Education Day 2018 Sessions

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Ed-Day Sessions Summary

TimeBuilding Your TeamTaking Your Team to the Next Level FRC EssentialsTools and Techniques Robot Building 101Advanced Robot Building TopicsSoftware Hands-OnFor Mentors OnlyFor Students Only
08:30 – 09:20Intro to First
Agenda
Managing Your Robot Build ProjectSurviving Inspection Inventor, Solidworks and CreoI’ve got a feeling – Basic sensors for FRC RobotsFRC Software for Beginners Kit Bot Chassis buildRobots are diverse; Robotics teams should be, too. Brainstorming on How to Increase Diversity on Teams
0930 – 10:20On the Internet, Nobody Knows you’re a Dog; How to Make your Team Look Big and Impressive Outreach: Looking for that Perfect Win-WinPit Organization and Management- Keep Your Pit from Being In the Pits Solid Modeling, Assembling and SharingChassis and Drive Train 101 The one eyed man is king – Advanced sensors for FRC Robots Applying Agile Scrum Methodology to FRC Growing Student LeadersFIRST & college: college students panel
Agenda
1030 – 11:20Team Organization Awards: Telling Your Team’s Story in 15 Minutes—or Less!Fundraising 101 CNC router for FRC: a First-Year StoryTugs and Taps – Avoiding the dreaded electrical rebootPatterns for Successful Software – More than Working Code
Team Captains Roundtable
11:30 – 12:20Lunch
12:30 – 1:20Lobbying the Government – Benefits to Teams and Team Members
Agenda
Safety ManagementFabrication Techniques Motors 101 Acronyms Galore – Wired for Success
Software FIRSTRookie Mentor Tips and Preparation
1:30 – 2:20Build a Cohesive Culture with Team Building Tips for TeensGame Strategy and Analysis, With Head Ref Q&A

Don’t get Bypassed because of Field Connection Issues; The FMS and How Your Robot ConnectsHotter Than Your Oven- Successfully Melting Plastics for Fun and GamesPSST! Want to use the power of the Air? Basic Pneumatics for FRC RoboticsSo You’ve Designed a Mechanism – Designing Top-Down so It Doesn’t Crash Down Effectively Engaging StudentsFIRST & college: college officials panel
Agenda
2:30 – 3:20To Weld: MIG, TIG or ARC?Manipulators 101 Robot Autonomous and Autonomy The Petting Zoo – Sensors and Cabling examplesMentor Roundtable

Track 1: Building Your Team

Are you new to FIRST, or trying to bring an inexperienced team together? These sessions are for you.

Intro to First

This session is designed for those with no experience in FIRST. What is the season like? What do teams do and when do they do it? What happens at competitions? What functions do teams need beyond engineering and programming? All this and more.
Jeff Meyers, MRA Lead

On the Internet, Nobody Knows you’re a Dog; How to Make your Team Look Big and Impressive

This session is for any team that needs some direction on creating corporate ID elements, websites, marketing materials, shirts, banners, and more. We will share our experience with this from 14 years of fielding successful teams.
Marco Ciavolino, Lead Mentor Team 3941

Team Organization

Organizing your team to get things done can really enhance its effectiveness, but team organization is more than just putting together an organization chart. Using Team 2199 as a case example, Mr. Milnes will discuss Team 2199’s evolving organization and organizational philosophies for consideration by your team.
Tom Milnes, Mentor Team 2199

Build a Cohesive Culture with Team Building Tips for Teens

This session is geared to mentors and student team leaders. We will address why team building matters and the stages of group development. In addition, you will learn some easy exercises that you can use with your team. We will have the opportunity to try some of these exercises together. Please bring your best team building ideas and tips to share with the group.
Holly Huntley, Mentor Team 2537

Track 2: Taking Your Team to the Next Level

You’ve mastered the basics of running your team, now what? This track is perfect for returning students, mentors, and anyone looking for ideas on how to improve their team.

Managing Your Robot Build Project

How can a group of teenagers field a competitive robot in ONLY 6 weeks?! Successful project management and effective communication are key. Learn examples and pro-level principles from Team 449’s case study of planning, tracking and adapting our schedule using Basecamp, an online platform.
Daniel Pedersen, Mentor Team 449

Outreach: Looking for that Perfect Win-Win

This will be your chance to share your team’s outreach strategies as well as learn about other teams’ strategies. FRC 1629 will be sharing how it integrates its outreach with its overall team vision as well as how GaCo strives for “win-win” outreach opportunities. This session is perfect for those who consider their team’s robot a distraction for what their team is really about or just another “tool” for engaging kids! Bring stuff to share.
Chuck Trautwein, Lead Mentor Team 1629

Awards: Telling Your Team’s Story in 15 Minutes—or Less!

Open discussion will center around how FRC teams tell their story not only to judges, but to all interested! For FRC 1629, GaCo, awards have never been an “end” but a “means” for another “end”… you’ll have to come to the session to see what this really “means”! Please come to share your experiences as well as learn from others. Full disclosure… focus will be on Engineering Inspiration and Chairman’s Awards, however, any awards are on the table!
Chuck Trautwein, Lead Mentor Team 1629

Lobbying the Government – Benefits to Teams and Team Members

The government funds numerous educational programs in a number of areas. Should local, state, and federal government agencies specifically fund robotics teams and programs? If you think so, then this session is for you. The session will cover ways to encourage governmental officials to back grants, tax breaks, etc. that help teams. Also, the act of lobbying benefits team members who do it personally by improving the skills involved in meeting with adults in positions of authority.
Jeff Meyers, MRA Lead. Marco Ciavolino, Lead Mentor Team 3941. Prasad Karunakaran, Lead Mentor Team 5945. Eric Ebersole, Maryland House of Delegates

Game Strategy and Analysis, With Head Ref Q&A

Anne and Steve will demonstrate how to evaluate a new FRC game and develop a winning strategy for your team. Previous years game data will be used to validate past kickoff estimates and help guide the modeling process. This session is designed with mentors in mind, but students are welcome. A basic knowledge of probability and statistics will aid in understanding the information presented in this session. The game strategy portion will last approximately 75-90 minutes.

During the remaining 30-45 minutes, Lisa and Steve will host “Ask a Head Referee”. This is your opportunity to ask two FIRST Chesapeake Head Referees about their role in aiding your teams succeed at competitions! Specific past rulings will not be discussed. Students and mentors are welcome for this round table discussion. Feel free to join the game strategy session in process.
Steven Shade, Anne Shade, Lisa Sedares

Track 3: FRC Essentials

Like it or not, there are things your team must do to be able to compete at an FIRST Robotics Competition. Learn from the experts on how to avoid common mistakes and prepare your team for the season.

Surviving Inspection

Meet the Chesapeake District Senior Robot Inspector and learn about how to make inspection a fun and enjoyable process. In addition to discussing common mistakes a lot of teams make (particularly bumpers) and how to ensure that inspection goes smoothly, the session will end with an open Q&A where you can ask the SRI anything you want.
Kevin Genson, Senior Robot Inspector, FIRST Chesapeake

Pit Organization and Management- Keep Your Pit from Being In the Pits

Find ways to plan, design, organize, and operate your pit. Build your pit to be a functional mini-build space. Present a professional image consistent with the competition theme and award worthy. This workshop is geared towards the small-medium team and teams on a budget
Team 5830

Fundraising 101

Come and hear from a professional fundraiser and an experienced FRC mentor who have teamed up to highlight ways to keep your team funded while minimizing stress and frustration. The presentation will include tips for finding and retaining sponsors, and the pros and cons of popular fundraising strategies. Links to various resources will be shared. Feel free to bring your own best practices and great ideas.
Allison Lanham, Corporate Gifts Office, FIRST Chesapeake , and Rose Young, Lead Mentor Team 2199

Safety Management

The safety glasses we all wear at FIRST don’t make us invincible! We need to identify all the hazards we face, and plan accordingly. In this interactive session you will learn to implement the principles of the international standard for safety management (OHSAS 18001) in your team.
Daniel Pedersen, Mentor Team 449

Don’t get Bypassed because of Field Connection Issues; The FMS and How Your Robot Connects

These experienced mentors and networking experts will provide an overview of how your robot and drive station interface with the FMS (Field Management System). The focus will be on preemptive troubleshooting to avoid the reasons teams get bypassed when connecting to the field. Topics covered will be network issues, hardware issues, drive station issues, bandwidth utilization, and analyzing drive station log files for brown outs or high current utilization.
Jayesh Jariwala, Lead Mentor Team 6326 and Ron Therrien, Mentor Team 5945

Track 4: Tools and Techniques

There are many ways to build a robot. What works and what doesn’t? Experienced mentors show you different ways to make your robot building experience easier.

Inventor, Solidworks and Creo

A comparison between three solid modeling software packages offered to US FIRST participants.
Ty Schwenk, Mentor, Team 3941

Solid Modeling, Assembling and Sharing

How to make CAD useful to your FRC team.
Ty Schwenk, Mentor, Team 3941

CNC router for FRC: a First-Year Story

Team 449 bought, installed and operated a CNC router, incorporating it into our build process. We share our system details, what went well, what didn’t and some insights.
Daniel Pedersen, Mentor Team 449

Fabrication Techniques

There is always more than one way to fabricate a part or assembly. What are my options? How do I choose the best fabrication method for a given part? Attend this session to explore these questions and gain a basic understanding of the pros and cons associated with various common fabrication techniques (e.g. 3D printing, laser cutting, welding, etc).
Mark Edelen, Chair, Engineering & Technology Department
Howard Community College and Bobby Nanan, Mentor team 2849

Hotter Than Your Oven- Successfully Melting Plastics for Fun and Games

This Session will walk through the pluses and minuses of various Additive Manufacturing techniques, with an emphasis on Fused Deposition Modeling (what most people associate with 3D Printing) and how to get the most from your printer and models.
Caitlyn Byrne, Mentor Team 3941 and Sam Meyers

To Weld: MIG, TIG or ARC?

Is your team considering welding your frame for more stability and less breakage? This session will go over some welding basics and advantages of the different welding equipment for your robotics shop.
Karen Bogoski, Lead Mentor Team 4949 and Kevin Sinnott, Mentor 2849

Track 5: Robot Building 101

Learn the mechanical basics about how to get your robot built and ready for competition.

I’ve got a feeling – Basic sensors for FRC Robots

There are a TON of sensor choices out there! Let’s start out with some basic, easy to integrate ones and talk through how to add them to your robot.
Ross Johnson, Mentor Team 2537 and Caitlyn Byrne, Mentor Team 3941

Chassis and Drive Train 101

The Chassis and Drive Train are the foundational elements in any FRC robot. No chassis means no robot since there is no place to attach things. No drive train and your robot is an inert rock. Learn the ins and outs of these foundational subsystems in Chassis Drive Train 101.
Tom Milnes, Mentor Team 2199

Tugs and Taps – Avoiding the dreaded electrical reboot

The basics of wiring – What is electricity, what are wire gauges and why do they matter, and how to crimp successfully.
Ross Johnson, Mentor Team 2537 and Caitlyn Byrne, Mentor Team 3941

Motors 101

Electrical motors are the key actuator in FRC used to drive the robot and most manipulators. When should you use them and why? How do you pick a motor? What are the key characteristics? This and more will be revealed in Motors 101.
Tom Milnes, Mentor Team 2199

PSST! Want to use the power of the Air? Basic Pneumatics for FRC Robotics

Pneumatics is often an intimidating topic particularly for new teams. Here’s how Team 2537 added pneumatics to our knowledge base, and you can, too!
Ross Johnson, Mentor Team 2537

Manipulators 101

Manipulators are the scoring subsystems of an FRC robot since they “manipulate” scoring game pieces into scoring position. There are many well known designs / design elements that can be effectively utilized without “reinventing the wheel” to make your robot a scoring machine
Tom Milnes, Mentor Team 2199

Track 6: Advanced Robot Building Topics

So, you’ve built a basic robot, but wow, how do those other teams do THAT? These sessions build on the Robot Building 101 track to provide more advanced information.

The one eyed man is king – Advanced sensors for FRC Robots

There are a TON of sensor choices out there! Let’s move to some more advanced, or harder to integrate, sensors that can give some advanced functions to your robot. (Note, this class will touch on electrical and programming impacts.)
Caitlyn Byrne, Mentor Team 3941 and Ross Johnson, Mentor Team 2537

Acronyms Galore – Wired for Success

PWM, CAN, I2C, GND – What are these things? Let’s talk connectors, buses, and layout, and provide a route to robot success!
Caitlyn Byrne, Mentor Team 3941 and Ross Johnson, Mentor Team 2537

So You’ve Designed a Mechanism – Designing Top-Down so It Doesn’t Crash Down

A good robot has subsystems that do what they’re supposed to, but a great robot is more than the sum of its parts. Let’s learn how to apply some systems design principles to creating a more cohesive machine.
Tim Lin, Alum and Mentor Team 2537

Robot Autonomous and Autonomy

Why accomplish something manually that a machine can do better? Learn the ins and outs of robot automation. Special emphasis will be placed on approaches to accurate robot movement, which is fundamental to a successful autonomous routine.
Noah Gleason. Team 449 Alum

Track 7: Software

The right software is key to a successful robot. These expert mentors can help you improve your team’s approach to software.

FRC Software for Beginners

F1! Where do I begin? What languages do robots speak? Are there examples? Who can I turn to for help? Do I need to know everything about programming? If any of these questions sound familiar, this is the session for you.
Jayesh Jariwala, Mentor Team 6326

Applying Agile Scrum Methodology to FRC

This session presents the practical application of agile scrum methodology to a sub team or entire FRC team. Learn about Agile Roles and “Product owner / Team Captain” prioritization.
Michael Colaric, Mentor Team 2377

Patterns for Successful Software – More than Working Code

Software development is not just about getting something that works, but also requires us to code in a way that’s readable, reusable, and still effective. Let’s take a look at patterns that successfully software teams have used. Discussion is based in Java but also applicable to other languages (e.g. C++ and Python), less so for LabVIEW.
Tim Lin, Alum and Mentor Team 2537

Software FIRST

The pros and cons of the key tools needed to make an FRC software development team successful. Topics include: languages, version control systems, IDEs, planning/scheduling, trouble ticketing, documentation, debugging, etc.
Dave Albert, Mentor Team 2537

Track 8: Hands-On

Learn by doing! Work with an award-winning mentor to build a basic robot from the Kit of Parts. Practice your electrical, wiring and crimping techniques under the eyes of experts.

Kit Bot Chassis build

A semi hands-on workshop building the Andy Mark AM14U3, Kit of Parts Chassis teams receive at FRC Kick-off. This session will go over configuration possibilities, wheel and gearbox options and discuss the robot perimeter rules.
Karen Bogoski, Mentor Team 4949

The Petting Zoo – Sensors and Cabling examples

Come down to the sensor petting zoo, and have some time to individually explore with some sensors. Or play with various crimps and wires. We think nothing will bite…
Caitlyn Byrne, Mentor Team 3941 and Ross Johnson, Mentor Team 2537

Track 9: For Mentors Only

Whether you are a new mentor or have been involved with teams for years, there’s always something new to learn. Many teams have common issues; share tips, best practices and ideas with other mentors.

Robots are diverse; Robotics teams should be, too. Brainstorming on How to Increase Diversity on Teams

We often hear from parents who have a son who “loves building with LEGOs” and they think he’ll be an engineer. Those boys are easy to engage in joining robotics. But what about the other creative, dynamic, innovative young folks, the girls and the boys who don’t have LEGOs to build with or whose parents don’t speak English? How do we find them, engage them and inspire them to be the problem solvers we need for tomorrow? This session will consider the obstacles to involving girls, immigrants, disabled or disadvantaged students and other under-represented populations in robotics and careers in STEM fields. Obstacles like cultural expectations, financial limitations, language, and more are open for discussion and sharing. Together, participants will brainstorm ideas for including more of the talented youth we can easily overlook or have difficulty recruiting.
Discussion Facilitated by Rose Young, Lead Mentor Team 2199

Growing Student Leaders

Adapting business leadership training for FRC. Teaching students how to lead vs. manage and bring out the best in themselves and their team. Topics and techniques drawn from Covey/7-Habits and Gallup/FBATR include: decision making styles, building relationships, planning and prioritizing, and thinking win-win.
Dave Albert, Mentor Team 2537

Rookie Mentor Tips and Preparation

Just what did you get yourself involved in? How can you prepare for the preseason, the build season and competition season? This session will walk you through some behaviors, cautions, suggestions and time management tips to get you through your rookie FRC year, both on and off the field.
Jayesh Jariwala, Mentor Team 6326

Effectively Engaging Students

A FRC team is only as effective as its students. How does your team motivate and engage its students? How can FRC teams truly give opportunity for students to engage and make a difference? Come and brainstorm some ideas on engaging students into all facets of FRC life. FRC students have been given much opportunity and thus it is incumbent on them to ensure others have the same opportunity!
Chuck and Pam Trautwein, Lead Mentors Team 1629

Mentor Roundtable

What makes a team successful? Come learn from teams in a panel discussion covering topics such as:

  • How do you run brainstorming at kick-off?
  • Prototyping and CAD – when do you do each
  • When to stop prototyping and decide on the end design
  • Specialized development teams? How do the teams communicate.
  • How to design for flexibility
  • How to successfully estimate time to completion
  • How to decide to throw out a design and start over

Reggie Counts, Mentor Team 2849 and Kathy Laukzemis, MRA

Track 10: For Students Only

Sure, FRC is fun, but how does your FIRST experience translate into college success? The two panel discussions- one with FRC alumni who are now in college, and the second with representatives from college, tell you what difference FIRST can make. And don’t forget the always popular Team Captain Roundtable, a great way to share ideas and build your networks.

FIRST & college: college students panel

Planning on college? This panel consists of FIRST alumni who are now in college. Learn firsthand about getting in and surviving in college. Panelists will discuss the benefits of their own FIRST participation and how that impacts their experience in college.
Facilitated by Jeff Meyers, MRA – panel of current college students who are FIRST alum

Team Captains Roundtable

This session specifically for the student leaders of the team. For team captains (veteran and new) to discuss issues among themselves. What advice would you pass to other team captains? What situations are you worried about that others can provide advice on?
Team 1629

FIRST & college: college officials panel

Planning on college? This panel will give you insights about the admissions process, colleges’ recruiting of FIRST kids, and the benefits of your FIRST participation. Learn about college programs with particular relevance to FIRST alumni and about scholarship money.
Facilitated by Jeff Meyers, MRA = panel of college officials