Bill

You said it all well!! Looking forward to seeing you again soon!!

Amit

On Tue, Oct 8, 2019, 8:31 AM Robot Bill <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I apologize and may have inadvertently stepped on a few toes and upset
> some of the coaches on this listserve in my recent posting. Let me be
> clear, my comments were *generic* advice and sincerely not intended to
> accuse anyone of wrong doing. If anybody took my comments in that manner,
> that was not my intention. I was using this particular topic as a generic
> example (which may not have been the best approach in retrospect). Perhaps
> I should have had a few more caffeinated beverages before hitting <send>.
> Mea Culpa.
>
> If you read my posting initially as an accusation, I request you read it
> again with a positive spin on it. My intention was to encourage
> facilitation and mentoring by coaches.
>
> Bill
>
> On Tue, Oct 8, 2019 at 6:51 AM Robot Bill <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> If you will allow me, I would like to get up on my virtual soapbox for a
>> few moments and provide some generic advice. Some of you know me, some of
>> you don't. Let's just say, I have been associated with FIRST and FLL for a
>> while.
>>
>> As I see some of the dialog on this listserve, I am secretly hoping that
>> all of the coaches and mentors are using this information to *teach *their
>> FLL teams. These are wonderful teaching opportunities for your teams. How
>> you interact with your teams makes all the difference. Using this thread as
>> an example, on one end of the spectrum, you can take the lessons learned
>> from the other coaches and just tell the team, "the way to fix the wheel
>> slipping is to do XYZ". If you do that, you will certainly shorten the team
>> meeting and get closer to a better working robot. On the far end of the
>> spectrum, you can mentor and facilitate the team, by leading them through a
>> series of questions: "how is it slipping?", "how long is it slipping?". You
>> can help them to do some research online to investigate the physics of
>> friction. What are the factors that influence friction? What modifications
>> can you do to the robot to reduce the probability of friction occurring
>> (ensure the wheels are clean, increase the surface area by using more or
>> different wheels, increase the weight directly over the wheels)? I am an
>> engineer and we do this all the time. You will be, without you knowing it,
>> teaching the children the basics of failure reporting and corrective action
>> (FRACA). Rarely does any engineering project work initially. There is
>> always an iterative process by which the product is incrementally improved
>> (OBTW, take a look a the Robot Design rubric:
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__firstinspiresst01.blob.core.windows.net_fll_2020_first-2Dlego-2Dleague-2Drubrics.pdf&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=k6Oa5GxfBPFMgGjb2r5QIoEOeBZs9xbNIpA0kLw_kFQ&m=zN_rE54KDbMHlsiPBQD_pumOh3PPKMZmjdNKHmuAqs0&s=Sdlq5ZE_Zj5iImESgy-beJIuW9rXfhP0-FK3_POZtNY&e=
>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__firstinspiresst01.blob.core.windows.net_fll_2020_first-2Dlego-2Dleague-2Drubrics.pdf&d=DwMFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=k6Oa5GxfBPFMgGjb2r5QIoEOeBZs9xbNIpA0kLw_kFQ&m=Tp57f4vD6NGXAL7wD-6sLmBTzTeRnmjWT9re8JnXy5c&s=kFH2YZoW0XD9I3uN8bPdHtl3QykMa22eZFQlvjoX6EE&e=>).
>> Notice "design process"?)
>>
>> If your only goal as a coach is to win a FLL tournament, just go purchase
>> a trophy, get a cake and have a party now. If your goal is to develop your
>> team members (and I hope it is), use these learning moments to discuss with
>> your teams what is going on. If you are a rookie coach and not and
>> engineer, don't fret. It is OK to be vulnerable and tell the team you do
>> not know. Show them how to find the answers, do the research together. Give
>> them homework do do between meetings (I did this as a coach to get my team
>> to learn line following).
>>
>> I have always told coaches that the main part of FLL is during the season
>> as you prepare for a tournament. The tournament should be a celebration of
>> what your teams have accomplished over the season. Please capture these
>> moments and use them to educate and develop your team members. What part
>> this teaching spectrum you choose will make a big difference in what your
>> team members will take away from your coaching.
>>
>> <Getting off soapbox now>
>>
>> Thank you for volunteering and have a great season!
>>
>> Bill
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Oct 7, 2019 at 10:21 PM Jeff Borek <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> Last year, my team had luck improving consistency in a similar situation
>>> by making sure the wheels were wiped clean (just with a dry rag) each time
>>> before a run.  Turned them into a little bit obsessive with the cleaning
>>> but definitely improved consistent start, turn, stop.
>>>
>>> On Mon, Oct 7, 2019 at 10:01 PM Amy Nichols <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> This actually seems to be problem with the mat, I believe. We’ve run
>>>> the same robot on multiple mats...and then other robots on this board. The
>>>> robots run on this board skid and slip along the mat mainly when the robot
>>>> turns...but who knows? Very time is a surprise. :) It really seems to be a
>>>> problem with the quality of the mat. At first, we thought it had to do with
>>>> how much it was used - possibly newer mats still had a glossy film on it or
>>>> something. But that doesn’t seem to be the case, as we ran the same robots
>>>> on a mat right out of the box without any of these issues. So...we don’t
>>>> know and were just wondering if it’s our sole mat or if others were having
>>>> trouble as well?
>>>>
>>>> Weird.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks much,
>>>> Amy
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>
>>>> On Oct 7, 2019, at 9:02 PM, Skip Morrow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> First, verify that you have wheel slip. Film it in slo motion. Does it
>>>> happen every time? Does setting a slower speed help? Going from zero to 100
>>>> in a blink is pretty much always going to cause some slip. Especially if
>>>> you have big wheels. Also, is your robot balanced? Maybe you have a heavy
>>>> attachment on one side? That can throw things off by taking a lot of weight
>>>> off of one wheel which can cause it to slip more easily. Finally, for a
>>>> really advanced solution you can try and write an acceleration myblock.
>>>> Otherwise, the only solutions are to ensure your robot is balanced, and use
>>>> slower speeds.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Oct 7, 2019 at 8:26 PM Alicia A. Strahan <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Accelerating from start.  Wheels spin but it doesn’t grip on the mat.
>>>>> Doesn’t happen every time but throws off the robot just enough to mess up
>>>>> the mission.
>>>>>
>>>>> Get Outlook for iOS
>>>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__aka.ms_o0ukef&d=DwMFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=k6Oa5GxfBPFMgGjb2r5QIoEOeBZs9xbNIpA0kLw_kFQ&m=thvGt952Yyu0iqagWEo60249q5tBHIFX2KClcuP3KmM&s=zmPPxGnUtUwh1QX3eM52aiobdS7XvXBlMYeN07OknQI&e=>
>>>>> ------------------------------
>>>>> *From:* Skip Morrow <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>> *Sent:* Monday, October 7, 2019 8:04:22 PM
>>>>> *To:* Alicia A. Strahan <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>> *Cc:* [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>> *Subject:* Re: [VADCFLL-L] Robot skidding on board
>>>>>
>>>>> What do you guys mean by "skidding"? When I think of skidding, I think
>>>>> of putting on the brakes, locking up my tires, and screeching to a stop.
>>>>> That obviously doesn't apply here.
>>>>>
>>>>> Are you talking about a general loss of traction, leading to robot
>>>>> inaccuracy? If so, are we talking mostly during turns? Or accelerating from
>>>>> a dead stop?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Mon, Oct 7, 2019 at 3:22 PM Alicia A. Strahan <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> We have noticed a problem as well.  It does not happen every time and
>>>>>> does not happen when we run the code on a different surface like the
>>>>>> floor.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> *Alicia Strahan*
>>>>>> STEM Lab Teacher
>>>>>> Rosa Parks Elementary School
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ------------------------------
>>>>>> *From:* First Lego League in Virginia and DC <
>>>>>> [log in to unmask]> on behalf of Alina Marston <
>>>>>> [log in to unmask]>
>>>>>> *Sent:* Monday, October 7, 2019 3:01 PM
>>>>>> *To:* [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>>> *Subject:* [VADCFLL-L] Robot skidding on board
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi everyone,
>>>>>>
>>>>>>   My team is having trouble with our robot wheels skidding on our
>>>>>> board. My team has tested their robot on two other boards and the robot's
>>>>>> wheels do not skid when turning on the other two boards, but they do skid
>>>>>> when they turn on ours. We had another team test their robot and programs
>>>>>> on our board last week and their wheels skidded also when running on our
>>>>>> board. In all, we've tested three other robots on the other two boards and
>>>>>> none of them skid like on ours at home. Has anyone else had this problem?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks!
>>>>>> Alina Marston
>>>>>> The Magically Energized Lightning Waffle Bunnies
>>>>>>
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>>>>>
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