If you are reading this, you're most likely a high school student involved with FIRST Robotics. As they say this will be the most fun / hard work you have ever done. It is one of the few extracurricular activities that really expose and prepare you for the “Real World.” I was a FIRST student from 1999 to 2002. Being a non-traditional student, labeled with a learning disability, I was not supposed to succeed according to my grades. I was a born engineer from day one. Memorizing dates and facts just did not stick in my head. But learning and applying concepts I was great at. FIRST Gave me the opportunity to build my skills and learn from professional engineers. To this day I approach things the same way. If I can learn to do it so can you. If I can help just a few out who struggled like me, then my effort won’t be wasted. There are no tests or grades - just the satisfaction that you achieved something you previously did not know how to do. It almost taps into your survival instincts. You have a problem to solve and you are the solution. Stick with it and you will see what I mean.
This series of articles is intended to teach you the basic skills and knowledge to be successful on a FIRST robotics team. By no means will you be a full fledged Mechanical Engineer but you will become familiar with the building blocks of how things made.
Before you get started designing the next Mars rover, you need some Team Work Skills. This is something everyone has to practice their entire life young and old. You are never done learning to interact with your fellow human beings. Here are a few words of wisdom just to keep in the back of your mind. A lot of these team topics don’t sound very fun but, most of us had to figure out these things with trial and error. If you work at it and keep these lessons in mind things will go very smoothly like they should.
Where ideas come from
There is a Technology Writer by the name Stephen Johnson who recently had a PBS TV show based on one of his books How We Got to Now. It’s filled with amazing stories of one thing leading to another, often by accident. You will be surprised how things got from beginning to end. He has a great Youtube Video (Stephen Johnson Where Ideas Come From). When you step back and think about it he really hits the nail right on the head. Humans are great at mimicking what they see. A lot of early inventions were heavily influenced by animals’ anatomy. The neat thing is once in awhile an unexpected mistake comes along and Boom a new idea with fresh perspective is born. Anyway, watch the video and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Ask lots of questions
Never be afraid to ask tons of questions. Everyone’s heard the old saying there is no such thing as a dumb question. Well it’s 100% true. It’s tough now that we have the internet to answer everything for us at the click of a button. Don’t get me wrong, it is an awesome resource, but it can never replace asking a teacher, mentor or community member a question in person. “How do you do it?” “Why do you do it that way?” “What happens if you do this?” Seriously, you have my permission to ask question relentlessly like a curious five year old. The more you ask the more you will know. Maybe you get two slightly different approaches from two different people. Or you become intrigued but a subject you never even thought was possible. Remember ask to learn, not to try to prove someone else wrong.
Always Be willing to learn what you don’t know
This builds off my comments of asking lots of questions. A good friend of mine who is a professional welder used to HATE engineers, mainly because he got stuck working with too many very arrogant engineers that refused to be wrong. Our common thread was racing and building bicycles. His friends at the races were always floored that we were friends. I asked him once why I was one of the few engineers he could get along with . He replied “you're one of the few that are willing to learn what you don’t know”. I didn’t realize it before then that it made sense. I’ve always been friendly with the machine shop guys. There is a level of respect conveyed when your are genuinely interested in what someone does. I always approach a problem by reading to learn a new skill to solve it. Just as I am eager to learn, I am eager to share with others. This a valuable life skill to work on. If you walk in a room with a spectacular display of skill and or knowledge as if it were magic trick then you will not be well received. If you and your peers share knowledge between one another, your team will strengthen its knowledge and its comradery. You want to be teammates - not adversaries with a common goal.
Admitting when you’re wrong
Admitting when you're wrong extremely important. Our society had breed us to be so over competitive in every aspect of our lives. So much so that we will outright lie, point fingers, make excuses for why something didn’t go as expected. This one never gets easier even as an adult. There are people in this world whom will avoid saying “I was wrong” like it was the worst thing on earth. Over your career you will be faced with many confrontations and arguments. All you can do is be honest. It doesn’t always feel great saying, “Hey I messed up.” But it is the first step in correcting a problem. For example if I mess something up in a design I will come out and say “hey I know what happened and this is how I can fix it.” Or, “ I’m sorry I offended you when we last spoke, it was out of line.” The point is be the bigger Man or Woman in the situation even if the other person sits there silent thinking they are winning a psychological battle. Always embrace the past but propose a solution for the future.
Give credit when credit is Due
So, now that we know how to swallow our pride briefly, let's move on to another subject that needs to be practiced every day. Give credit when credit is due. It’s really easy. When you are talking to another team-mate, boss, peer etc., just go out of your way to say, “So and So and I were talking and he proposed a great idea.” It will make your counterpart feel great and you will look like a great leader - it’s a win-win. I’ll give you personal example I find myself in a lot. My brain goes round and round at 100 miles per hour when thinking of a solution at times. It’s pretty good at touching on a lot of potential solutions. Ironically, I can overwhelm myself more often than not. So then I go to a fellow colleague to kick around ideas. Often they will have their own list of solutions many of which are similar to yours. Try your best to refrain from constantly saying “I thought of that, I was thinking that” while the other person is talking. This one takes practice. Remember you are asking them for help so let them help. Along the same lines if you projet partner helps you connect the dots don’t jump up and say “I’ve got it!” then repeat what they just said. I know in your mind the idea solidified but curb your excitement and let your partner know that “We got it figured out!” There is no “I” in team.
Something Broke how do we get to the finish
This is a great one that I lightly touched on before: always push forward with solutions. I’m going to share a story about the Dover High FRC Team #4546 here. They were at the first regional competition in the 2015 season in Springfield Ma. I wasn’t able to get to the competition for friday's inspections. Turns out we misinterpreted the transport dimensions rule. There was a time limit as to how long it took to convert your robot. I get a phone call from one of the mentors saying they cut the arms off the robot. Being the main mechanical mentor I just about had a heart attack in the truck driving down. I knew we had a great group of kids on the team and I had all the faith in them. But in the back of my mind I was wary they would resort to finger pointing and the blame game. When I got there they came up with their own bracket system from the spare parts we had in our tool box. Everyone was calm and confident. They all said who cares about what led us to this point we are going to to compete! I had only been involved with the team for 4 to 5 weeks at this point but I was really proud of them. The moral of this story is always do your best instead of being the best.
It’s the team’s problem
So I just shared an example of how the team stuck together and overcame adversity. This story is along the same lines but pertains more to the build season. I briefly worked for a professional race car company. Building a custom race car and then duplicating it is a monumental task. While I was there, the morale of the team was pretty poor. I frequently heard “it's not my problem” around the shop. There would be some times that someone else would catch in passing but not inform their fellow team mate as to say “hey watch out for this”. It drove me nuts but their crowning achievement of dysfunction was when the engine had been modified and one of the oil plugs in the cylinder head started to leak. It was always exciting to see these powerful engines fire up and I had been working hard trying to design a mounting kit for a dry sump system. So the engine fires up and there is the usual smoke from small drop of oil here and there. Then I notice oil is squirting out of the cylinder head. Several of the other guys are just standing there with grins on the face saying “It’s not my problem.” I yelled over to the lead mechanic and pointed it out. At that point I knew I was in the wrong place because there was no sense of team at all. So you might not always be able to fix a problem or provide the whole solution but just bear in mind you are in this together.
Speak your mind don’t demand it
This is a great one for younger kids joining FIRST. A lot of time I see the young newcomers get really frustrated that their opinions are not listened to. As they get older and more mature they learn how to articulate things better. Most likely this is a lot of kids first real big team project. When you are working with a group you need to be part of the conversation the entire time. Flying in with the end all be all solution isn’t the way to get your ideas implemented. Just like in that first Stephen Johnson video, one great idea takes little pieces of everyone's personal ideas. The goal is to find the right combo. So if you're late to the conversation ask someone to catch you up. Then stay engaged in the conversation, voice your opinion, ask questions you don’t understand. You’ll be surprised if you stand your ground politely with a sense of team, your ideas will be very well received. Eventually the right combination will come out of the conversation and your team will be off to the races.
No one likes a Monday morning quarterback
This is one of the big no no’s in an engineering department. Its called the Monday morning quarterback, Captain Hindsight and probably a whole slew of other names. It describes a person who likes to find the easy to point out faults after something has been completed. It’s really easy to do this and sound all smart, briefly. But your team will not appreciate it! I am the first to confront any of my students and say, “well if you dont like it, where were you when the decision was made?” The point is, there is a difference between constructive criticism and just pointing out people's mistakes for the fun of it.
Draw your ideas everywhere
Draw Draw and Draw some more. All these neat ideas swirling around in your head need to get out some how. Pick up a pencil and sketch them out no matter how disorganized it may look. It’s a lot easier to scribble a stick figure down with some little notes to convey a spur of the moment idea than it is to 3D model it. The more you draw your ideas the better you will be at brainstorming sessions with your peers. White board and chalk board are great. A group of you can get together and take turns drawing their thoughts on the board. They say a picture is worth 1000 words but I would wager more than that.
Don’t reinvent the wheel but don’t settle for buying it
In today's day and age it is a blessing and a curse that there are so many purpose built things for us to purchase. The FIRST build season is so short that it was a necessity to have premade gearboxes, brackets, wheels etc. and it really helps out the smaller teams. But now that you have all of this stuff that your can order all the valuable lessons to be learn are lost as we just bolt stuff together. I’ll give you a good gearbox example. I bet most of you who have purchased a gear box for the FIRST robot don’t know about pressure angles, Pitch Diameters, Keyway broaching, Involute tooth profile (We’ll cover all this stuff later). If you have someone to ask with the knowledge why not make your own parts. Trust me it will be a lot more fun and beneficial in the long run.
Mentor your younger teammates
Lastly, always remember where your skills and experiences came from. It is your duty every year to make sure the incoming kids are welcomed and educated. It’s a cycle that has to keep going. If all knowledge stopped at one generation then we would be in big trouble as a society. Teaching is often the best way to master a skill. You’ll find you really need to think about what you are saying when teaching a subject to someone.
Thanks for reading through some of that heavy stuff. These are all valuable skills and concepts you’ll need to practice over your lifetime. You’ll have triumphs and failures, make mistakes and say the wrong thing at times. The most important thing to take from this chapter is, if you are able to be polite, interested, and humble, then all this stuff will come naturally.