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=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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