1. Organizing a team with Varsity and JV
Divide and Conquer
Organizing a team with Varsity and JV
Jacob S.
Dylan S.
Miles A.
Colt P.
FRC 3322 Students
FAMNM Robotics Forum
2016
Jacob

2. Who are we? Jacob Miles Dylan Colt Senior at Skyline
Team Captain of 3322
Prototyping, building, scouting
Miles
Programming Leader, Operator
Dylan
Senior at Skyline
Outreach Czar
Fabrication, prototyping, strategy
Colt
Sophomore at Skyline
JV Mechanical Leader
Design, Driver
Jacob

3. Presentation Outline Reasons we switched to Varsity/JV system
Initial attempts
Current system
Requirements
Things to do/not to do
Results
Changes that could be made
Jacob

4. Motivations For Varsity/JV
Too many people to organize!
Lack of engagement in new members
Not enough opportunities for hands on experience
50 people cannot work on one robot
Miles

5. Other Solutions Two FRC teams VEX or FTC side team
Similar to our system but more resources required
VEX or FTC side team
Greater separation between Varsity and JV
Tryouts and/or interviews
Reduces the amount of students participating
Requires other system for training
Dylan

6. Initial Attempts at JV/Varsity
Project teams - support tasks
Pit cart
LEDs on robot
Various useful non-robot projects
Led to low engagement
When projects would finish students wouldn't have anything to do
More burden on mentors
Each mentor had to manage an entire project team
Taught useful skills but not skills related to robot building
Wood Working
Led programming using arduino
Dylan

7. Current Varsity System
Three captains
8 person system team
Team divided into 4 sub teams
Marketing, Controls, Chassis, Above chassis
25 Students
Teams are assigned in November by captains and mentors based on fall participation
High standard
Offseason engagement
Community Service
Skills and Knowledge
Miles

8. Current JV system
Build a complete robot for the current game, in parallel with varsity
Split up into subteams
Used the Andymark kit drivetrain with modifications
3 captains (like varsity) but less independent leadership than on varsity
Focused on engineering decisions
Can come to varsity students if they got stuck
Less pressure, enables students to take more risks and try new things
Robot competes in offseason competitions
JV and Varsity combine during the off-season
Longer but less intense build season
Colt

9. Fall Training Programs
Modules
Student led classes on specific FRC
Programming intro/advanced, Fabrication intro/advanced, Business, Design,Strategy
WAPUR- Pre-season competition
Provides competition experience to new students
Veteran students mentor new students and take leadership roles
Allows students to learn how a building season operates
Looking to involve new teams
Jacob

10. Requirements for a JV/Varsity system
Large team (Greater than 40 students)
Plenty of mentors (at least three should be JV only)
Plenty of veteran students
Enough materials and money
Multiple control systems
Spare parts and scrap
Space for multiple robots to be stored / worked on
Dylan

11. Tips and Tricks To do: Allow JV to struggle
Train mentors as well as students
Make sure JV feels like part of the team
Communicate between JV and Varsity
Not to do:
Compete for parts
Ignore the JV team
Treat JV students as inferior
Colt

12. Results Both JV and Varsity were able to make a competitive robot
JV was able to compete at MARC where they seeded 16th
Varsity made it to Finals at the Ann Arbor District Event
JV Students were more engaged and participated a lot in the offseason
JV Students have more robot building skills
Dylan

13. Changes to Make Buy enough parts for both teams
JV learned some bad habits - closer supervision
More interaction between Varsity and JV during build season
Integrating into prototyping process
Shadowing
Other possibilities?
Organize JV sooner
Saving time allows JV and Varsity to work together more
Miles

14. Questions?