| 8 | 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 | 9 | * Build-Season: 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. |
