2022 Purdue FIRST Forums Sessions

Tools and Tricks to troubleshoot problems. Limited to Robots :tm:

Philosophizing on how we communicate about & manage the work that we do

Building a sustainable robotics program should be the goal of any robotics team, regardless of setting, size or experience. Red Alert Robotics incorporated as an independent non-profit 501(c)3 in 2007 during our second season and that has led to numerous opportunities for growth and expansion. We are often approached about how we built our parent organization and run our organization. In this session, our students, mentors and Red Alert Parent Organization (RARPO) president will discuss:

An informal talk about how to spot, prevent, and counteract burnout of students, mentors, and volunteers.

"Even bad code can function. But if code isn’t clean, it can bring a development organization to its knees. Every year, countless hours and significant resources are lost because of poorly written code. But it doesn’t have to be that way." -Clean Code, Robert C. Martin

Join Carl for a journey to explore Robert C. Martin's book, Clean Code, and how it applies to coding within FIRST. In this presentation, you will learn:

This presentation is suitable for both FRC and FTC teams. If you are interested in writing better code, this is the presentation for you.

"Even bad code can function. But if code isn’t clean, it can bring a development organization to its knees. Every year, countless hours and significant resources are lost because of poorly written code. But it doesn’t have to be that way." -Clean Code, Robert C. Martin

In this sequel presentation to "Clean Code", Carl takes you through a live coding session to clean a robot code project. Get a chance to see the principles you've just learned in action!

This presentation is suitable for FRC and FTC teams. We will be cleaning a FRC java project.

How to plan and run effective Outreach for your community and team. 

Using the Judging Session Flowchart as a guide, we will go over the basics of FIRST LEGO League Challenge.  Topics include, the Innovation Project, Robot Design, Core Values, and the Robot Game, with plenty of time for Q&A.

New to FRC Programming? Secretly on a different sub-team but want to know the voodoo magic that makes those magical motors move? Join Carl as he explores this year's topic: Back to the Basics, and everything that entails FRC Java programming.

Note: This presentation assumes basic knowledge of Java Programming. An understanding of objects is recommended, but not required.

New to FTC Programming? Secretly on a different sub-team but want to know the voodoo magic that makes those magical motors move? Join Carl as he explores this year's topic: Back to the Basics, and everything that entails FTC Android Studio - Java programming.

Note: This presentation assumes basic knowledge of Java Programming. An understanding of objects is recommended, but not required.

Bring your robots to work on & hang out with other FTC teams

 Basic overview on getting started with Swerve including available COTS module selection, Sensor/motor options, and programming concepts. 

A comprehensive rundown on how a team should select train and encourage a driver, and advice for the driver about how to get the best robot from their team.

Learn about a variety of career paths within and outside of STEM for FIRST students. We will discuss traditional 4 year colleges, 2 year colleges, trade school, and joining the workforce! This is also a great time to ask questions to professionals with diverse experiences!

A deep dive on many of the components used in competitive robotics for everything above the drivetrain.

Topics
Manipulators
Lifts
Launchers
Storage
Power Transmission

Want to learn more about how to squeeze every ounce of competitiveness out of every kind of building environment, from working in a garage to a full-fledged machine shop? This presentation focuses on how to leverage all of the building tools at your disposal to create effective robots that fits your team's goals. This presentation is focused on FRC robot building practices, but lessons learned here can be applied to FTC robots built with some level of custom-machined components.

We'll dive into some success stories, talk about resource management, effective use of COTS parts.

One of the biggest challenges teams face is a shortage of mentors.  FIN wants to increase confidence and competence in new mentors so that they are successful and stay with FIRST teams.   What does this look like?   What tools do our new mentors need?  Training? Networking? Learn about tools that are already in place and help us brainstorm ideas for new tools/ways to help mentors.

Explore different methods of building your personal network as well as your team's.

 Continuation of basic Onshape Tutorial. Bring a laptop if you want to follow along!

Basic Interactive tutorial on using Onshape. Bring a laptop if you want to follow along!

Join us for a discussion of our initiatives for the year and areas of improvement within FIRST!

A panel of Purdue FIRST Programs members will discuss their experiences as college students and answer questions about life at Purdue. 

Session to talk about how to rapid prototype in competitive robotics.

Topics
Importance of prototyping
3D Printing
COTS Components

Do your team demographics reflect your community?  What can we do to make it easier for students to participate in FIRST programs? This session will discuss best practices to support the accessibility of programs and ways to promote equity and diversity, including removing communication, financial and transportation barriers.  This is based on the Robotics Accessibility Project done by Michigan FRC Team 2538, RoboJackets.

Learn how you get from battery power to a motor spinning. 

A rulebook can only be so rigid. In FRC, each season there are sections of the game manual that can have multiple interpretations that may have moral quandaries attached to them. Join this presentation for a discussion on finding these loopholes, and how to navigate them within your team!

Are you in charge of a programming team but don't know where to start? Join Carl in an epic saga of tips and tricks he has learned over the last 8 years. In this presentation, you will learn:

This presentation is suitable for both FRC and FTC teams alike! Come join us in an epic hour where you will learn how to take your team from surviving to thriving!

Join us for as a Student Board of Directors meeting to see our processes and recommend new initiatives!

Different ways you can structure your team and and how to train new members. 

Session where we talk about the college application process and how to include FIRST in your resume to help in the college application process.

Insight on how to make the most out of your experience as a woman in the FIRST community. The panel will offer perspectives from successful women in FIRST from college and beyond.

Tips for mentors writing essays for Dean's List and students writing WFFA essays. Tools to use to help write the best essay possible and grab the attention of the judges.