Session .1. Safety and Project Management

Alvin Carroll and

Marv Kraska

Topic 1 (90 min) Alvin Carroll: Safety: with small tools and advice from UL, the sponsors of safety at FIRST competitions.

Handouts (1.7M)
UL Video (90M-mpg)
UL Video (45M-wmv)
UL Video (127M-wmv)

Topic 2 (90 min) Marv Kraska:  Best Practices for a Successful Season - managing project, program, design, competition. many hints, tips, techniques involving project management (!), control program design/modification, debug strategies, sensor conditioning, KISS, operator interface, competition, sensor types, robust SW design techniques, revision control, etc.

Handout (pdf 2.5M)
or
Handout (ppt 373KB)

Session .2. FIRST Boot Camp and Chairman’s Award presenters.   Aimed at NEW FIRST team members

Ira Goldberg and

Joe Horth

Topic 1: FIRST Boot camp: Discussion of the new FIRST principles (gracious professionalism

Topic 2: Kit of Parts Discussion

Topic 3: Chairman’s Award and other FIRST awards. (Good preparation for the Winter Event)

Session .3. Electrical

Ronnie Tront

Topic 1: Basic FIRST Robotics Electronics: kit parts, wiring diagram, and wiring practices.

Handouts (3.4M)

Topic 2: The Inputs and Outputs of the Robot Controller and Operator Interface.

Topic 3: Passing the FIRST Robotics Inspection at the FIRST competitions

Session .4. Robot Construction

John Vukovich and

Ken Snodgrass

Topic 1: Robot construction basics

Handout (82KB)

Topic 2: Motors and drive trains:  Fundamental background on selecting gearing and motors

Handout (4.6M)

Topic 3: Weight management:  Final weight of the robot must be managed

Handout (271KB)

Session .5. C programming of a FIRST Robot

Bob Koehl

Topic 1 (1 hour): Overview of the DEFAULT PROGRAM

Handouts (pdf 2.5M)
or

Handouts (ppt 4.1M)

Topic 2 and 3 (2 hours): Programming of Multiple Selectable Dead Reckoning Autonomous programs