Illuminations: Young Team Guide
Illuminations: Young Team Guide
Section titled “Illuminations: Young Team Guide”FIRST Ethos
Section titled “FIRST Ethos”Gracious Professionalism
Section titled “Gracious Professionalism”Gracious Pressionalism is acting with integrity, kindness, and empathy. It’s striving to be the best version of yourself and wanting everyone to have the best experience possible.
Coopertition
Section titled “Coopertition”Coopertition is the highest form of sportsmanship. It is when you compete hard to do your best, and you are trying to win, and at the same time, you want all other teams to do their best. You provide them with the tools, parts, and knowledge they need to ensure they compete well.
Students and Coaches
- Your students and coaches/mentors are working together to build the robot. There aren’t any rules about who has to do what. FRC is designed to be a collaborative experience.
- You don’t have to have a team captain or anything like that. It can cause drama. Allow your students to take on responsibility.
- You should have an adult who can make decisions for the team. This is often the head coach.
Mechanical SubTeams/Pods:
- Divide your robot into 4-5 mechanisms and divide your students into those groups.
- Examples: Drive, Intake, Elevator, Climber
- Have a Mechanism Lead (or 2) assigned to each group as the project manager, and have students interested in controls (programming/electrical) in each group.
- Have bins for each mechanism to store parts and supplies.
Design Recaps
- Have Weekly Design Recaps to go over the state of the robot and your build plan.
- Talk about the next steps, what things need to be ordered, tested, etc.
- Communication is very important.
Fundraising
Awards
- Please nominate 2 students for the Dean’s List every year and nominate 1 mentor for the Woodie Flowers Award Finalist every year. Even if you don’t think they can win the nomination, in and of itself, it is recognition for the hard work that people put into the program. The essays don’t need to take a long time to complete.
- During the season, you should identify one Judged award that your team best qualifies for and prepare your team to talk to the judges about that aspect of your team. You can print a couple of handouts and work with your students to review the talking points and details they should communicate to the judges during their session.
Programming
- We strongly recommend Java Programming and using the Command-Based Template
- Software Guide
Electronics
- FRC Electronics Guide
- Connectors
- WAGO 221 Lever Nuts are the most useful connectors for motors
- Inline 2-slot lever nuts work great for CAN and sensors
- Wire
- Use 12 AWG wires for motors
- Use 18 AWG wires for most low-current things
- Batteries
- You should have 6 to 8 batteries for competition, along with 4+ chargers
- Batteries: Energizer, Duracell, REV MK Battery, AM MK Battery, or PowerSonic
- Chargers: Powerstream, NOCO, AM NOCO (comes with leads already) Cheap 4 bank charger
Fasteners
- Standardize on #10-32 bolts and nuts. Nearly everything on the robot can use that size.
- Standardize on 3/16” Pop/blind rivets.
- Zip ties and VHB tape are often good enough for electronics, wires, etc.
Plate Materials
- Aluminum should be the most common metal on your robot.
- Plastic Sheet: Polycarbonate is best, HPDE (cutting board) is okay, never use Acrylic.
- Wood can be used, but should be used mostly internally on the robot, not in places where it will hit other robots.
Aluminum Tube / Extrusion
- Use pre-punched/drill tubes normally in 1x1 and 2x1 sizes in 1/16“ and some 1/8“ thickness.
- Use premade gussets/brackets.
- Tubes: REV Robotics, WCProducts, TheThriftyBot, Last Anvil, AndyMark, Swyft Robotics
- Gussets: REV, WCP, Thrifty, AndyMark
Shafts and Bearings
- Standardize on 1/2” Rounded Hex Shaft and Parts, 7075 is stronger than 6061
- Compatible with 1/2” bearings, wheels, collars, etc.
Motors
- We recommend standardizing on a single motor and controller type.
- Either the WCP Kraken x60 or REV Vortex+Spark Flex are roughly $200 each. The REV NEO 2.0 + Spark Max is $155 each.
- If you are on a budget, ask teams near you to donate old brushed motors and controllers to you and use them until you can buy Brushless motors. Don’t buy any Brushed motors.
Motion
- For slow-moving, high-load/torque motion
- Gearboxes: REV Max Planetary Gearboxes
- Chain & Sprocket: #25 Chain
- For fast motion
- Belts/Pulleys: 5mm HTD Belts and Pulleys (You can 3D print pulleys)
Wheels
- Flex/Compliant Wheels have become the most common wheels used in FRC.
Drivetrain / Swerve
- You should be figuring out a plan to get your team to use swerve modules. Look at our Swerve Guide for help.
- If you aren’t moving to swerve this year, you should use the kit drive base with upgraded motors that will be used for swerve in future years.
- There are no good reasons to build a custom non-swerve drive-train anymore.
Tools
- FIRST $2000 Purchase Guide - A Good list of the tools you should buy for your shop
Toolboxes
- Having a toolbox you can take to events and have in your pit is very useful.
- We have used Tstak drawers for this, but many other brands exist as well.
- Packout, StackTech, etc.
- You shouldn’t build a “Super Pit” until you are in a place where that efficiency will help your program.
Organization
- Getting bins and things that can be transported to events is very helpful.
- We use regular Hefty bins from Target/Walmart
3D Printed Parts
- 3D printing can be extremely useful for FRC Robots. You can make parts directly, templates to help cut and drill parts, etc.
- PETG, PLA+, or higher-temperature filaments such as nylons or polycarbonate can all work for FRC-printed parts.
CNC Services
- If you don’t have your own Laser Cutter or CNC Router yet, you can have parts made by multiple vendors.
- This is a good way to get into CAD and custom parts without the upfront cost.
- FabWorks, SendCutSend (20% off)
Safety
Load In
- Try to arrive at the event when load-in begins.
- Make sure you have your team rosters printed out and give them to the pit admin to get your driver buttons and team packet.
Inspection
- Try to begin your inspection as early as possible. The inspectors are there to help make sure your robot is legal. They can tell you what you may need to change and help you get assistance, parts, tools, etc.
Ways to help get you selected for the playoffs
- Never miss a match; even if your robot can only drive, that’s okay.
- Be kind and cooperative with everyone at the event
Drive team
- Your two drivers should be the same students every match.
- Your drive team should have an adult on it, either as the coach or technician.
- The drive team is responsible for getting the robot to the field, communicating with your alliance partners, and executing the match plan.
Pit
- You should have at least one pit student in your pit at all times. The judges and other teams may come by and ask questions at any point. Have shifts for lunch or to watch your matches, etc.
- Keep your pit clean and organized.
- Your entire team will need safety glasses and closed-toed shoes in the pit.
Scouting
- When limited on team members, try running only qualitative match scouting/find scouting alliances.
- QR Scout can be run on any device and can be configured to match your needs.
- Use existing resources, such as Statbotics and TheBlueAlliance Insights OPR, to make informed strategic decisions.
Community
Section titled “Community”You aren’t in this alone. Other teams and volunteers are happy to help answer questions and solve problems.
Public communities
- CheifDelphi.com is the water cooler for FRC. You can get your questions answered pretty quickly here from people all around the world.
- FRC Discord Server is also very popular.
Regional Mentor Chats
- Many regions/districts/countries have chat platforms that they use to communicate to each other. If you’re a mentor, ask your regional director, district organizer, or veteran teams in your area if they know of a community you can join.