Robanukah is here again! FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) has released the FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) 2017 Game: STEAMWORKS
Here at denkbots, several of our team members are FIRST mentors and alumni. In our continued effort to give back to the community that has given us so much, we will attempt to share our knowledge (like we did last season) via a “Conceptual Robot in Three Days” or cRi3D, based on the popular Robot in Three Days project.
We will do three segments to explain our approach to brainstorming and product design, in hopes that other mentors and teachers who might not be familiar with this approach may adapt and employ it to broaden their students’ horizons.
The three segments will be:
These three segments will culminate in The Reveal of our cRi3D!
As always, our goal is not to give the answer; it is to teach the process. We hope these articles will expose you to some new techniques and help those new mentors who can find the start of a new season a little bit overwhelming. Please feel free to join the conversation on our Facebook or Twitter with your questions, thoughts, and feedback on these articles!
NOTE: Before starting, we want to emphasize to students AND mentors, that the most critical thing you must do when approaching a new FIRST game is to fully read and understand THE GAME MANUAL! Without a thorough understanding of the rules your brainstorming and design phase will be plagued with dead-ends, confusion, and a lot of wasted time. Many mentors even create tests on the rules for their students that are a prerequisite for travel to competition.
PS: Before you go, we would like to point out a video we saw during kickoff that we really think encapsulates the reason we as mentors love doing what we do so much: