STEM & FIRST competition - kitting out a school lab for Robotics - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: manicdoc
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 06, 2016, 07:19:09 am
content: Hi,I'm in the process of helping my local High School at Galston, Sydney to get set up for taking part in the FIRST Robotics competition (this is a global competition where students have 6 weeks to build a robot to meet a specific challenge or game then compete, it is NOT Robot Wars, no axes allowed!).I got some students from the school to attend the local heat in Sydney to have a look and their basically hooked - so want to get ready for next year by getting them familiar ahead of the build out period with whats needed & to learn up some critical skills - there is also a purely local heat in 2 months that can act as a test run...To give an idea of what FIRST is about and the degree of competition, the heats we saw consisted of teams of robots trying to overcome obstacles, grab a ball and throw it into the windows of a tower at the other end. Each round consists of the robots running for 30 seconds autonomously, then the rest of the round is under radio control. One team in the first 30 seconds had their robot cross the pitch, grab a ball, slam into the wall, turn and successfully throw a ball - all on its own, mine was not the only jaw dropping.. Also note, it's not just about the competition rounds - but the quality of the robot build, the way the pit area is set out and the degree of team work occurring.Now the school has metal working facilities, but its rather light on the electronics side of things, I think there is one soldering iron somewhere... So I would appreciate some advice on what to get to start the ball rolling. Obviously being a state funded school they have limited budget to assign, so expect 2nd hand/gifted to be the norm at this stage. I also fully expect some of my kit will be doing a double duty for a time (as well as my garage). A room is planned to be used for all of this eventually.BTW If any businesses want to make a contribution - it's likely there will be branding opportunities as by way of a thank you.Robotics is a completely new adventure for the school - so any help appreciated, even if its purely of the mental nature.RegardsKeith

author: nowlan
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2016, 11:35:36 am
content: Maybe discuss with any local tafe? They would have a workshop to teach soldering (possibly mechatronics), also knowledgable staff.

author: Tinkerer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2016, 11:15:08 pm
content: Honestly sounds like something Dave could get involved with. Even basically telling people to send them donations would help.Soldering doesnt take much to learn so thats an easy thing.Outside the box thinking is something that should be taught. Dont look at a part and think it has a narrow purpose. Want a blinking LED? You could set up a whole circuit for that or use an RS232 driver to make it blink off a single IO pin etc etc.

author: Kohanbash
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2016, 06:00:12 am
content: From what I have seen the electronics in FIRST is relatively light compared to the mechanical and software parts of the build.From the "electronics" side I think people need to learn how to run wire and terminate it in fuse blocks. Learning how to operate DC motors is also good.Selecting fuses, wire size, running wire neatly, DC motors, pneumatic pumps, etc.. are the main things.Also having good engineering skills is usually valued and awarded. So creating wiring diagrams, showing current draw from each device and showing how fuses were selected is probably good to show the judges.