2013 FIRST Robotics Competition Kicks Off

theodp writes "Saturday, the 2013 FIRST Robotics Competition kicked off, and — much like the Pinewood Derby — mentoring by adult engineers there doesn't hurt one's chances of winning. So, any advice for 'ordinary' high schools going up against the likes of FIRST Robotics Teams sponsored and mentored by NASA? FIRST Robotics Team 254's Lab at NASA Ames Research Center, for instance, includes 'an 80% size practice field as well as a small machine shop, workspace, computer lab and meeting space.' Not surprisingly, Team 254 won the 2011 FIRST Championship." We took our camera to the Michigan FRC championships last year, and had a great time.

Comments

Craig Charles

[xushi]

Get Craig Charles to present and maybe it'll be more of a hit.. Heck I'd watch it then :)

Why not robotics competitions elsewhere?

[DavidClarkeHR]

Any robotics competition is interesting - but why don't we hear more about them on slashdot? The last mention of a competition was last year ... Skills Canada has a similar, yearly competition and has included robotics as a category for quite some time (Up here, it's been going on since 1995).

In fact, it looks like there are 26 different competitions that students can enter, per year ... though the geographic restrictions may limit individual participation.

Re:Why not robotics competitions elsewhere?

[3nails4aFalseProphet]

We don't hear about other competitions because...
A. They weren't founded by recognizable name like Dean Kamen
B. They don't have over 50,000 international participants
C. They don't hand out $16 million in scholarships
D. They haven't been around for 20+ years
E. They aren't based in the USA, which is where the majority of Slashdot's readership is located

I'm not saying we shouldn't have coverage of other robotics competitions, I'm just saying there are reasons we hear about this one in particular.

Serious advice

[Anonymous Coward]

The first piece of advice: The point of the contest isn't to win, it's to have fun and learn stuff. Yes, just like in the pinewood derby, having dad build the thing means you're more likely to win the trophy; it also means you're less likely to win and have fun... So make sure that your mentors are mentoring, not doing the work for you.

The second piece of advice: NASA isn't the only place that has smart engineers. There are plenty of small engineering companies in the world; take a look around and find one! Even pretty small towns are likely to have some civil engineers or mechanical engineers...

Re:Serious advice

[3nails4aFalseProphet]

Some more serious advice:
1. Remember you're competing as an alliance, not a single team. I didn't see anything mentioning if the alliances are created by participants, will be predetermined before the competition or randomly selected at the time of the event. Synergy between your bot and those of your alliance members could overcome opponents who build and function as individual bots instead of alliance members.
2. Don't do the same thing as everybody else. You've got to get crazy in your ideas. If you want the chance of a spectacular success, accept the risk of a spectacular failure.
3. You may be able to combine defense with offense. Check rules for any limitations on size/shape/blocking opponent goals. The first thing that popped into my head was a bot that deploys a huge clear sail/net in front of one or more goals, funneling attempted shots down into itself, which it then fires at the opposing goal. It wouldn't need to be very mobile, but would need resistance to opponent attempts to shove it out of position.
4. Playtest the hell out of whatever you build, in as many different scenarios as possible. If the rules don't forbid swapping components based on opponent and/or alliance members for a particular match, use that to your advantage.

Sponsors are a big deal

[CharlieG]

Making sponsor relationships is a big deal, as their time does not count towards your budget. Expect to work long hours. Find a mech eng to help.
Most important thing? Let he kids do the work and have fun. Our mentor team probably could have had a robot built already, or close (4 pro programmers, a ME, a machinist, an EE) but we let the kids design and build, we teach software design, how to use the shop, and act as a safety team.

Dropping the kit of parts to the school thisAM
Go Fe Maidens 2265 and SciBorgs 1155

RC car or "real" robot or ?

[vlm]

I glanced at the PR stuff and was pleased to see its not a stereotypical "robot" = "homemade RC car with weapons destroys another homemade RC car with weapons". Apparently something about getting disks into goals, I assume as close as they can get to calling it Hockey without violating trademarks and patents. Does anyone know if its basically "homemade RC cars that play hockey" or are the robots autonomous? An autonomous robot competition would be more complicated, but much more interesting. The only autonomous competition I can remember is that "drive across the desert" thing from years back. Not that there's anything wrong with homemade RC cars.

Re:RC car or "real" robot or ?

[3nails4aFalseProphet]

The youtube video in the linked story explains the game pretty well. It starts as an autonomous competition, with double points for any goals during that time. Then teams are allowed to take control. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itHNW2OFr4Y

Re:RC car or "real" robot or ?

[RPI Geek]

This year the goal is to throw flying discs (frisbees) through goals of different heights (both in the sense of how high off the ground they are and how tall they are), and to get bonus points (awarded after the 2:15 match time runs out) by climbing a pyramid of bars (kind of like monkey bars on a playground, but a pyramid). The robots can weigh as much as 120#. Click here or look on YouTube for Ultimate Ascent.

On the topic of autonomous robots, the first 15 seconds of each match ARE autonomous! The thing is that each team (of high schoolers) is given 6 weeks from learning the rules of the game to design, build, write code for, and test their robot. Asking a team (which could have as few as 3 or 4 mentors and 5 high schoolers) to do that, and make the robot autonomous, is just asking too much. Even the bigger teams (I mentor for Team 250 - The Dynamos - and I am one of about 20 mentors and there are a few dozen students) have a hard enough time making the robot functional.

Lastly, it is very much against the spirit of FIRST to intentionally damage the other teams' robot; doing so will get you penalized and maybe even disqualified from the match. That doesn't mean no pushing and shoving though - playing defense is a valid strategy, but the game rules are designed to prevent damaging the other bots. In fact there are two term that are used widely in FIRST, gracious professionalism and coopertition. It is a common sight at competitions to see a team with a broken robot (either smoke pouring out or it just doesn't work) and people from other teams giving them parts, advice, and labor to get them back on the field.

Re:"Coopertition" and "Gracious Professionalism"

[kaizendojo]

I'd have to agree; back a few years ago when I was working at a private school, we started a team in cooperation with a school for special needs students. We won the Judges award for Extraordinary Partnership first year in, and second year placed in the regionals. You have to really look at what FIRST is all about, and play to your team's strengths. Also, partnerships with industry and engineering firms can be a big help here too.

Working with students in FIRST was probably one of the most enjoyable and rewarding high points in my entire career. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Best of luck to you and your team!