Strategy From Design to the Field

1. StrategyFrom Design to the Field Danny Blau Rocket Scientist , AFM Robotics Engineer, AndyMark

2. 11 years FIRST experience • Lead mentor for FRC Team 3184 • Participated in all levels of FIRST • Aerospace Engineer for Aerospace Fabrication & Materials • Design Engineer for AndyMark Background

3. "Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence. I am not remotely interested in just being good.” ~ V. Lombardi “Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.“ ~Michael Jordan “If it doesn’t fit, force it If it breaks, it needed replacing anyways” ~Gerry Milkowski Noteworthy Quotes

4. “Designing and building a cool robot is a lot of fun, Designing and building a cool robot that does well in competition is even more fun” ~KarthikKanagasabapathy (see Karthik’s champs presentation on strategy) Give your design a purpose, so that it can grow in a productive direction Strategic Design

5. Read the Manual • Understand the ranking system • Goals for Qualification Rounds • Examine every possible way to score • Examine every possible way to prevent your opponents from scoring Where to Start your Design Process

6. A strategy that, when executed, guarantees victory, no matter the other alliances actions • Top Priority • Be aware, it will be difficult! • Controlling all the goals (2002) Team 71, Beatty, the Flop Bot! • Lifting all the bins (2003) Game Breakers

7. Walk thought the motions • Limit your abilities to ‘robot’ levels and speeds • How hard is it to acquire the game pieces? • What’s the margin of error? • Don’t under or over estimate (look to past games) • Average number of tubes scored per match (2011) • 1.5 tubes / match (at Champs) • Average number of basket points (2012) • 5pts / match (at Champs) Play the Game

8. Weight all the options against their costs • Build time • Competition points • Financial costs • Best tasks have a high return for little input • Denying your opponent 10pts is just as good as scoring 10pts • Most of the time Cost-Benefit

9. Create a list of all the things the system must do • Robot must drive X ft/s • Robot must pick from the floor • Rank the list • Based on Cost-Benefit • Overall season goals • Sequence of events • Items do not discus how but simply what Requirements

10. Your team must be able to build it • Your build plan, your materials and tooling, your resources • The robot must pass inspection • Read the manual • Check the updates • It must move! • Game specific things • Etc… Requirements

11. Going from Requirements to building a robot • Design from both ends • Create the max usable space, and design parts to fit • Insert known parts into this space, further defining remaining space Black Box Design

12. Design Evolution

13. This is the most common way to get from design to robot • Be sure you know what your evaluating • Iterations are more important than a shot-gun spread Prototyping

14. Speed Vs Power • Height of reach Vs Low CG • DoFVs Stability at end-effector Trade-ables

15. Golden Rule #2: • If your team has 30 unite of robot, and each function has a maximum of 10 unites, it is better to build 3 at 10/10 rather than 5 at 6/10 • Remember you have partners, its ok to depend on them, but not too much Karthik’s Tips

16. K.I.S.S. • Design to maximize driver’s margin of error • When in doubt, build it stout • The 6 P’s Design Tips

17. The 6 P’s • Effective, well informed, strategy can tip the balance on a match and determine the winner Match Strategy

18. Questions? Danny Blau dannymblau@gmail.com