Purdue FIRST Forums 2024 Sessions

Top robots from the first 10 years of FRC Districts in Indiana and what we can learn from them. 

Join us for an engaging roundtable discussion on the powerful role of 3D printing in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) and FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC). This session is designed to provide valuable insights for both beginners and advanced users, exploring how 3D printing is revolutionizing the design, prototyping, and manufacturing of custom parts for robotics teams.

From creating lightweight and durable components to rapid prototyping complex mechanisms, 3D printing is a game-changer for teams striving to gain a competitive edge. We will cover practical applications, best practices, and case studies from teams that have successfully integrated 3D printing into their build processes. Whether you're new to 3D printing or looking to refine your skills, this discussion will offer key takeaways for elevating your team's performance in FRC and FTC.

Attendees will have the chance to interact with experienced users and industry experts, exchange ideas, and discover how 3D printing can drive innovation and creativity in the robotics space. This is a must-attend event for anyone interested in enhancing their team’s engineering capabilities and fostering a deeper understanding of additive manufacturing.

Come talk about starting, operating, and scaling a nonprofit to support your FIRST programs!

Learn how AI assistance can help you and your team! This course provides an introduction to AI principles and ChatGPT. It will cover ways to use them in everyday tasks, such as Business summaries and outreach. We also cover basic "Prompt Engineering" to get the most out of your queries.

Note: There will be very little traditional coding in this session, making it very "non-coder" friendly.

Andy will give details and stories explaining his favorite 20 robots in FRC. These robots were masterpieces in design and strategy, each making a huge impact in FIRST. A good mixture of old and new robots will be highlighted using videos and stories from Andy.

Whether you are applying to college or preparing your team for season, branding is an important part of sharing your story. 

Also pick Bryce's brain about all things FIRST & Purdue! Here are some ideas to get you started:

One of the aspects of FIRST that makes it so incredible is the idea of coopertition and the willingness of teams to support and help one another. This is evident at tournaments. However, sometimes it can be hard to feel that community when we are all at our build spaces. How can mentors better connect and communicate? What would be valuable for you in a mentor community?  This roundtable is an opportunity to explore how we can create more community among our mentors not only to support one another in building robots, but also have some fun with other mentors outside of building robots!

Discover, learn, and play games that not only help people get to know each other but also work together as a team.

"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." - Robert C. Martin

Based on Robert C. Martin's book, Clean Code, learn about how to code in such a way that truly benefits your team. Develop code in ways that allow you to find bugs quickly and make spaghetti code a thing of the past.

An overview of Command Based programming APIs based on Gavin Matthew's excellent website 

Learn how to apply the troubleshooting mindset to your robot, and how to get back on the field with less robot downtime with more reliable repairs!

How do I build a robot with AndyMark parts?
In this presentation, Ethan takes you through the AndyMark parts ecosystem, presents tips & tricks to use the AndyMark website, best practices for using AndyMark components, and some ways to use those parts on your FRC robot. 

Tired of sitting around at Forums? Get up and join Carl as he gives a interactive live dance course into some of your favorite FRC Dances. Learn the history behind disco, how to juice up your jives, and a new dance that hasn't been seen before!

This presentation is interactive, you will be dancing. Make sure to bring some water!

Come learn how to photograph FIRST events, edit your photos and expand your team’s social media presence.

Take your FRC or FTC program to the next level with FIRST LEGO League Discover and Explore teams/program

A great way to expand your current program, a way to create a sustainable STEM pipeline. 
Find out more about these programs, how easy it is to run them, and how to use them to make some money for your teams as Summer Camps. 

The 2023-24 season became transformational for 1747 Harrison Boiler Robotics. Post-COVID struggles and finding a groove leading to the State Championship proved challenging—the missing ingredients: setting a simple but effective goal for the team and project management.

This session will provide an overview of some of the leadership and project management philosophies introduced to our student-led team, leading them to attend Worlds for the first time since 2018. From leadership pillars such as Sinek's Golden Circle and Marquet's Intent-Based Leadership, learn how 1747 injected small bits of these frameworks to go from a State hopeful to a Worlds-qualifying team.

These frameworks, plus some basic project management concepts, drove a self-motivated and organized team that pushed beyond several bouts of adversity and raised their expectations higher than they could imagine.

Attendees of this presentation will leave with an understanding of these leadership concepts and the project management methodologies implemented by the team. Furthermore, this session will provide mentors with the building blocks to introduce these transferrable concepts to their student leaders, who will then take them and surprise you with their level of success!

Link to Slides: Finding Success: Leadership and Project Management Tools for FRC Teams (Google Slides)
Link to Strategic Plan Template: FRC Strategic Plan Template (Google Slides)

Stop by and watch a FIN Student Board meeting take place then they will open up the floor for a panel conversation. They will have questions for you and you can please bring your feedback and questions for them.  The meeting will be abbreviated.

Andy Baker will provide a history of FIRST's culture and ethos, along with an exercise in determining team ethics. This presentation will highlight the beginnings of FIRST, why it started, and what continues to make it special. 

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

FRC-Focused Tips to teach teams how to better prepare, compete, and respond to matches.

FIRST Alumni RJ and Kyle will go over a litany of tools and activities that teams can do to increase the effectiveness of their kickoff. We also hope to drive conversation around teams' plans to share best practices.

This presentation is directed towards anyone passionate about innovation, transforming ideas into reality, and building a business or personal brand.

An open Q&A with students of FRC 461 on the Impact Award.

Yes and....this session is going to be on your feet, interactive, and fun.  Participate in several improv style activities followed by a brainstorming session.  Then take these activities back to your team to boost creativity, innovation, and fun!

Designed fast, built faster, and tested almost nothing. What went into the Team Taco Ri30H robot? Discover the rationale behind the design choices made, strategies for choosing robot features, and general discussion and analysis of this year's FTC game.

Step by step guide from creating a project and loading the library, to getting a system set up for all of your logging needs.

Come and hang out with some Purdue FIRST Programs students and learn about college & FIRST after high school!

Learn how your robot gets from battery to movement!

It's getting late - have you seen my (alliance) mates? An interactive look at event strategy, covering picklisting and alliance selection. We'll break down how to use scouting during competitions, picklisting the right partners for your robot, and go through a mock alliance selection using the new rules for 2025. Whether you're new to the competition atmosphere or an experienced drive coach, this collaborative workshop can help break down and improve your process.

The purpose of this round table is to allow both students and mentors to share both the way they build their teams student leadership and how they structure their overall leadership structure. All team members are welcome, as the presenter believes each team has a small piece of the puzzle to creating a successful team, and through collaboration all teams can improve together.

All teams of all levels, sports teams, robotics teams, etc. should be prepared each year with four KEY meetings.  Stop by this session to walk through these meetings and leave with a template for your team to implement these into your calendar.  For those who attend, there is a bonus "fifth" meeting!!!!!

The 5S System is a Lean manufacturing workspace management system. Learn how to reduce questions like “Where did we put that?” or “What do you mean we don’t have any more of those?”

Learn how to configure a swerve drive using the YAGSL swerve library.

Discover and explore what your media team can do to help your team including but not limited to branding and spreading your team's mission and image.