| 8 | | * Pre-Season: Fall meetings are typically once-per-week and are referred to as the "pre-season"; during this time, students train (prepare) for the competition: new students are taught fundamental skills; for example, new Control Systems students are introduced to Java, sensors, and the robot environment; returning students set up the IT environment, team structure, and execute technical challenges. |
| 9 | | * Build-Season |
| 10 | | * Extended-Build-Season |
| 11 | | * Post-Season |
| | 8 | * Pre-Season (Sep-Dec): Fall meetings are typically once-per-week and are referred to as the "pre-season"; during this time, students train (prepare) for the competition: new students are taught fundamental skills; for example, new Control Systems students are introduced to Java, sensors, and the robot environment; returning students set up the IT environment, team structure, and execute technical challenges. There are also two off-season competitions: [http://www.irocoffseason.org/ IROC] and [http://battleobaltimore.com/ Battle of Baltimore (aka BoB)] that take place in the pre- or "off" season using the robot build in the prior year. |
| | 9 | * Build-Season (Jan-Feb): In early January, FIRST announces the details of the competition for this year in "the reveal" aka Kick-off. After kick-off, teams have 6 weeks to build their competition robot after which they must stop work and "bag" it (bagging literally means placing the robot in a giant plastic bag and sealing the bag). At the kick-off, a video and several .pdf handbooks are released with details of the game and a very large set of rules. The students and mentors spend a day studying the competition and rules and then break into groups to brainstorm potential robot solutions. The students present their ideas to each other and then select the best ideas from each group for their robot design. During 6-week build-season, the team meets very frequently; typically 3-times after school during the week and both weekend days. The team splits into groups that work on different aspects of the robot such as the drive-train, targeting systems, manipulators, etc.. By the end of the build season, the competition robot has been built, programmed, and test driven extensively. NOTE: you should expect and plan for at least a week of the school being closed due to snow - students (especially those working on software and sensors) should be prepared to work from home during these closures. |
| | 10 | * Extended-Build-Season (Mar-Apr): Once the robot has been bagged, students may (and should) continue to develop robot features and capabilities. This is typically done using a second robot that had been built during the build season for this purpose or using other development tools. During this time, students can refine software, perform additional testing, and even make small mechanical elements (e.g. constructing or altering parts) that they can later place on the robot when it is un-bagged for competition (there is a weight limit on what can be added to the robot so you can't just keep working and bring a whole new robot, but you might be able to replace a mechanism or part of a mechanism); software and sensor changes are virtually unlimited. Extended build-season may be many weeks and encompasses all of the time between bag and the last competition. |
| | 11 | * Post-Season (Apr-Jun): after the last competition, the team meets infrequently, usually to clean up and organize for the following year. Mentors meet to select student leaders for the following year and awards for students that have performed exceptionally well including Nuttys for exceptional individual performance, Boltys for exceptional team performance, and Structural Support Awards (SSAs) to recognize performance that was good, but did not meet the level of a Nutty or Bolty. |
