Star ng a WI FTC Team By FTC 4106 Supposable Thumbs 6/12/2017 What is FIRST Tech Challenge
• Youth robo cs program aimed at teaching 7th-12th grade students real- world engineering, business and interpersonal skills. • A judged compe on involving a range of technical and non-technical areas. • A sports-like compe on where robots ba le with and against each other with the goal to winning a championship. • A hands-on opportunity for students to develop skills in mechanics, electronics, so ware programming and a variety of business skills. • Coaches and mentors teach teach concepts and real-world skills and bring perspec ve from Industry. • Students design, build, plan, compete, win, lose, succeed, fail, learn. Flow of a season (Wisconsin)
Timeframe Ac vity September to November/December Kickoff, start designing, building, programming December/January Regional compe ons (1-3), possibly advance to state championship 1st Weekend of February State Championship (UW-Milwaukee), 2 teams advance to “Super Regionals” 1st Weekend of April “Super Regionals” (Cedar Rapids, IA) – Possible advancement to World Championship 3rd or 4th weekend of April World Championship (Detroit) Year Round Improve Skills Year Round Make connec ons with academia, industry professionals, other teams Year Round Do outreach ac vi es to spread FIRST and STEM in the community Time Commitment • Regional Level: 4-6 hours per week
• State Level: 6-10 hours per week
• Super Regionals Level: 10-20 hours per week
• Worlds Level: 15+ hours per week
There is significant value in the program at any of these engagement levels. First Year Startup Costs ($6,500-$9,000)
• FIRST Registra on ($275) • Tools ($1,500) • Alan Wrenches, screwdrivers, hammers Look for crea ve ways to cut costs! • Dremel Tool • Metal cu ng saw (recommend DeWalt DW872) • Corded or Cordless Tool set (Drill, sawzall) • Drills, blades, etc. • FIRST sponsorship of registra on • Op onal Tools • Band Saw, Lathe, Mill, CNC router, logic analyzer, voltage meter, 3D Printer • Does your school already have a metals • Ini al Mechanical Kit of Parts ($1,000+) shop? That is huge! • Need to decide on which part vendor to start • Rummage sales for tools – or put an • Ini al Electronics Set, incl. 2 sets of phones ($1,500+) • New op ons available (but unproven) announcement out at school to have • Get enough ba eries and chargers to handle long prac ces. (min 4) • Consumable Materials ($200-$500) people bring unused tools in • Lexan, sheet aluminum, paint, tape, etc. • Can the school provide the computers? • Computers x2, printer ($1200) • Laptop for Programming, anything from tablet to desktop to do Engineering Notebook, prin ng of team materials, social media, hun ng for Can you use the computer lab for answers, etc. • Relic Recovery Game Field Elements – can purchase ¼, ½ or whole this year ($150-$600) ‘business’ ac vi es? • Field Perimeter and le ($100-$900) • Can a parent get a gently used laptop • About $650 for the perimeter and $250 for the le. • Many teams do not buy the field perimeter in their early years. It can be made from PVC or wood, too. from a parent’s workplace? • Many teams buy ½ field and some le and work from that • • NOTE: We are selling our older (nicer) field Not everyone starts with a full field of • Supplies ($250) game elements and many teams go • Team T-Shirts ($150) without the perimeter or simulate it • Tournament Registra ons ($175/regional, $250/state) with wood or PVC for their first season.
A place to meet
• Ideally, a dedicated >25’x25’ space • But almost nobody gets that! • Usually, some temporary space to setup, prac ce, tear down • The field is the primary space eater at 12’x12’ • If you do a par al field, this can be easily set up and torn down each prac ce • Many teams work from mentor’s/parent’s homes • Probably over 50% • Provides more ready access to facility any me • Basement, Garage, Unused room • O en mentors have some pre y nice shops si ng doing nothing Mentors • Two minimum at every prac ce
• Strictly speaking, no special skills needed. Students do the work.
• To maximize learning, it can be good to have mentors with training in • Programming (FTC uses Java on Android phones) • Machine Shop Tool usage • CAD (if you will have mill or 3D print) • Marke ng / Business / Finance
• It can be a good arrangement to have one coach work with robot students and one work with business students. • Recommend that every student have ac vity in both areas Engineering Notebook • This an essen al ar fact of the team’s journey in FTC. If you want to be nominated for an award, it is a minimum requirement for all of them. • Document everything you do as a team • Outreach, a end kickoff, design, brainstorming, build, test, compe ons, etc. • There is no standard. There is no best way. • 4106 has created a way for new teams to get started (we use it too) • It is not intended to be a tradi onal engineering notebook that tracks inven on for patents. • It is meant to be a story of the team’s journey. FTC Landscape (North Region, Global) • Last year there were about 5,400 FTC teams in the world. • This is split almost perfectly between West, East, North and South regions • About 1400 teams in the Midwest (North) region. • Iowa & Michigan are the biggest states in the region due to government support • North Super Regional (NSR) held in Cedar Rapids Iowa • 72 teams from 13 states make NSR • Spots allocated by state team count, not compe veness • MI gets 14 teams, IA gets 16 teams. MI is only middle school. • WI=2, IN=3, OH=5, MN=6 – many top teams for Inspire and World Champion come from these states… FTC Landscape (Wisconsin) • Last year Wisconsin had ~40 teams that competed. • Down a bit from the previous years • Held 2 regionals, needs more. • Wisconsin’s compe veness at the top is very high • 9956 didn’t win an award at WI state, but won Inspire 1st at regional and state level in Missouri • MO is considered a strong state. • The WI championship doubled the number of high RP scores in the Midwest when it was played and accounted for ~¼ of them overall. • Every year, every team that advanced past state has done well • Last year, for example: • 4106 and 9956 made finals at super regionals and 10294 was highly ranked. • 4106 was NSR Rockwell Collins Innovate Award 3rd at NSR • 10294 was World Edison Division Finalist Captain. • 4106 was World Mo vate Award Finalist • 4106 Member (Tim) won World Dean’s List Award • 75% of teams are in Southeast Wisconsin. Where to get Help • Gracious Professionalism is strong in WI. Many strong programs are willing to help new teams • Some tradi onally strong programs to ask for help: • 4106 Supposable Thumbs (New Berlin) • 4605 RoboHackerz (Beaver Dam) • 4116/8680/4115/etc. (Mequon Homestead) • 265/5650 Viking Robo cs and Viking II (Milwaukee) • 10686 Phoenix (Madison – BadgerBots) • 6981 Hortonville Robo cs (Hortonville) • Web Resources • FTC Forums are the best place h ps:// cforum.usfirst.org/ • Reddit community is growing h ps://www.reddit.com/r/FTC/ • Chief Delphi is weak • Twi er is very useful for keeping up with teams (search FTC) State FTC Informa on
• State FTC partner is UW-Milwaukee • Contact is Juli Pickering ([email protected] ) • State web site is super weak • h ps://uwm.edu/engineering/our-people/community/2015-16-first-tech- challenge/ What happens at a Tournament
• Early Morning: • Hardware Inspec on • So ware/ Field Inspec on Inspec ons & Interviews • Judging Panel Interview might happen the night • Late Morning before at 2 day tournaments. • Opening Ceremony • Qualifica on Matches begin • Randomly assigned partner, randomly assigned opponents • A ernoon • In-Pit Judging for Awards • Qualifica on matches con nue un l complete (usually 5 matches) • Alliance Selec ons (generally 3 team alliances unless <24 teams at event) • Championship Rounds • Awards Ceremony Inspec ons
Hardware: 18” Box. Make sure build is legal, power s ckers and safety s ckers are in place. So ware: Ensure all proper so ware is on phones and that they are named properly Field: Brief test to ensure robot behaves properly in all game modes.
Must pass all 3 tests to be eligible to compete Judging
• Usually a panel of two to three professionals. • 15 min with team, 5 min to score • Can break up 15 min any way team wants • Presenta ons • Videos • Robot Demos • Q&A me • Best teams in each category per panel are then judged for each award. Robot Game
• 30 Sec Autonomous • 2:00 Driver Controlled • Last 30 Sec is End Game • 2 Points for Win, 1 for Tie • RP = bucket of points scored by losing team in your matches. RP Breaks es in QP. • Points are based on rules announced at Kickoff Alliance Selec ons
• Top 4 seeds are captains • Each picks a partner team • Then if 24+ teams, they pick a 2nd partner • Can pick each other Championship (Elimina on) Matches
• Must win twice regardless of es • All 3 robots must play in 1st two matches • Can call 1 meout Awards & Advancement Awards Advancement • Inspire goes to the top overall team • FTC Values community • Think = Engineering Notebook engagement VERY heavily, so Inspire 1st, 2nd, 3rd all are top • PTC Design = robot design and process advancement spots • Rockwell Collins Innovate = most • Inspire 1st innova ve and crea ve robot • Winning Captain • Control = most impressive control nd algorithms in auto and Teleop • Inspire 2 • Connect = How you connected with • Winning 1st Pick professionals • Inspire 3rd • Mo vate = How you keep yoru team going and how your reach out • Winning 2nd Pick (if made) to share FIRST with other teams, get more teams going, etc. • Think Winner • 3 nomina ons per award • Finalist Captain • Trophies for 1st • Connect Winner The Dean’s List • Named for Dean Kamen, FIRST’s founder • Individual “MVP” type award given to top students in every state • Nominated by team and coaches as “semi-finalists” from their team • Semi-Finalists interview with judging panels at the Regional tournaments. • Different judges then review all interview notes at the state tournament to select 2-4 state-level “Finalists.” • Considered the ‘superstars’ of FTC in the region. • These students are all entered into the Na onal compe on and are invited to FIRST Championship for an awards event • 10 of the students are selected as Dean’s List Winners. Random Thoughts
• Custom designing all the metal will cut costs, but you need a lot of mentor exper se in machining and the right tools or connec ons to a metal fab shop that will do it to your CAD design. • There is no “Right” decision on which building system to use. • We chose Actobo cs, but REV and Modern Robo cs are catching up in product offerings and TETRIX has more parts than ever and was the only allowed system up to 3 years ago. • The system with the most parts will be the most expensive. You will want to use all the parts! • Servos can be expensive if you burn them up! • We recommend the REV smart servo. Can be both con nuous and fixed rota on and can be programmed to limit travel. • NeverRest motors over Tetrix motors, but others are catching up! • FTC is best when you take advantage of the fact that it has a long me to learn before you get to compe on. • Compete as much as you can. This is where the most fun and the most learning occurs. A few notable differences from FRC
• Mentors are expected to be much less involved in design and decision making • It’s a different engineering problem to cram a complex robot into an 18” box • Much smaller teams means much more hands-on learning by everyone who comes. • Disengaged students will really stand out • There is much more me to teach, more me to connect with industry while the season is in progress. • Longer season encourages design refactoring. Embrace it! • But resist the tempta on to watch YouTube and copy. • FRC teams sustainability models are different with bigger sponsors, longer team histories and many teams that are mentor dependent for existence. • FTC teams have fewer sponsors and life mes (sadly) are o en driven by the gradua on of the founding members. Resources
• h ps://www.firs nspires.org/resource-library/ c/start-a-team- checklist-and-resources
• h ps://www.firs nspires.org/sites/default/files/uploads/ resource_library/ c/rookie-mentors.pdf