(Mods can u reject the og post as I have posted the wrong link)
Was wondering if i could get feedback for my book
(Some pages deleted for privacy, credit to 9motorgang for ideas and the first page but might change the first page up)
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Quick thing i saw, you should color code your Table Of Contents based on your design process. There are many notebook videos on youtube that can help as well. Adding color can make your notebook look better. Cross out excess space in the notebook with an X.
Extra help for your robot
- If you have pneumatics you can use them for a mobile goal grabber.
- A 360 RPM Drivetrain is much better than a 333 RPM drive, this is because a 360 is much easier to brace properly.
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This is a great start. There are a couple spelling errors you will want to fix and the the desicion matrix criteria aren’t defined anywhere. You should explain why 3.25 omnis are a better hight than 2.75 and the same for all criteria.
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I am a bit busy getting ready for school to start - but I asked my favorite AI teacher tool to take a first stab at feedback without my reading your notebook (I promise I will later)… Let’s see what AI can do for you:
Glow:
• You’ve done an excellent job following the engineering design process, as evidenced by your detailed brainstorming, decision matrices, and sketches. This aligns well with the rubric’s emphasis on “Records the entire design and development process in such clarity and detail that the reader could recreate the project’s history.”
• Your notebook is very well-organized with a clear table of contents, dated entries, and logical flow. This meets the rubric criteria for “numbered pages and a table of contents with entries organized for future reference.”
• You’ve included thorough analysis of different design options, showing evidence of independent inquiry and critical thinking in your design process.
Grow:
• Consider adding more detailed explanations of why certain design choices were made. The rubric states “Explains why the solution was selected through testing and/or a decision matrix.” While you have decision matrices, more explanation of the reasoning behind your choices would strengthen your notebook.
• Include more information about your team’s project management, such as meeting notes, goals, and resource constraints. The rubric specifically mentions “team meeting notes including goals, decisions, and building/programming accomplishments.”
• Add more details about your testing process. The rubric looks for teams that “Records all the steps to test the solution, including test results.”
Wondering:
• How might you incorporate more evidence of repeating the design process to improve performance? The rubric values teams that “Shows that the design process is repeated multiple times to improve performance on a design goal.”
• Have you considered adding more about your programming process? While you’ve focused a lot on the mechanical design, including details about your code development could provide a more complete picture of your robot’s development.
• How could you demonstrate more independent inquiry in the early stages of your design process? The rubric emphasizes teams that “show evidence of independent inquiry from the beginning stages of their design process.”
The next part is feedback using Notebook Rubric criteria and indicators:
ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS:
• Your notebook shows a clear understanding of the engineering design process steps
• You’ve included detailed entries for identifying the problem, brainstorming solutions, and selecting approaches
• Consider adding more detail on how you evaluate and optimize solutions throughout the design process
IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM:
• Good job identifying the game challenges and robot design requirements
• You’ve stated clear goals for accomplishing the challenge
• Try to add more details about specific game elements and scoring opportunities
BRAINSTORM, DIAGRAM, OR PROTOTYPE SOLUTIONS:
• Excellent work listing multiple possible solutions for each mechanism with labeled diagrams
• Your decision matrices show thoughtful comparison of options
• Remember to cite any outside sources that inspired your design ideas
SELECT BEST SOLUTION AND PLAN:
• Your decision matrices help explain why certain solutions were selected
• Consider adding more details on your full plan to implement the chosen solutions
• Describe your overall robot strategy and how the mechanisms will work together
BUILD AND PROGRAM THE SOLUTION:
• You’ve started to record steps for building the drivetrain
• Add more details on the building process, including challenges faced
• Include information on programming as you develop your code
TEST SOLUTION:
• No testing information included yet
• As you build, be sure to document how you test each mechanism
• Record test results and how they inform design improvements
REPEAT DESIGN PROCESS:
• Your notebook shows initial design cycles for mechanisms
• Continue documenting how you refine designs to improve performance
• Highlight specific ways the design process is repeated throughout the season
INDEPENDENT INQUIRY:
• Good job crediting outside sources that inspired some designs
• Show more evidence of your team’s independent problem-solving and idea generation
• Explain your team’s unique approach to addressing game challenges
USEABILITY AND COMPLETENESS:
• Your notebook has a clear structure with dated entries
• Add more detail to fully explain your design and development process
• Include more sketches, photos, and diagrams to illustrate your work
RECORD OF TEAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT:
• You’ve included some team meeting notes and goals
• Add more details on team decision-making processes
• Note resource constraints like time and materials throughout entries
NOTEBOOK FORMAT:
• Good job including dates and student names on entries
• Consider adding page numbers and a more detailed table of contents
• Ensure consistent formatting and organization throughout the notebook
Next are suggested next steps:
Engineering Design Process:
Next Steps:
• Expand on how you’re applying each step of the design process to your robot development. For example, under “Define the Problem”, explain how you analyzed the game rules and field to determine specific robot requirements.
• Include more details about your team’s brainstorming and concept selection process. The rubric states “Lists three or more possible solutions to the challenge with labeled diagrams.”
• Add reflection on how you’re iterating through the design process multiple times to improve your robot, as the rubric looks for evidence that “the design process is repeated multiple times to improve performance.”
Documentation and Organization:
Next Steps:
• Date each entry and include which team members contributed, as the rubric states “This can take the form of dated entries with the names of contributing students included.”
• Add more details to your building and programming steps. The rubric states it should include “enough detail that the reader can follow the logic used by the team to develop their robot design, as well as recreate the robot design from the documentation.”
• Create a system to organize your notebook entries, such as numbering pages and creating a table of contents. The rubric suggests “numbered pages and a table of contents with entries organized for future reference.”
Independent Inquiry:
Next Steps:
• When referencing ideas from other sources (like the intake designs you mentioned), clearly document where those ideas came from. The rubric states “Notebook documents whether the implemented ideas have their origin with students on the team, or if students found inspiration elsewhere.”
• Include more of your team’s original ideas and designs alongside concepts inspired by others. Show how you’re building on existing ideas to create your own unique solutions.
Note none of the feedback was reviewed or adjusted by me.
Best of luck this competition season!
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I had the AI feedback focus on specifics that may help improve notebook… this is raw output, not edited by myself:
ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS:
• You have done a good job outlining the engineering design process steps you plan to follow.
• Your process aligns well with the rubric’s emphasis on identifying the problem, brainstorming solutions, selecting an approach, and testing/evaluating solutions.
• To improve, consider adding more details on how you will specifically implement each step for your robot design.
IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM:
• Your design brief on slides 9-10 clearly identifies the game challenges and robot design requirements.
• You effectively state goals for accomplishing the challenge through your offensive and defensive strategies.
• To strengthen this section, consider adding more specific measurable goals for your robot’s performance.
BRAINSTORM, DIAGRAM, OR PROTOTYPE SOLUTIONS:
• Excellent job brainstorming multiple solutions for each robot mechanism on slides 13-18.
• Your labeled diagrams and pros/cons lists for each concept show thorough consideration of options.
• To improve, make sure to cite any external sources that inspired your design ideas.
SELECT BEST SOLUTION AND PLAN:
• Your decision matrices on slides 19-21 and 24-27 clearly explain why you selected certain solutions.
• Good use of weighted criteria to evaluate options quantitatively.
• Consider expanding on your implementation plan for the selected designs.
BUILD AND PROGRAM THE SOLUTION:
• Your drivetrain sketch on slide 30 is a good start to documenting your build process.
• As you continue building, be sure to record detailed steps and include photos of your progress.
• Include information on your programming approach and code snippets when you get to that stage.
TEST SOLUTION:
• No testing results are included yet, which is understandable at this early stage.
• As you build and test, be sure to document your testing process, data collected, and results in detail.
• Include both successful and unsuccessful tests to show your iterative process.
REPEAT DESIGN PROCESS:
• Your notebook shows evidence of repeating the design process for different mechanisms.
• To improve, clearly show how you iterate on designs based on test results as you progress.
• Document how you refine and improve your robot design over multiple cycles.
INDEPENDENT INQUIRY:
• Your team demonstrates good independent inquiry in brainstorming multiple original design concepts.
• You’ve included some citations for external sources of inspiration, which is great.
• Continue to clearly document whether implemented ideas originated with your team or were inspired by external sources.
USEABILITY AND COMPLETENESS:
• Your notebook has a good organizational structure with a table of contents and dated entries.
• As you progress, ensure you include enough detail that someone could recreate your design process.
• Consider adding more narrative explanations connecting your design decisions.
RECORD OF TEAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT:
• Good inclusion of team member roles and responsibilities on slide 4.
• Consider adding more details on team meetings, goals, and decision-making processes.
• Include notes on resource constraints like time and materials as you encounter them.
@foster welcome to the World of AI generated feedback for design process documentation 
Coaches - we know teams grow when they get constructive feedback. AI tools might help streamline feedback in a way to help all your teams.
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This is AWESOME!! I really love it, thanks for taking the time.
I’d normally turn and say “Hey RECF, here is an opportunity for you to help give feed back on notebooks. Make a site that you can drop an on-line notebook into and have it give back both positive and negative feedback”.
But I would expect to get back:
Maybe this will work.
Hi @Bob_Mimlitch_III, hope you are doing well.
You and your team were responsible for creating an awesome on-line notebook template. It really helped break the logjam and got lots of teams to be able to build top notch notebooks with tools they learn in school (Sheets / Powerpoint)
Pascal has created a sample AI that can do analysis on notebooks and give both positive feedback and things teams can do to improve.
Can you get your IT people to build a simple website that roboteers can upload their notebook and get the AI to process it? I’m sure Pascal would let you use his model as a start.
You are well known as a disrupter in competition robotics (FIRST Supplier, VEX metal, VIQ, Notebook template, etc.), can you add this to the many great things VEX has done?
Thanks!
Foster
Lets see how this works out, thanks for the initial model!
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You should try and explain your thought process a little bit more linearly, an example of this is on page 9 you list the subsystems of a robot but don’t explain how you came up with these as your subsystems. You need actual data or at least an explanation behind all of your decision matrixes otherwise those numbers are just arbitrary. I would recommend citing all of your images immediately beneath them so that the judges cant miss it (read the guide to judging for more information on how to cite anything). As of right now you dont have any meetings, you need team meetings or some other way of to get the points in the team and project management. In general most notebooks focus on one aspect of the robot at a time and tend to not jump between different parts of the robot or design process without making it abundantly clear. While you do have a drivetrain sketch you should explain more about your design choices in the
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Bolding mine.
I think this is a great idea! But I think that is the largest issue with this. My team has been using an paper engineering notebook and are at 70 pages (we are in IQ so we do not have as much as most V5RC teams). Having to digitalize most of it would be a pain.
Of course, having an AI grading model for something like this might base it’s responses on the “meta” of the year which would be terrible to new teams who have a great notebook but the AI thinks it is bad because of the robot instead of the notebook itself.
Overall, I think this is a great idea and @Gigabyte , you have a great notebook!
After school starts I will do a little more probing at this, maybe record a demo about the process and limitations.
Do note, the judges are still going to be evaluating the notebooks at competition, not software. So no gain on tuning your notebook to the tool.
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I have two responses about this:
-
Most VEX teams have custom programming on the robot. They are doing this on a computer. There isn’t any reason they can’t do their notebook on the same computer. So this isn’t really an issue.
-
Teams that must do a paper notebook can still use an adult, parent, etc. to read and critique the notebook, just as well (I’d like to think better) than the AI. Please note all you “MUST BE DONE BY THE ROBOTEER” people frothing at your keyboards is that there is nothing in the rules or code of conduct about this. In fact, RECF and the Code of Conduct encourages people to teach the roboteers. This is a teaching / learning experience. If you are unhappy about a skilled adult teaching notebook skills, you are the kind of people that would take a non-swimmer out to Teahupoo in Tahiti, French Polynesia, and dump them into the water. (Yes, I did watch the Olympics)
@BananaPi not picking on you, there is a sea of people that pick away at the nits to make them seem to be far worse. Lately, I’ve been counteracting the “What about the poor teams that can’t afford to do xyzzy” with “Wow, we know how much competition robotics improves student outcomes. At best you now reach 5% of the eligible population, what are you doing about the 95%?”
The AI proposal helps lift all boats on a rising tide (it’s a metaphor)
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I agree with you. I was just giving my two cents worth (this is a public fourm, isn’t it?)
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It is and your opinion matters!!!
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This is a counterpoint to those saying this wouldn’t be fair for those who are already doing a physical notebook, my favorite AI tool (Chat GPT), has recently added the feature of accepting pictures and can now read the text on them.
In my short testing, it can read most pen and pencil handwriting, and it can give very good prompts on what points could be missed. Most if not all teams have someone on the team who has a phone, removing the limitation of not having a computer.
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Okay, now I think this idea has no major drawbacks!
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I just finished half my drive-train! I just wanted feedback before I start the other half.
Didn’t want to make another feedback topic so here it is!
Note that a few things were changed this is an old pic so I will upload another one when I get back to school Monday but as of right now here is an almost up to date picture.
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Disclaimer: not trying to be rude or exceedingly harsh. It is clear you have read the notebook rubric and you are putting effort in. However, I fully believe constructive critisism is the best way to learn, and knowing your mistakes is the best way to avoid them.
Notebook feedback:
- you should have inno form immediately after title page.
- either use the grid or don’t. Having random lines going through your text is sloppy and can make things harder to read.
- not sure the point of the definitions slide. If you really feel the need, put a glossary at the back.
- uncited images, this is a student centered policy issue as well as losing points.
- no rule citations when listing out rules. if you are saying stuff like “-Can’t possess more than one mobile goal at a time” list the rule for it.
- no analysis. You list out the important rules, but at this point your just reformatting the game manual. There is nothing there about how it will affect your strategy, how it compares to past games, ect.
- listed strategies is good, but in a design brief is not the place. Same with the element pictures.
- “Have wheels (Shouldn’t be 4”, because the rings will get stuck under the drivetrain.)” why? you state this an an obvious fact same goes for the other thins on criteria
- the notebook is fake. you have a picture of jar’s pits and parts dated for july. This proves the notebook was done out of order and results in a 5 point loss on the rubric.
- for brainstorming, the diagrams aren’t labeled, just captioned. Provide more detail for those.
- the decision matrix feel very arbitrary and lack explanation. It feels like you read the rubric (which is very good and better than most) but solely did the things listed in the excellent criteria and not qualitative things that make sense to do.
Those are the main issues but there are plenty of smaller ones. Overall more detail would not hurt in any category.
The build:
- 4m drive is not something I would recommend but there is nothing inherently wrong with this. I just don’t think it will be very competitive.
- screwjoints are the wheels are going to reduce friction.
- v2 bearings are lighter than v1, same with nylon screws and nuts of steel
- add an idler in the middle. If you get wedged up, your front or back motors will lose contact with the ground and you will be a 2m drive. by connecting the gears as long as a wheel is on the ground you’re fine.
- nothing keep the end of the drive connected.
- you will want to use LS gears to shrink the width of the chassis. Its possible to get 3 hole gap with 360 3.25
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Thanks for the feedback! I now know my mistakes and I will do my best to correct them! As for the stuff relating to build, Teacher said no to screw joints. We don’t have v2 bearings and we don’t have 36 and 60 LS Gears we only have the HS. I will definitely consider adding an idler, I was planning on adding something to keep the end drive connected after the other half was built or was just going to get my teammates to do that.
The images- I added the images a week ago but the pages were made on the dated day.
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Just a quick question, sorry for bothering you. Do you recommend I switch to 360 rpm and use a 4 hole gap?
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4 hole gap on 360 rpm is pretty easy to achieve. Ran it on my 24 inch bot last year. Should be at the end of this video iirc. https://youtu.be/H2M8oefr3gU?si=f85F4x1u4JxrsETO
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