The Hitchhiker's Guide To Robotics
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Okay, so.... wow. This is really cool, no? But it's all so much at once... how am I ever going to figure this out? Don't worry, FIRSTwiki can provide you with everything you need to know, and if can't, it will point you to sites/people who can.
Welcome to the Hitchhikers Guide to FIRST Robotics. This guide will serve as a panoramic introduction to the world of FIRST robotics in all aspects, providing links to more in depth articles.
Contents |
FIRST
What is it?
The name FIRST is an acronym, which translates to: For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. Taken from the offical US FIRST website: "FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a multinational non-profit organization, that aspires to transform culture, making science, math, engineering, and technology as cool for kids as sports are today.
FIRST was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway Human Transporter. FIRST operates the FIRST Robotics Competition in which teams of high school students, sponsored and assisted by local companies and volunteers, design, assemble, and test a robot capable of performing a specified task in competition with other teams. FIRST also runs the FIRST LEGO League, for children 9-14 years old, and FIRST Place, an innovative science and technology center, including a hands-on children's science museum."
You can learn more about the FIRST organization here.
FIRST Robotics
FIRST Teams
Advice to running a team
The FIRSTwiki Team Index
| Here is a link to FIRSTwiki's Index of Teams page. |
|---|
The Robot Guide
Robot Mechanics
The best way to get started is to get out the good ol' kit of parts (KoP) and see what you can piece together. Since 2003 the KoP has provided enough parts to piece together a fully operational two wheel drive drivetrain. The first important thing your robot should do is drive, since you can't compete if your robot cannot drive around sucessfully. Getting aquainted with and building a simple drive train will set you on the right path to a successful robot.
The scoring mechanism is another important feature: your robot should have one if you plan on playing offense. Every year the FIRST competition varies, so design your mechanism to what you believe will work most effectively for the current game.
If you're just looking for a simple answer, the most important thing your robot must do is work. =)
Motors
Motors translate electrical energy into rotational mechanical energy. These are the primary sources of mechanical energy for your robot.
| 2008 KIP Motors: Chiaphua/CIM | Denso Window | Taigene Window | Keyang | Fisher Price | Globe | Banebots (RS-540, RS-550) |
| Older KIP Motors: Window | Seat | Van door | Drill | Fisher Price | Globe |
Transmissions
If you were to just slap a wheel on to one of the higher powered motors, your robot would have an incredible top speed and not enough torque to move. To solve this, you'd incorperate some type of speed reduction. Since speed and torque are proportional, as you "gear down" your speed, your torque increases. A transmission is what you would use to achieve this type of reduction. Transmissions come in all sorts of flavors: starting from the kit transmission, to a multiple motor transmission, to a shifting transmission, to a multiple motor shifting transmission, to a Continuously Variable Transmission, and so forth! There are many ways to build a transmission, but the trick is to pick and design the right one to complement your robots functions as well as stay within your team's resources (money and machining capability). To explore more on the topic of transmissions, follow this link.
Robot Electronics
Electronics are the internal guts to your robot. In short they are what power and control your robot's electrical components (motors, lights, etc). The kit of parts (KoP) will provide you with enough electronics to get the KoP robot to drive, minus a few wires and connectors. The combination of the Robot Controller, Victor speed controllers, and Spike relay modules control all the actions of the robot. The Robot Controller (RC), normally with the addition of sensors, controls the robot during the autonomous mode of the competition.
Programming
Programming is like the link that ties electronics and mechanics together. With programming, you tell the robot what to do when it is presented with a condition/situation, and how to react to that situation (i.e. push the joystick forward, the robot goes forward). As of 2005, the current programming language is C. You can read more about programming in this how-to article.
