Make upgrades to the Mia robot Mia - Make her go Faster and Farther
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What our coach is having us do is learn what every part in the room is used for and to build something with it. I am going to be honest and say that I only know how to use 20% of the parts.
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What I’m doing rn is making my coding into a more object-oriented one. I know its benefits are not that worth it, but I’m having fun while doing it and learning new things.
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We are planning on tearing down robots to the drivetrain and then experimenting with sensors each team hasn’t used before… moving some teams from block to text coding at the same time. We might also try to introduce some newer members to CAD so they have that option over summer.
Try and play around with something you are not comfortable with… yet.
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Build a drivetrain. Research build quality and make it the best you possibly can. You can use this drivetrain next season (maybe with a few tweaks) and have a nice head start. Also, start working with a PID if you aren’t already. This way, you should have a nice lead going into your first few competitions, and depending on your state, you may be able to snag a few free trophies early on.
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It’s worth mentioning that if additional spots open up, or teams can’t attend, invitations will be offered to the next team(s) in line. So don’t tear down your bot if you are close to making the cut but just below it.
I’ve go back over the past 5-7 years. See what the challenge was. Come up with bot ideas. Then watch youtube and see what the best designs actually were.
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This question is usually asked each year…here’s a thread from a prior year: Things to do off-season - #7 by kmmohn
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if your team intends on keeping its current drive train, it may be worth just practice driving it for the next season and improving code ability. Study/practice writing better journals. Get new members on the team trained (freshmen etc) and give them some experience so they can be easier to work with, and they can carry on the team in their junior/senior years.
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Idk about y’all, but we’re going to go through every single vex part we have and sort them all because whoever was using these parts before our team started existing didn’t do a good job organizing at all. It would also be helpful to know what we have before we place an order of parts for next season. After that, our robotics parts are in the same room where I have a programming class, and I need an idea for an independent project, so I’m going to try and build a non-competition truly autonomous auton that can scan the room for discs and targets and roam around shooting at them using sensors. Sort of a unofficial budget vaic.
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I’m gonna try and figure out how to use my inertial sensor with my x-drive for next year, and introduce some of my friends to vex to see if they will join next year for now. Thanks for all the answers! This definitely helped me get some ideas.
- Henry 344E
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I think this comment deserves more attention. ANYTHING you can do to increase your productivity would be at the TOP of my list… because TIME is the limiting factor 95% of the time.
Proper tools: nutdrivers, cordless screwdrivers, LONG torx driver tips, hemostat/fishing pliers save tons of time.
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Almost done organizing, but it’s been hard to convince my teammates bc they find it boring.
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James J. Hill, railroad builder…
You are doing #3 in the list.
He built railroads… some of the few to not go bankrupt.
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Making preparations for next season’s what I’m doing!
Id look into learning about different lifts and such, since it will probably be a lifting game next year.
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Try to learn different controllers or motion profilers. They’ll help you next year if you have everything set up.
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So learn a lot yes, but it can also be profitable to teach younger members within your program or even the world at large. Teaching things often forces you to really know the item you’re teaching and trying to explain it to someone else can sometimes yield new ideas about the subject in question. I am personally teaching the younger members of my program how to use PID loops in different applications and how to marry linear and rotational PID loops together.
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Maybe this is a hot take, but it’s totally ok to not to do robotics between seasons. Take a break, relax, and get your life back on track after the hectic final part of the season. Competitive Robotics is one part of your development as a young adult, but don’t forget to focus on the other parts too!
Working without breaks has been shown to be drastically detrimental to your performance and well-being in the short and long term. Take advantage of this relative lull in your season to come back next year stronger than ever!
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My teams took apart their bots and are now working on a mario-cart themed race!
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