Kickoff Meeting

D.B. Cyber Tribe - FRC Team 4020

 What do we want to accomplish today?

Understand the Crescendo game

Have some idea of how we think WE should play the game
Start getting ideas for the mechanisms our robot will have to play the
game
Start getting ideas for the sensors and vision capabilities our robot
will need to play the game
Start getting the programming and robot code environment set up for
2024

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 How do we get a start on these things today -> GAME
ANALYSIS

- Watch the kickoff video

- Read the rules!
- Thoroughly understand the game
- Analyze how to score points
- Analyze how to rank high
- Understand fouls and penalties
The rules impact design, build, programming, and
strategy. Everyone needs to participate.

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 Game Analysis (continued)

- Based on an understanding of the game, brainstorm WHAT

capabilities a robot needs to have to score and rank high
- Not the time to worry about HOW
- Given these capability needs, what are the most likely
mechanisms the robot will need
- Not the time to worry about detailed design
- Very high-level design thinking is OK

Still important for the entire team to do this. We will

have a better list and fewer things overlooked if we have
a larger group contributing.
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 Breakouts

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 Strategy/Analysis Breakout

- Deep dive into scoring

- Estimate time to complete game tasks
- Think about error rates (misses, failures)
- Develop score estimates
- How might we maximize our score?
- First insight into strategic choices for robot design
- Potentially begin mapping robot capabilities to scoring
tasks
- Drives prioritization of prototyping and building

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 Build/CAD Breakout

- Brainstorming on QUESTIONS that need to be resolved about all

the potential mechanisms
- Questions will eventually be answered by
- Prototyping
- CAD
- Engineering calculations
- Decisions
- Thinking thoroughly about the questions BEFORE diving into
answers helps us focus on the most important things

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 Build/CAD Breakout

- Work as one big build/CAD team on coming up with these

mechanism questions
- We don’t have a lot of build/CAD experience to tap into
- Harder to split up into subteams and have good leadership for each
- There is likely no time to start on prototypes today, but we can
go there if everything else gets done early

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 Programming Breakout

- Install 2024 programming software on robotics PCs

- Install 2024 image/firmware/drivers on:
- roboRios
- PDH and PCH
- Spark MAXes
- Pigeon 2
- Any other item with new code release

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 Agenda

11:30 Eat lunch and watch prelim kickoff

12:00-12:30 Watch kickoff game reveal

12:45 or so Everyone gets an electronic copy of the game

manual

1:00 or so Reveal in-depth field videos

1:45 or so Detailed rule review/game understanding

2:45 or so Robot capability brainstorming

3:00 or so First thoughts on main mechanism list

till 5:00 Breakout into groups

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 Looking into the near future

- Kickoff is a day for ideas, not decisions

- Refining ideas and deciding direction happens more throughout week 1
- Game analysis results are a key input
- Research similar past games
- Get ideas from the encyclopedia
- See how “robot in 3 days” teams are fairing
- See what “open build” teams are thinking
- Some decisions and many key refinements take place in later weeks
- Do our prototypes work?
- Do our actual mechanisms work?
- Can sensors and programming turn a marginal mechanism into something very
capable?

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