Hi! I’m new to the notebook and am wondering what information should be included and how it should be structured. Also I’ve heard that you shouldn’t do a daily journal and don’t know if that true or not. If I do a journal would it be acceptable if I include extra things like experiments and GANNT charts?
Please refer to the official Guide to Judging for RECF Competitions:
Guide to Judging: Judging Engineering Notebooks – REC Library
As stated in the page above, the notebook should include these formatting elements:
- Team number on the cover/beginning of document
- A table of contents with entries organized for future reference
- Each page/entry chronologically dated and numbered, starting with the first team meeting
- Each page/entry contains information noting the student author(s)
- All pages/entries intact; no pages/entries or parts of pages/entries removed or omitted; errors can be crossed out using a single line (so they can be seen) rather than erased or removed
- Permanently affixed pictures, CAD drawings, documents, examples of code, or other material relevant to the design process (in the case of physical notebooks, tape is acceptable, but glue is preferred)
- Each page/entry chronologically numbered and dated
- Notebook has evidence that documentation was done in sequence with the team’s individual design process
and must also contain this content:
- Provides a complete record of team and project assignments including team meeting notes, goals, decisions, and building/programming accomplishments
- Resource constraints including time and materials, are noted throughout
- Descriptions, sketches, and pictures of design concepts and the design process
- Observations and thoughts of team members about their design and their design process
- Records of tests, test results, and evaluations of specific designs or design concepts
- Project management practices including their use of personnel, financial, and time resources
- Notes and observations from competitions to consider in the next design iteration
- Descriptions of programming concepts, programming improvements, or significant programming modifications
- Enough detail that a person unfamiliar with the team’s work would be able to follow the logic used by the team to develop their design, and recreate the robot design
Your engineering notebook should not be a journal, but as seen above, it should include “team meeting notes, goals, decisions, and building/programming accomplishments”.
Yes. Experiments & gannt charts are ways to show your Selection/Testing and Planning phases, respectively.
There are multiple notebooks released on this forum that have won multiple awards. I suggest referring to those for formatting inspiration & advice. I have linked some of them below.
2 Likes
I would reiterate what @CompileTimeError said, but would like to add to this and include some clarification.
Some of the points only apply to physical notebooks. Now, you may choose to do a physical notebook, but that is by no means mandatory. Frankly, I feel digital notebooks are easier to manage and many tournaments in my state even require a digital notebook, so if you go physical, remember that your coach may need to do some scanning.
And, no, a notebook isn’t a daily journal–not to incentivize in any way that meeting entries are bad, though.
Your notebook should document the entire project of planning, designing, building, programming, and competing with your robot. It can be a daunting task to include all that data, but this is why properly organizing your notebook in a manner that is easy to read, understand, and document is crucial. You may find making a tab (sectioned timelines) notebook to be helpful.
Some judges will warn that the design process is hard to follow in these kinds of notebooks (and I could see their point), so make sure to reference to other parts of the notebook often.
In general, there is a lot to remember, but just think about the notebook like this: It is your team’s central document. This should be the main document to reference whenever you have a “Why did we do this that way?” moment. I remember someone saying on this forum (I wish I remember who) that you should document the notebook in a way that if everyone on your team had concussions and the entire robot fell apart, that the notebook could help the team remake the entire robot, knowing why that design was chosen.
You can also ask yourself “If I had to leave and let new engineers take over, would they know why we chose this design and how to make the robot?” Those new engineers will need to know the thought process behind the design(s) you chose, how you implemented the design(s) (including how to build them*), and the experiments you conducted on the design(s) and the changes you made to it/them.
*Yes, a step by step guide to build the robot(s) and/or components of the robot(s) is what I am saying. If this is intimidating, don’t fret. You’re not the only one who is intimidated by that. Notebooks with entire build instructions are usually the notebooks that are the most competitive. If you want to make one, just take it slow and think through the building process. Trust me, take it slow, learn a ton, implement what you learn, and you’ll do fine! Hope this helps.
P.S. The judging rubric should also be referenced often whenever you have questions. It helps you make sure the notebook is ready for competition. But, don’t give into the temptation of treating the notebook as simply a “presentation” because, trust me, that mindset is not going to help the design process.
4 Likes