Wear And Tear Beware!

Robot wheels degrade overtime. This can change how the robot drives both autonomously and operated. Make sure to check your robots wheels during the season and have spares available to swap out. Good luck teams!

Wire you like this?

Colour labeling your wires makes it easier to trace electrical problems. Numbering motor controllers also makes it easier on programmers to figure out which motors do what.

The FIRST Canada Ask-an-Expert webinar on judged awards is now on YouTube. Check it out for some tips from veteran teams. https://youtu.be/xqhBm7J9Xfg

We have been working super hard on wiring lately and have been trying to get it done and ready to program. Make sure to double-check your work and have someone check your work for you. The last thing you want is something to come loose during competition.

FIRST participants do more than robots

We wanted to share a story about a FIRST alum. Taegen is an alum of FIRST Team 771, SWAT, Mechanical Engineering student at Queen's University, and currently a mentor of FIRST Team 4476 WAFFLES. Along with being an amazing FIRSTer, Taegen is a world class Formula 3 racer. Taegen is currently is Austria competing.

Good Luck Taegen! We look forward to having you join us as a volunteer at the North Bay Event.

Keep up with Taegen's adventures on her facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/tmpracing

Tower is mounted!

EXAMS!

With exams coming up things are getting pretty busy. Make sure that you find a balance between studying and robotics

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CNC Router

We got our CNC Router working! It can cut pieces very accurately and make really cool parts. Check out what it can do!

Wiring

Hows your wiring coming? Take your time it will pay off in the end!

Keeping Documents for Safety Purposes

As a community team, we use onsite campus machinery and shops. In order for this to work, each mentor is required to submit a resume to the College and complete the necessary safety training. Be sure to keep these documents as they are needed in order to have mentors use machines!

Launcher

Test Cargo Launcher!

Home BASE

We started our base today!

Climb the WALL!

One of our prototype climbs. Not sure if we can make it work!

Sharing

We love sharing parts. Let us know if you need something....

For all your CAN device needs

Just a heads up, CAN devices are no longer configured through the web interface this year, instead CTRE has released Phoenix Tuner for those purposes more information can be found here. Make sure your CAN devices are fully updated for the 2019 season.

Field Elements

Our team is working hard on making accurate replicas of this year’s field elements. We use for the most part plywood but you can also improvise with other items. An example would be the boiler from Steamworks was the same height as some totes and a garbage bin stacked.

Safety Evacuation Plans

Always have a safety evacuation plan for your team in case of an emergency, fire, and evacuation in your build room and at events.
Make sure to always have meet up zones after the emergency, and that all members of the team knows the plan.

Ri3D

Congratulations on getting through the first week of the 2019 FRC build season! Be sure to checkout Ri3D recaps and reveals to get some ideas and possible troubleshooting tips your team may need. Best of luck to you all for the remainder of the build season!

Social Media Presence

It's important to have a social media presence. Having a social media presence can help with sponsorship, recruitment and showing the first community who you are. Posting on social media would show everyone the cool and interesting things you do. It's important to post a couple of times a week and stay active on all of your social media platforms.

 

Check Your Balls

FIRST Team 1305 almost made a crucial mistake. Make sure you inflate the cargo to a full 13 inches in diameter or 40.84 inches in circumference. Make sure you do this it could save you!

Changes to Entrepreneurship?

Unlike previous years, the award submission for Entrepreneurship is no longer submitted in advance. Its turned into the judges during pit interviews. Also, the maximum length of the summary business plan is now 3 pages of content and 3 pages of appendices. Along with that, marketing has also been added as a topic to include. For more information click the link below.


https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/frc/awards-based-on-team-attributes

Testing new NEO motors and SPARK MAX

Testing was successful, it moved. The java api has not been released yet but we were able to connect to a laptop via USB cable and use the SPARK MAX client.

Awards are a huge part of FRC Competitions. Some awards require certain materials to be submitted ahead of time such as the Chairman’s Award, Dean’s List and the Woodie Flowers. Below is the link to the webpage that lists the criteria and important deadlines for these awards. Make sure to read the criteria carefully and use your time well to have your submissions ready.

https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/frc/submitted-awards

Keep meeting's fun

Its a very good idea to keep your meetings fun and entertaining. Some things 1305 do to have fun is team building games. Today we did the human knot.... it was NOT fun.

RI3D Blogger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSrDXWIV6cg&feature=youtu.be

 

 

Be sure to check out progress of RI3D

How the fluff do you get on the top platform....

What's new, Atlas? For entertainment only. But if you have a good idea and want to share, leave a suggestion.

FW: Guide to the FRC MCC

As I mention here is good reading on minimum competitive robot which is a good concept this year

 

Thanks

Bryan Kelso

Mentor FIRST Team 1305

Safety FIRST

It's official! Destination Deep Space is here!


You're busy designing, prototyping, and tearing open your Kit of Parts. but WAIT!


Don't forget your safety protocol before jumping in.

Five quick things to remember:
1. Wear your Safety Glasses.
2. Wear Closed Toe and closed heel shoes.
3. Check the equipment for damage EVERY TIME!
4. Avoid clothes with draw strings
5. Tie up long hair.


Good luck and BE SAFE!

Field CAD and Scale

Adding old robot cads to field to get idea of scale...

How is your strategy coming? Here is a nice reference sheet from 4481

Kick off

Happy Kick Off teams! Make sure to go through your kit of parts and ensure you have everything that is supposed to be there. This way you can contact FIRST before it's too late to get those missing pieces. Best of luck to all teams during this build season.

Tomorrow is Kickoff! Make sure someone is picking up your Kit of Parts at the correct location. We have already downloaded the necessary encrypted documents to avoid delays tomorrow. These documents are posted here:
https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/frc/competition-manual-qa-system?_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_xeE8l6S2bxMA3xnGvug9VyKGmx3lNvBVmN3AWBXStf2Wo90ssSlHiQzRL0QdH9jVdAJZ7LRMv6qRUfzsStxZNRpfgoQ&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_jG62Up6sYJbJBb91aGdfNZ-0dJ6FNWlUj_mrpZQjEZcWEsTurHLR64qJ-qYTP7kEN9kpfEL-xA-vccR-Ks3em0QWHfA&_hsmi=68728572

Build season is almost here! Make sure that you have discussed a plan with your team to be as prepared as possible. You should know when you are meeting and have a general time frame for completing important tasks.