extremely important component of competitions. Each team is given a space called a pit that they can decorate and work on their robot in. The pit is small and often cramped which means more opportunities for injuries. As the old saying goes, “It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt!” So it’s essential that everyone in the pit area remembers to wear their safety glasses and tie their hair back. While it’s not required, it’s also a good idea to wear long pants and closed-toe shoes to reduce the chance of accidentally getting hurt.

The pits during competition are also very busy. Robots are constantly moving down the rows to get to matches on time. It’s easy to forget about simple safety measures when you’re caught up in the beautiful pit decorations. Teams will often shout “ROBOT” when pushing their robot through crowds of people. This is helpful, but also adds to the chaos that can be distracting. Always remember to be aware of your surroundings so you don’t put yourself or others in danger. 

Stay safe and keep competitions fun!

Maddie O. and Emilia B.

Welding is a really effective way to hold together your robots “bones”. But it can be really dangerous. to prevent burns and injuries you should have some specific safety precautions before welding. First, you need to be dressed properly. You should have long pants, long-sleeved shirt of a welding jacket, closed toed shoes, a welding mask, your hair in a bun (not a pony tail), no loose clothing, and welding gloves. Also, make sure anyone watching you has AT LEAST gloves and a welding mask on. Next, you want to have a mentor with you just in case you DO set something on fire or hurt yourself. Always keep your area clutter free so you can prevent accidents. Make sure you follow ALL steps before welding and keep your tools clean. Now you’re ready to weld with safety. Good luck!

Natalie

If you’re new to a FRC team chances are you’re feeling like a small fish in a big ocean.  Don’t worry, we here at rookie firsts have got some tips for you!

1. Try to make a good first impression
    Okay you probably hear this from everyone but these are your team mates, the people you’ll be working with for at least the next year.  You don’t have to be best friends with everyone but at least try to get along with them.

2. Follow the rules
    I know, I know, that’s a given.  But you don’t wanna get booted off a team because you violated the dress code or started a fight.  Each team is different so be sure to talk with some older team mates about the rules and pay attention to presentations.  (For the GoS team rules see one of our previous posts about safety)

3.  Come out of your shell
     You are not a turtle.  There’s no reason to be afraid of your team mates.  These are all people around your age with at least one common interest.  Be yourself and be kind, no one will notice that you’re nervous if you project the facade of confidence, soon, even you’ll forget your nervous

4. Have fun
    If you’re not having fun there’s no reason to continue, but, if you stick with it, you’ll make some great friends

And that concludes @rookiefirsts overly cheesy list of new member tips.  Be sure to follow us for more tips and have a nice day

~New Girl Sophia

Naming your robot is a fun and important part of build season. Today we decided on the name Ada after the first programmer who was also female! Michelle after Michelle Obama came in a close second. We choose a strong female figure in STEM because our team is all girls and we identify with powerful female figures, like our mascot Rosie the Riveter. To choose our robot name we involve everyone on the team. Suggestions are typed on the board while everyone is present. The robot naming comes in three stages. Each stage is more treacherous than the last. Names are eliminated each round. The weakest go first, the weaker are the next to go. In the third stage there are two names left. Only one can reign supreme. Have fun and remember it’s just robot naming!

This post is not specifically for rookie teams, but for new team members on FRC teams.  I am a new member on FRC team 3504.  In the beginning it may seem intimidating when trying to help out more on your FIRST team but you will be surprised at just how easy it really is.   It is important for everyone to get involved on all aspects of the team for a successful FRC season.  Our team, the Girls of Steel, has a technical side and a mechanical side.  You can see our website (http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/girlsofsteel/our-team/subteams/) for more details on our team structure.  Each girl chooses a technical sub team (programming, electronics, mechanical) and a business sub team (finance, outreach, media).  Although each girl only chooses one sub-team for each category it is important to have a general concept of what the other sub-teams do.  When getting involved don’t just focus on your personal sub-teams but involve yourself in areas outside of your comfort zone.  
    Girls of Steel sets an outreach and finance requirement, along with a minimum amount of hours each girl must log during build season. You can see how this works on our website under the welcome packet section (http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/girlsofsteel/resources/girls-of-steel-welcome-packet/ ).  This encourages girls to sign up for outreach events, making them involved in our team. These requirements also encourage girls to meet the fundraising goal of $200 per girl. Each girl experiences all parts of the team through these requirements as well as competing on her own sub team.
As well as setting specific requirements it is also important to keep everyone on your team informed.  If everyone is better informed they will naturally become more involved.  During our weekly Tuesday meetings our leaders present a presentation. All girls attend the Tuesday meeting. These weekly meetings are a good way to involve everyone.  We go over robot design, progress and team wide topics.  Leaders express areas where they need girls to help out.  For example this week there were oppurtunities to volenteer on the buisness plan, the Chairmen’s award, Rookie FIRST blog posts, and our YouTube project (https://www.youtube.com/user/fiveawesomerobots ).  This set up makes it really easy for new members to take on new responsibilities and get involved.  
In order to stay organized our business leader sends out a weekly email update.  In the email all dates for competitions and outreach events are listed as well as ways to sign up for these events (google forums makes team signups really easy); all other team wide opportunities are included in the weekly update as well.  Get involved, you won’t regret it.

~Alexa S, Girls of Steel FRC Team #3504

    The Girls of Steel team has roots in a ton of different media sources and the team is totally connected! We have a popular instagram, our follower count was at 200 and recently jumped to 400! This tumblr has over 16,000 followers so most would say that we’re pretty big with the media. 

      To get involved in all the resources, just put a foot in a bunch of different sites. The most popular ones are instagram, tumblr, having your own website, and even a youtube channel. Get your name out there, you want it to be recognized. This will help your team get sponsors, money, recognition, and more members to help along the way. Social media is a great resource right at your fingertips, so utilize it

     Try to make your team different, whether its a trademark or a hashtag. Girls of Steel has their special icon, Rosie the Riveter with a robotic arm and the polka dotted bandana. Its our teams symbol and we associate everything with the red and white pattern. Also, anything we instagram has special hastags like #ohmygos and #lookatherbot along with #recyclerush and #frcrobots to connect with other teams. It is important to establish your presentation on social media to become a more connect FRC team.

Author: Sarah Seay

So it’s your first kickoff ever, and despite the hundreds of excited ChiefDelphi posts you’ve read, you still have no clue what to do – that’s A-OK! Everyone gets overwhelhlemed at kickoff, regardless of how many times they’ve been to one. Here are a few tips and tricks to keep you calm in the days leading up to kickoff and they days after:

• Check the FIRST website for any game hints they may have given! These clues are always fun, and can be a good way for you to have fun imagining what the game might be this year

• If your community has a big event, go to it! This is a great way to meet other teams around your region, but it is also a really fun enviornement to be in for kickoff

• Keep a notebook handy! The moments after the game is announced is the perfect time to write down your interpretation of the game. If you write down every idea that comes to mind, they can be used later in your big brainstorming sessions in the coming days.  No idea is dumb – even the most obsure ideas might inspire the robot’s final design

• Read the rules! You don’t want to find out week three that your robot is illegal. Assign several people to read the rules the day of kickoff. Everyone, however, should glance through the rules and be familiar with them at the minimum. Remember that FIRST releases rule updates frequently, so you may want to assign someone to check on those daily and inform your team

• Pre-download the rules! FIRST typically releases and encrypted rule book, which can be downloaded before kickoff.  Make sure to download it before kickoff! The huge amount of people that will be downloading the day-of may crash the website, leaving you without a rule book for a few hours. They key code will be released during the broadcast

• Think about strategy over design.  If you are picturing a specific robot when you are brainstorming, it can hinder your ablitlity to generate the optimal robot.  Think about what qualities you want your robot to have before you think about how.  Rember that you can’t do everything – a perfect autonomous, high-goal scoring, third tier pyramid climbing robot may seem plausible, but really isn’t. Think about which strateties will score you the most points in the 2 minute match and work your way from there

• Have fun! It’s only the first day of build season – don’t stress yourself out too much!

~Becca Volk, The Girls of Steel, FRC Team #3504

Big updates coming to the control system for the 2015 season! When FIRST ran a beta test during the summer, they completed three tasks. They sent out loaner hardware to testers, provided -20 specific testing tasks, and solicited feedback and bug reports. Girls of Steel happened to be one of the teams that applied and was accepted!

Hardware Improvements

New components were added, along with thier acronyms, that it would be wise to know. There is the roboRIO, the Power Distribution Panel (PDP), Pneumatics Control Module (PCM), and the Voltage regulator Module (VRM).  Other components were not changed, like the batteries, fuses, Spike relays, the D-link, etc.

roboRIO

The new controller replaces cRIO and the digital sidecar.  The smaller package saves lots of space and has built-in USB and CAN connectors. Yet, the controller has fewer digital I/O ports and no cable restraints for PWM cables.

Power Distribution Panel (PDP)

This panel has a more compact form factor, the same Wago connectors and fuses, and th emain power connectors are covered.  The new CAN connector allowes a batter voltage level and a current draw for each circuit.

Pneumatics Control Module (PCM)

The new module replaces the old cRIO solenoid module. Now, the compressor is directly attached, no Spike, is controlled by pressure switch input, and no special code is needed.  Connecting to roboRIO via CAN is also a new, cool feature.  But, be careful of the new connectors, and make sure to strip it to precise length and test them by tugging.  

Voltage Regulator Module (VRM)

This new module replaces 12V to 5V converter(s), and has a 12V input from the dedicated PDP connector. There are two outputs, each, of 12V at 2A, 5V at 2A, 12V at 500mA, and 5V at 500mA. One VRM even supplies the D-Link, multiple cameras, and more!

Motor Controllers

Note: The motor controllers are not included in this year’s Kit of Parts!

The controllers are smaller and completely sealed, allowing no more aluminum shavings to be inside the package. PWN or CAN control interfaces are available, and CAN is now built into roboRIO.

Simplified Networking

Straight out of 1993: DHCP! The D-Link router has DHCP enabled, which hands out IP addresses dynamically to roboRIO, driver’s station, and programmers. That means that there are no more trips to the control panel! Also, the Multicast DNS (mDNS) is on roboRIO, and it advertises roborio-####.local name.

Connectivity Options

The same Wireless and wired Ethernet is used, just like before. The direct USB connection is now an option, though.  Now, you can smoothly transition between all three by changing cables/Wi-Fi networks. There are also no settings to update and you can now program while on the Internet!

Programming Environment

There is a new integrated development environment! Eclipse IDE replaces NetBeans and the Wind River Workbench for Java and C++. There is a similar, but more complex, user interface, which is commonly used in college and industry. Along with that, there is an expanded set of starter templates.

WPIlib Changes

 Read the FIRST document, 2015 Text-based Language Software Notes, carefully. A few of the changes included the removal of the start/stop methods on gyros, counters, and encoders, and lots of new hardware features are supported. 

Hello! My name is Sylvie and I am the technical leader on FRC team 3504 (Girls of Steel). We were privileged enough to attend SWAT 771’s SWATPosium on November 15^th as well as the Steel City Robotics Alliance (SCRA) Workshops on November 23^rd! While at the SWATPosium, I attended the business plan workshop and I also presented the fundraising presentation at the SCRA Workshops. My tip today will discuss what a business plan is and how to go about creating a solid plan.

So first off, what is the business plan?

The business plan should, generally speaking, be a desscription of your business or company, goals, and how these goals will be reached. A tip from FRC team 771 (SWAT) is to write your business plan with the idea that the team is a business. In other words, don’t make it a robotics team’s business plan; make it a plan that actual companies can relate to!

What makes up a business plan?

FIRST gives us this walkthrough, and I think that it does a good job outlining the various sections you should consider having: Executive Summary, Team Overview, Team Management, etc. You should also look here at the FIRST Award guidelines for the Entrepreneurship Award. Also, while FIRST has created these outlines for business plans, your team shouldn’t be afraid to add on new sections that you feel are relevant to your team. 

FAQ

How long should my business plan be?

There is no correct length to a business plan! You should focus on making sure that your plan has detail and legitimate content. Making up stuff to fluff up your plan is a big no-no.

What is the Entrepreneurship Award and what do I have to submit for it?

The Entrepreneurship Award is an award given by the judges at all FRC competitions, and “Celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit by recognizing a team that has developed the framework for a comprehensive business plan to scope, manage, and achieve team objectives” (x). As of the 2013-2014 year rules, teams need only submit an Executive Summary, which is described in the link above.

Where can I find some examples of a business plan?

Some good examples of FRC business plans are FRC team 687’s (The Nerd Herd) plan, FRC team 2337’s (EngiNerds) plan, and FRC team 234’s (Cyber Blue) plan. Additionally, don’t be afraid to reach out to teams and contact them for help or tips on the business plans!

This document from Purdue University is also a great way to learn about professional business plans as well.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask us here!