Just before our high school FIRST Robotics Team 5066 began scheduled work yesterday evening, February 1 was announced as the date that everyone should know. It’s a date that everyone here needs to know as well. [1,2]
That’s when their robot needs to be complete.
Importantly, this is not an official deadline, but, rather, one that Saline Singularity has set for itself based on “Stop Build Day” (informally known as “Bag Day”). This is among the game parameters designed not just to equalize production time among competitors, but expose students to real-world project management requirements faced by all enterprises. February 1, then, is a date at which they arrived by planning backward from the 2019 Stop Build Day of February 19. [3-7]
Remembering that the current FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) was released at 10:30am on January 5, this plan calls for physical robot hardware construction to be completed in just under four weeks. The next two weeks after that, then, will be allocated to testing, debugging, and tweaking. [8-10]
Every work period begins with a sit-down meeting attended by all students and mentors. Yesterday, lead mentor shared new information on platform specifications. It seems that disc launching mechanism parameters have changed from what was allowed and expected last year. “We’re going to be tested on this during inspection,” he advised.
We are also keeping a very tight watch on weight this year.
Having a disciplined command of weight can be an advantage once competitions begin, when substitution repairs and certain other physical modifications may be allowed. Assemblies fabricated outside bagged entries not only have to fit specifications in place of what they replace, but also comply with weight limitations.
Saline Singularity mentor Kevin Aretha went on to tell Saline Journal that Team 5066 is further ahead this year versus last with both CAD designs and prototyping. Commenting on a presentation by the CAD group, he noted that these visualizations not only help with fabrication, but also communication of needs and direction among groups, as well as bringing about better input at this stage.
Mentor Ed Burgess later showed us multiple prototypes, including variations on motors and a mark III chassis. “The more you get right in prototyping, the less expense you have and time you spend when it comes time to building something that does what you need,” he emphasized.
Two things stand out about this phase of the cycle. First, longer standing teams are significantly advantaged through the ability to build on past experiences. Second, having acquired and maintained an inventory of components from previous prior-year entries and other sources means an ability to craft more accurately functioning prototype devices.
Sponsorship support is key to funding the latter, and that’s where an important part of where the Saline Singularity Business group is focused these days. We’ll start to look more specifically at their work next week. [11,12]
In the mean time, do not forget what needs to happen by February 1.
References
- FIRST Inspires (home page).
- Saline Singularity Team 5066 (home page).
- “Stop Build Day” (February 19, 2019) FIRST Inspires.
- “What is project management?” Association for Project Management (August 7, 2015) YouTube.
- “What is Project Management?” PMI: Project Management Institute.
- “Use Backwards Planning to Make Sure Your Projects Are Done On Time” Eric Ravenscraft (February 8, 2016) Lifehacker.
- “How to Be Successful by Using Backward Planning” Mike Martel, Lifehack.
- “2019 FIRST Robotics Competition: Destination: Deep Space Game Animation” FIRSTRoboticsCompetition (January 5, 2019) YouTube.
- “FIRST Robotics Competition Game & Season Info” FIRST Inspires.
- “Saline Singularity FIRST Robotics Team week 1 progress report: Here’s what happened after the 2019 game was announced” Dell Deaton (January 9, 2019) Saline Journal.
- “FIRST Robotics Season: Part 3 Prototyping Process and Tips” Make:.
- “Team Ri3D 1.0 – FIRST ‘Destination: Deep Space’ Robot Reveal – Robot in 3 Days – FRC 2019” Robot in 3 Days (January 7, 2019) YouTube.
