I've been wondering recently what judges take into consideration while grading a notebook. Right now, our notebook is less than ideal, so I was thinking that adding some 3D model pictures of our robot in there would spice things up a bit. Also, would making our notebook digital be a consideration while grading? I feel these things would be considerations in the process of grading our notebook, as it would display the time and effort put into it.
Look at information presented to teams.recf.org also notebooking.recf.org are places to look.
My general advice to teams, make the document useful for your teammates vs trying to second guess what judges are looking for. The former is authentic and the latter … well will not be so.
Also, there is a rubric that judges use to evaluate notebooks for every event. I would recommend you read it.
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I agree with this, but if you are already making full 3d models of your robot then I would suggest adding pictures from that into your notebook. Just make sure you actually talk about how its useful to you for planning and not just slap pictures in randomly because you think they will be wowed by your use of CAD.
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Focusing on the value to you as the budding engineer, which tends to get you higher marks: ideally, bright and attentive characters given your notebook and the necessary materials and tools would be able to reproduce your robot, and for each identifiable subunit and code fragment, know why it is designed that way, and not other specified ways that would seem reasonable without the provided comparative evidence. And they would be certain how you and your team achieved it organizationally. Well-chosen perspectives on a CAD model are going to be handy for all of that.
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https://www.roboticseducation.org/documents/2022/03/engineering-notebook-rubric.pdf/
Here is the Engineering Notebook Rubric.
Personally, I do find that pictures, 3D models and et cetera help the notebook. It gives judges a nice visual and shows the effort you put into the notebook. The rubric linked above is mainly what your notebook is “graded” on so that should be a priority, although models and other visuals might contribute to what judges think of your notebook.
And the notebook rubric point about a skilled person being able to recreate the robot from the notebook is well covered. You’re exactly right, a team with CAD would be crazy not to use it.
For our original post, agree with the advice to read the rubric. Have empathy for judges with limited time to scan your notebook. Look at the expert category in each area. Would CAD help? It would win by default over great drawings or sketches, but I think you’ll find areas where it could help.
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I meant to say wouldn’t win by default. You can look at sample notebooks of a wide varieties in the knowledge base.
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