Study Up!

Hello wonderful FRC teams! In honor of it being 2 DAYS until the 2012 Kickoff, we are doing two posts. This post is a long list of videos (and a few websites) that you should watch and read in order to be best prepared for Build Season. Feel free to add to the list – we’ll edit this post as you submit links.

Check it out:

Electronics



Knowing how to hook up, diagnose, and fix the FIRST electronics board is crucial. Watch the video above (2 minutes) that shows you how to install an encoder. Read through this page, which explains FIRST electronics and gives hints at how to succeed. Download and scan through this powerpoint that details how to build a FIRST electronics board.

 

Hardware



Torque!
 


Watch the video above to learn (or refresh your memory) about torque. We use torque to calculate parts of the drive train (the wheels moving on the floor) and any rotational parts on our robot (like the shoulder and wrist parts of our robot last year). If you want a more detailed explanation, watch this Khan Academy video (10 minutes) or crack open your Physics textbook.

 
Friction!
 

Watch the video above (5 minutes) that covers the basics of friction in an example problem. If you want to get into more advanced friction applications, including on an incline plane, watch this Khan Academy video (10 minutes). 

 
Gear Ratios!


This short video  (2 minutes) overviews gear ratios, but doesn’t get into too much detail. This “A World In Motion” video (10 minutes) goes into more detail about how gear ratios work and their application. There is a part 2 to the video, if you’re interested.

 

Extras

In addition, make sure that many people on your team download the encrypted 2012 Game Manuel, found here. The high traffic on the FIRST website makes it near impossible to download the manual the day of the kickoff, and FIRST provides the password at the end of the game announcement.

EWCP is hosting their annual pre-Kickoff FIRST webcast tonight. Check out the details here.