A Slice of Your Time - Team 3313 Mechatronics
January 24, 2013 • 2 notes • ∞
P: First off, could you tell us a bit about your team?
FRC3313: We are Team 3313 Mechatronics from Alexandria, MN which is about 2 hours northwest of the Twin Cities. We have some engineering support but not as much as many other teams. Our head coach is a math teacher by day, robotics obsessed by night. We have a large group of incredibly dedicated, incredibly awesome students who work their tails off on a consistent basis.
P: How were you founded?
FRC3313: We were founded in 2010 (Breakaway) after another FRC team (unsure of who) came to our high school in 2009 and presented about FIRST Robotics. Our principal and an Alexandria Technical College professor got together to create and run the team. The team was run primarily through the Technical College. The following year, the administration wanted Team 3313 to be based at the high school so they needed a high school teacher to run it. They approached the naive new math teacher, Mr. Bydlon, and he became the head coach. We’ve had a HUUUUUGE learning curve since then.
P: How many students do you have?
FRC3313: We currently have approximately 20 students with 13 males and 7 females. The numbers fluctuate a little bit because we don’t charge an activity fee (only charge for apparel and trips). This leads to our team size being a little up in the air.
P: Primary Sponsors?
FRC3313: A national 3M grant is our primary sponsor for competition fees. A group of local manufacturing companies called the PMMC (Packaging Machine Manufacturers Consortium) is also a major sponsor of our team. Both of those groups are local to our area and we always consider ourselves lucky for all the support financially and with mentors.
P: If you don’t mind talking about it, what sort of strategy did you decide on this year?
FRC3313: We decided on a shooter robot this year.
P: How did you determine this?
FRC3313: We spent time thinking about both climbing and shooting ideas, but the ideas for climbing didn’t make it past our requirements of being able to build the robot. Also, because we know that autonomous is an extremely important aspect of the game, we agreed that a shooter is a safe bet for a robot. As a team, we knew how to deal with the shooting aspect because it would be our second year approaching this task.
P: How do you honestly evaluate your resources?
FRC3313: We don’t spend much time evaluating resources initially. Its mostly just throwing ideas at the wall and those ideas create sparks for the ideas which can become our main robot ideas. We have been focused heavily on fundraising so that our previous building limitations can be greatly reduced. For example, we are building a prototype robot this year and keeping it. Then simultaneously building our competition robot.
P: What trade offs did you have to make based on your resources?
FRC3313: Like I stated earlier, we originally wished to make a climbing robot but we lacked the ability to create what we were imagining. We experience difficulties gaining a consistent engineering mentor; this can be a huge limiting factor especially when trying to attack the pyramid.
P: What process did you use to reach a consensus?
FRC3313: We used a system of needs and wants which was introduced to us at the kick-off for 2012 Season from GoFIRST. The system takes about five needs and five wants of the robot. The needs are normally qualitative: Must be able to build it, must be legal, must be able to move, and then two team decided traits. These were important because they decided the basis for our robot. Our two additional needs were must be able to shoot and must be able to obtain frisbees. We then decided our team’s wants list; these are much more quantitative. Our five were we want to shoot accurately at the three point slot, we want to be able to get frisbees by the 42” loading station, we want to do a ten point hang, we want to be able to adjust our shooter angle, and we want to pick up frisbees. It is not unwise to wait for some prototyping to be done before deciding this list.
P: Prototyping wise, what sort of techniques do you use?
FRC3313: “FAIL FAST” This is a new one for this year. It means test the idea as soon as possible to judge if it works or not. If it does fail, then we can spend our time on ideas that do not fail. “Don’t worry, it’s just a prototype” means don’t stress about how it looks or exactly where the bolt holes are. We stress that if it’s just a prototype, it’s alright for it to be cheap and for it to fail. While working towards more of a final product, we refine it to have a very similar functionality as the final robot. Turned into a running joke for anything and everything. “Your outfit doesn’t match!” “Don’t worry, it’s just a prototype.”
P: How do you evaluate a prototype’s performance?
FRC3313: As we have discussed in the topic above, we evaluate it by seeing if it meets our needs. We must be able to build it, the mechanism has to be able to pass inspection at the regional, and the robot needs to be able to drive with it on the frame.
P: At what point do you cut your losses?
FRC3313: Mostly when time constrains us. It’s a gut feeling as well as a robot weight, time left in build, and energy to finish feeling. Here’s a quote - “Truly successful decision-making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking” - Malcolm Gladwell
P: You have quite an active social media component. Do you feel being active in the online community has helped you?
FRC3313: Absolutely! It provides such a boost for us to see teams doing similar designs or totally different designs. We LOVE talking to other teams and seeing how they think and then applying some of those principles to our team. That’s what makes FIRST Robotics such an awesome, amazing experience. It’s competition mixed with friendship. It’s being the best while also beating the best.
P: What resources do you think are most useful?
FRC3313: The rule book is the best resource. We feel that FIRST did a great job this year of making a rule book that is simpler to understand and use. There are also the Team Updates of the rule book that are important to see. If you can get past the technical jargon (and slightly bragging nature) of Chief Delphi, it’s frankly the best resource out there for technical robot questions. You have to deal with a little bit of condescension every once in a while but, again, for a robot related question that is your main place. The TwentyFour blog has totally changed the way our team thinks about game strategy. Conversation our team had about a toaster, “Where have you been all of our FIRST lives???”
P: What resources would you like to see more of?
FRC3313: We would like to see more resources about how to get in touch with other teams. The first year or two of our program we felt very isolated and did not know who to ask a question to or how. We just kind of figured it out on our own but we hope other teams can kind of skip over that struggle. Especially for out state teams (teams not near a major metropolis), how do you do some creative fundraising and get your community more involved. Smaller towns make these situations harder.
P: Is being so open about your prototypes new to you?
FRC3313: Absolutely not. We have been uploading YouTube videos since Mr. Bydlon became our head coach in 2011. We did a similar process last year with our Rebound Rumble prototypes on YouTube. The main difference this year is the ability of Twitter, our blog, and Tumblr to have those videos spread quicker and create more discussion.
P: Do you feel it has/will help or hinder your competitiveness? .
FRC3313: We believe if our videos can help bring rookie teams and teams with limited resources to our level at the competition we can create a more active game year after year. One of the main pillars of FIRST Robotics is coopertition. Sharing our videos and our struggles and ideas totally fits in with what we feel FIRST is all about. Alliances are selected based on robot performance and team notoriety. Getting our name out there as a team with solid design principles and a willingness to help, we feel, helps us get picked if the Regional does not go the way we wanted it to.
P: What teams do you strive to emulate?
FRC3313: We feel we are a special case for an FRC team. We really only have one full time mentor and he’s a math teacher with up to 2 years ago, ZERO engineering experience but a lot of social media experience. That puts our team in a totally different frame of mind. We have no trade secrets. We have some great, creative ideas for robots and for connecting FRC teams but none of them, we feel, are ground breaking. We want all teams to achieve success (and we don’t just say that). So while we see it as sort of a cop out, we don’t really emulate any teams because no other team is quite like us. Hopefully, all teams get to that point. They get to the point where they can listen and take knowledge and ideas from other teams but still maintain their own team identity.
P: What local teams are inspirations to you?
FRC3313: Many of the larger Twin Cities teams like KingTec, Blue Twilight, and Green Machine were and still are inspirations to us. We are envious of the large programs (multiple FTC and tons of FLL teams), large budgets, team organization, and outreach efforts they all do. We are working with all of our might to create an environment like that on an out-state team. This leads us to do more creative activities and drive to trainings and meetings.
P: Do you have any problem with the fact that you were just interviewed by a toaster that has no discernable appendages with which to type this?
FRC3313: Not if it makes me toast; I want toast… give me jelly too please. This is how the programmers feel: the nintoaster
If you aren’t already paying attention to these guys you should be. Follow them on twitter @Team3313 or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/team3313 They are also on Tumblr at http://team3313.tumblr.com