One Man Team

VEX V5 General Discussion
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So I’m in a bit of a rut. During our first year (itz) my team worked together well. We sucked because it was our first year, but we managed to pull it together a little bit and had an ok run at tsa. But the next year, during turning point, things started to go downhill. It started when, for most of the summer, I was the only one working on the robot most of the time. And it didn’t get much better during the school year. For the first few months we bickered over designs (with them refusing to listen to me most of the time even though I’d been the one building). Finally, we settled on a design: a 30-60 xdrive with a flywheel with no indexer. Though we did ok at our first comp, this design obviously had some flaws and I proposed a rebuild to a mechanum drive with a d catapult and a descoring arm. We had plenty of time, but I was again the one who did most of the work, and when i couldn’t quite pull it off, we had to resort to our old design and did horrible at our next comp. After that my teammates finally agreed to a tank drive as well as some other improvements. But things still didn’t really get better. Between December and state we spent the whole time programming and practicing- but one person hoarded both the duty of programmer and driver and though he showed up, didn’t show up nearly enough to merit both jobs and wouldn’t let anyone help with code. It was to the point where we spent a month trying to get our auton yo work only for him to realize that the p loop wasn’t even in our whole statement. Needless to say we got destroyed at state. Hoping we could pull something off, I proposed a rebuild for tsa, and they agreed- but no one helped very much, and we ended up not even making eliminations at tsa. And things haven’t gotten better this season; let’s jist say I can count on one hand the number of screws my teammates have put in the robot. Hence, I am debating a one man team so I can at least make decisions on my own. Should I do this? And what should I expect if I do?

To;dr: my teammates aren’t doing anything. Should I form a one man team?

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Are there any sister teams or other teams you can work with? If so then you can do a one man team in collaboration with other teams

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Yes be a one person team. Be everything you can be, push past people saying you need to to have a partner. Lots of one person teams can make it!

PM me if you need small moneys (Less than 250) to keep your one person team alive.

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I believe you could form a one man team, however it might be tricky if you don’t have the skill. Especially this year, the driver will need to know the score, what color cubes to get, etc. a two man team might be better if you would like, maybe you could find someone who you could work with…

Edit: A one man team is definitely possible tho

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If you can manage yourself (time wise), have the skills to build design, and program, (in your case, notebook is not as important if you think you won’t have enough time), and think being with others will hold your entire team back (and also hold back your schools reputation (some schools or organizations establish a reputation for being really good in vex and take that pretty seriously) then be a one man team.

Edit: if you don’t do a one man team or aren’t completely sure it’s a good idea, I would aim for a two man team with someone you work really well with and don’t think you’ll have any conflict with. You can also bounce ideas off teams on the forums or sister teams

Further edit; if teammates are taking the joy from vex and you can do it solo, do it. You can still enjoy vex without it being not fun do to conflict with others but you can still have people close by in sister teams .

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Skill is definitely not an issue, even without a tutor, you can learn a lot through experimentation.
I know I use this example a lot, but…
I spent last season building three wheeled pushbots that barely even worked. I spent a few weeks of summer experimenting, and I was able to create a competition worthy robot(not perfect mind you).
Thing is, if you are willing to put in the time, you will improve. Especially since you seem so enthusiastic, this experimentation will just seem like playtime to you. (Sry for the immature term)
I’ll put the robot up if u want to see it. It’s not amazing, but it gets the job done

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I’ve got two years of VRC experience and one of those years I did a lot. I’m mostly worried about driving and coding I was an ok driver in iq but that was iq and I haven’t done a ton of coding. But I think I can figure it out

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Coding- the forums can help you, find a simple language or one your comfortable with, practice, learn simple functions and what they do, learn the necessary functions, take courses, sister teams might offer a hand

Driving- for some it’s natural, other times you have an anxiety attack at the field (good times), Best advice for that is don’t stress too much about being perfect or you’ll be worse, and don’t pay anyone else attention when in competition that will make you nervous, stressed, or distracted, just focus on you and your alliance partner. Practice driving and know the controls and where they are, and get a rhythm for knowing when what button needs to be pressed (so the robot moves smoothly, not a pause between each movement) but when you Practice driving, don’t stress on time or scoring little, each time just try your best, not “I got 10 last time, so I need 12 this time” - that might make you stesswd and anxious and not good. Just try your best and you’ll naturally do better because you’ll get more comfortable with the controls over time and it will become natural. (Just my advice, though your style of driving might be different)

Hopes this helps :+1::smiling_face:

Edit: also it’s summer, you have plenty of time before the season gets really busy. If you get yourself together now (Build wise), you’ll have plenty of time to learn coding and practice driving. (Of course some things will have to be tested and changed but you could get the initial first design done as a nice start).

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A lot of good ideas posted on the thread. One of the most successful teams in the Southern New England Region (@Brian_9605A) was only one man.

There are pros and cons to the one man team, however. Sure, you get all the input for designs, and you don’t have to carry any “dead weight” so to speak. However, you won’t be in good shape for any judged awards, so kiss design, excellence, and every other judged award goodbye.

Again, this wasn’t much of a problem for 9605A, but we all aren’t that skilled at robots. I’d seriously consider if you have the time and the dedication to spend all the time required to build a good robot by yourself.

I’d take some time to figure out if there’s anyone else that might be able to help and be as dedicated as you are. It’s only an asset to have team members that are as committed as you.

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My advice:

  • You can definitely do it on your own, but it’s going to be one hell of an uphill battle. I put in the vast majority of the work for my 2-person team last year, and in hindsight, I shouldn’t have done so much. It got to the point where I was skipping meals to get more time in the robotics lab… If you’re going to be a one-man-team, take my story as a cautionary tale I guess and make sure you’re looking out for yourself. Don’t let your grades suffer too much, and definitely don’t let robotics get in the way of being healthy.
  • Be on the lookout for new members - always. If you find someone who is willing to put in the time each week to work on the robot, don’t hesitate to invite them to your team. Ask your friends, ask your enemies, ask people you barely know.
  • Use the VEX community to your advantage. There’s this forum obviously, and there are plenty of discord servers full of VEX teams. Pick people’s brains.
  • Pick one section of the tournament and stick to it. If you’re focusing on the tournament, try and scrimmage with other teams. If you’re focusing on skills, do a ton of practice runs. If you’re focusing on getting the Design Award, spend time on your notebook. Don’t do all three. You don’t have anywhere close to the manpower required to pull that off. (This means that Excellence Award is off the table.)
  • Coding: If you aren’t already proficient at a text-based programming language (c++, python, javascript, or something similar), now might not be the best time to learn. You’re not going to program the 5225A tracking algorithm in RobotMesh Blockly, but block-based programming is “good enough” for many teams.
  • Driving: The advantage of being the builder, programmer, and driver all in one is that you know everything about your robot: how it handles, what works reliably, what doesn’t, stuff like that. The disadvantage is that you’re not going to have much time for drive practice. Keep this in mind.

Above all, don’t be afraid to reach out to others in the community. We’re all here to help!

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Well then you’re all set! And remember: if you cant do the coding nust use blockly(I totally dont use it)

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Certainly a one man team is possible, and if you have the desire to do it there are a ton of resources available to learn each area needed. Here are additional thoughts to consider:

  • If you are on a school-based team, will they even allow a one man team?
    – My assumption would be that the vast majority of school-based teams have a minimum requirement (stated or unstated) in terms of teams and team members necessary in order to keep the program running. I don’t imagine most schools would be willing to put the required resources into a one man team on an on-going standard basis, as you are then prioritizing one person vs an entire school of people.
  • If you are on an independent team, can you financially afford a one man team?
    – We like to keep our independent team small (typically 3 people, 4 standard max), however if you are being supported by dues or team fundraising there is no getting around the fact that more team members = more cost spreading!
  • Will you be happier and more productive overall as a one man team?
    – Just because you are able to do it all doesn’t mean that you will like doing it all. Take away the “bad vibes” teammates in your mind and put in their place a good friend (mentally). Make sure that you think you will be ok with NO teammates - no one to bounce ideas off of, to laugh (or cry) about things with, to spend time during the week with, to enjoy competition highs and lows with. The time involved in robotics is significant, especially if you are doing every task yourself; beyond just the lack of others to share the responsibilities with, you will end up spending vast amounts of time alone. Some people do great with that and prefer it to being with a group (even a group of friends); personally, I have always preferred to do work with 1 or 2 close friends on projects as the company makes it more enjoyable for me (even if they are just there for moral support and don’t do much actual work).
  • Have you spoken with your mentor about trying different methods of selecting teammates?
    – Perhaps a trial period for potential members, in which you can vet their abilities, compatibility, and work ethics.
  • Have you spoken with your mentor about revising the team jobs?
    – If you are the main committed member and are able to push for a one man team, could you instead push for an official title of something like “team captain” and revise the job description to include a statement along the lines of “final say in decision-making process after group discussions are done”?

My thought is that if you are in a position to be a one man team (financial needs covered, time, location, and resources available) you should also be in position to have a cherry-picked team perfect for your team development needs. Be team captain in charge of all final design decisions with the right to get a working copy of the code every meeting (that you learn how to do coding enough to be able to fix as needed) and the right to terminate membership (within specific pre-determined guidelines).

However, don’t be afraid to venture on-wards as a one man team if you have the drive to have a competitive team but can’t find a good fit. In spite of preferring to work with 1 or 2 others on projects, I also would far rather work all by myself than work with the wrong 1 or 2 others!

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Be inspired!!
The one-man team that matched up to the legendary GER.

It is definitely possible. As Long as you are ready to commit big time to it.

The only concern that I have is the same as others - will your school allows one man team? I know I wouldn’t, simply due to resource allocation.

Most likely you will need to go private.

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My old mentor didn’t allow one man teams but my new mentor says he’s fine with it

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Discussing it with him is definitely a good start!

Make sure (if you are working under a school or co-op type heading above your new mentor) that “he’s fine with it” means “he has checked with the relevant people actually in charge and they are willing to continue funding and allocating resources even if there is only 1 team member” instead of “he personally doesn’t care either way”. It would be terrible to invest a lot of your time and energy into the project only to have the higher-ups drop it once they determine the robotics program has reduced in size so much.

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You know, I technically had a partner the last two years. But I really felt like a one man team. But I was never actually alone.

While my “team” was really just an assistant (and a second one later on in TP), he helped a lot with the small stuff.

There is a lot that goes into a competition, and I had help with it. Until I decided to go to one last comp solo. Completely solo. No team, no coach, no friends (from other teams who I would’ve asked to help me). Just me. And it was honestly tough.
But not impossible. Easily. I’d do it again if I had to. There’s a lot of stuff that goes into captaining, and I’m not sure my assistants appreciated that. But I also didn’t quite appreciate the small stuff they did for me.

To cut a long story short, a 1-man team isn’t impossible. It’s about as hard as I assume you imagine it is. But I would suggest you try to find half-committed assistants. Doing everything yourself is kind of a drag. And assistants… well… assist.

Of course, I have more regaling tales of my bouts, but that’d just get excessive. I’d be willing to share if you (or anyone) is interested in PMing me.

But where am I now? Well, the lone wolf isn’t exactly the flagship I want to lead my organization with. I’ve built a bit of a team and am still grooming them to continue the GASL legacy (lol, if you can even call it that) when I’m gone.

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Sigh… I feel obliged to comment on this thread.

Being a 1 man team is incredibly, incredibly difficult. There are infinitely many roadblocks that you will face that you never would have thought of when considering becoming a 1 man team. However, speaking from personal experience, being a 1 man team and having success as one is something that I will value forever.

The first and most obvious thing is that it gets super expensive. Now, Vex isn’t as pay to win as FIRST, but it certainly feels like it when you have to pay out of pocket for everything. I have had a job for 4 years to pay for this stuff, on top of assistance from family, local schools, and getting into some tournaments for free (in exchange for volunteer work) However, even so, if you are dead set on going private and are financially fortunate enough to do so, then this may not be an issue.

I will flip to an obvious positive of being a private one man team. You never have to schedule meetings with your team. You can just go to your basement and work whenever you want and for however long you want. I certainly remember doing anything from brief 20 minute stents or pulling ridiculous all nighters working on my robots. Obviously this is not something that you can really do with a school team. (You also don’t have the distractions of not-focused teammates)

One thing that may not be a problem for you, but certainly was for me, is having a field. My house is too small for a field. I do not have a single 12x12 space to set one up. Not having a field was HORRIBLE for autons, especially programming skills. I formed good relationships with local schools that would allow me to use their fields.

When it comes time for competitions, you have to do EVERYTHING. Scouting, alliance planning, strategizing, or repairing/improving your robot are all YOUR responsibility. It gets extremely hectic at times, especially if you get good and have a line of people wanting to talk to you about alliances. Out of the 50+ tournaments i attended, I think i can count on one hand the number of times i had a lunch break.

Also in the realm of tournaments, you can basically kiss your chances at judged awards goodbye. I understand that some of the awards have teamwork as a requirement, but I just do not understand why that seems to disqualify 1 man teams from getting build award, innovate, etc. Nonetheless, getting judged awards is almost unheard of.

Despite all of this, 1 man teams have a tremendous history of being some of the most successful organizations in Vex. 1103, 44, 62 (kinda), 86868, and i like to think me :slight_smile: to just name a few. I think this is because we have a drive and passion for vex that just beats anybody else. We put in so much time, effort, and money into this that we become far more invested in it than others could ever imagine. The result of the thousands of hours that we personally put in throughout the season is success. It isn’t because of the convenient work times that I explained earlier, or being so rich that you can afford whatever you want, as a lot of people suspect, it is that 1 man teams are so insanely invested in Vex that we will not settle for anything less than championships.

It is a huge commitment that can be incredibly rewarding and taxing. I only recommend doing it if you think you can put in 25+ hours per week, which is exactly what I did in my senior year.

EDIT: I think this was my longest Vex Forum post ever :smiley:

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I’m incredibly lucky my school is so flexible and I’m so trusted. I have parts to work on my bot over the summer, and can basically bring home whatever I want for extended periods of time (as long as I bring it all back eventually).

Everything said above is absolutely true. I couldn’t do Vex without the school sponsoring such a large STEM program (though it’s still new, so our competency doesn’t really show though yet).

I recall when my “team” went to go get food while I sat there working through problems, standing in a Skills line, scouting, and sometimes just conversing with teams and building a network.
I can’t really call myself a one man team for reasons listed in my last post, but I do have a lot of the stresses of one (though not a private one).

My experience in teams

I’ve been in FTC and FRC (among others), where just me being in charge and doing everything just won’t cut it. There’s not enough of me to do it all. And that’s where having (or being a part of, moreso) a team is invaluable. But the team has to work well together.

I know of quite a few times I didn’t get my way when working on something. Most of the time, there was a failure related to it (not that my “way” would have prevented, but it would’ve been a different scenario), but a good amount of the time, it was also for the best.
People have their own ideas for a reason. Learning to sort through and communicate is what makes a great leader. I will say that I consistently had a strong leadership role (and, subjectively, things tended to go well, but that’s [very] narcissistic).

When leading a team, it’s important to know what you’re doing. Conflict resolution, delegation, trust, communication, accountability, etc. all make for a great leader.

But now I’m rambling publicly. Let me know (via pm of you prefer) if you want to hear more. And I’ll just shut up until then.

EDIT: And posts like these are why people don’t like me… hm.

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The more I think about this the more I like it. I’m hoping that my friends will step up and become their own team if I break off and I don’t think it will be a huge rift, they know I do everything. And I think I’m capable. The only thing I’m worried about is fundraising, I’m kind of an extreme introvert. But our mentor is finally going to apply for grants so that should help.

Also, I would get to choose my own team name :smiley:

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There are some very useful threads on fundraising around here. I’d take a look at those. But grants can make a huge impression. I might try to look into sponsorships/ partnerships with local businesses if your school would allow it, but that might be kind of a stretch.

Just be ready for all the work it’ll take. You don’t need assistants, but, from my experience, they help. And can maybe carry themselves eventually when you’re gone/leave them.

Best of luck to you if that’s the route you decide to take!

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