FTC PushBot Guides: Resources By Teams for Teams

Whenever you engage in a brand new activity, there is what is called a “learning curve:” that period of time when you need to figure out how the new thing works, learn the skills, and practice before you can achieve success. Sometimes this takes a few minutes, sometimes days, and sometimes much longer.

FTC Team  #2843 wrote the TETRIX Build Guide for their "PB" PushBot.

Folks who do not know FIRSTand FIRST Tech Challenge have to work through this learning curve. And the curve gets bigger the less technical you are. It’s a lot like learning a new language or culture: “What do all the acronyms mean?” “How does the Game work?” “Who can answer my questions?” “How do the robots get built?” “What’s that part on the robot called?” And so on. For new folks, it can be intimidating and frustrating.

For Rookie FTC teams, the learning curve is even steeper. They have to work through all of the same stuff as any newcomer, but also have to learn how create a team, build a budget, and fundraise. Then to design, build, wire, and program a robot, plus learn how to compete with it, including defensive and offensive strategy and scouting. And don’t forget the Engineering Notebook and Judging aspect of FTC! It’s a lot to take in and to still be able to feel successful at the end of the Rookie season. We are always trying to make FTC easier so that everyone can focus on task of changing the culture and get right to building robots.

So we asked for help from Team #0003. We gave them instructions to design a ‘PushBot’: a robot that could push items into scoring goals. We asked them to keep the design streamlined and simple enough for any non-technical newcomer to be able to build. We limited them to what is in the kit of parts and asked that they include no more than two sensors. And then we asked them to take pictures of every step of the process, write a build guide teaching folks how to build it, and include instructions and code for programming the robot in LabVIEW and ROBOTC.

MATRIX PushBot "Training Wheels Bot"

FTC Team #0003 from The Southport School in Australia, created a robot using the MATRIX kit of parts, which they dubbed the “Training Wheels Bot”. Their robot has a triangular frame and a claw, designed so that it can push, remain stable while moving around the playing field, and pick up and drop game elements. Their MATRIX Build Guide was incredibly thorough and they completed it fast – within about six weeks.

TETRIX PushBot: "PB"

Since Team #0003’s Build Guide was so well done, we sent their work to another team, FTC Team #2843 from Maryland, who adapted their robot concept and then used the organization of Team #0003’s Build Guide to write their own using the TETRIX kit of parts. This robot, dubbed “PB” has a square frame and a gripper arm that has proven capable of picking up game elements of varying shapes and sizes. The TETRIX Build Guide is equally thorough and helpful for newcomers.

Both Build Guides as well as the programming code in LabVIEW and ROBOTC are available on the FTC Team Resources webpage. Teams can use the Guides to build their robot, then unzip the programming files and copy and paste them into the program they choose to use, either LabVIEW or ROBOTC. It couldn’t be any easier!

Whichever kit of parts teams choose to use, these Build Guides and resources will prove invaluable for the first robot attempt, teaching key skills along the way that can then be adapted to future robot design of the team’s creation. Many thanks to Team #0003 and Team #2843 for their work on the PushBot Project. Please let us know what you think in the comments below or by emailing ftcteams(at)usfirst.org. We’d especially love to hear from teams who use the Guides and how it worked out for them. Good luck to all teams and have a great season!