1. Memphis First Teams Saturday Kickoff Administrative Session January 8, 2011 T.E. Banning, University of Memphis

2. Administration Safety Communication Competition Information Gracious Professionalism Design Process Project Management

3. SAFETY FIRST Robotics Competition Team Safety Manual  Safety Glasses - ANSI non-colored (lab & First Events)  Gloves (when working with metal)  Long hair tied back  No loose clothing or jewelry (lab & First Events)  Closed toe shoes and heels (lab & First Events)  No goofing off in lab  No operating the robot without telling the people working in or on the robot (lab & First Events)

4. SAFETY (continued) Enforce Safety in Work Areas & Competition  Student Safety Captain  Routinely watch for Safety violations –Corrective Action Plan –Safety Checklist

5. Gracious Professionalism The core of US First is:  Respect and Kindness Competition is exciting and fun but professionalism means helping others and learning from obstacles. Gracious attitudes and behavior are stressed in US First. Teams will be selected to form alliances for competition which helps reinforce Gracious Professionalism

6. Gracious Professionalism Another way to describe Gracious Professionalism is:  Coopertition It is a concept/philosophy that teams can and should help & cooperate with other teams as they compete.

7. COMMUNICATION US FIRST web site: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/default.aspx?id=966 Memphis US FIRST web site: http://memphisfirstteams.org/

8. COMMUNICATION (continued) Memphis Team’s web sites  Need blogs, schedule and pictures for the season uploaded ASAP  Needed so that Mentors and Sponsors see the activity of the teams

9. Competition Information Team Student Administrators need to start reviewing:  Rules/specifications for the robot  Rules for the competition  Details for shipping  Recommend printing out the 2011 Rules and also use online documents for quick searching for details

10. Competition Information (continued) Be aware that Student Administrators need to review all the rules of the Competition Chapters that will affect the team. An example is listed below:  Budget Constraints (2010 - 8.3.3) –All items and materials used in the construction of a ROBOT, and their associated costs, shall be recorded (in US dollars) in a consolidated Bill Of Materials (BOM). The BOM must use the FIRST-approved template. The BOM will be electronically submitted via a USB memory device. The total cost of all non-KOP items shall not exceed $3,500.00 USD.

11. Competition Information (continued) Team Student Administrators also need to look at blogs and links for additional help or support Team Updates can be found at: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/content.aspx?id=450

12. Design Process After inventorying the parts it is ABSOLUTELY important that the parts not wander or get misplaced Student administrators need to make sure that parts management is enforced Quick Build sessions will be held on Saturday, January 15 & January 22 at the University of Memphis

13. Project Management A method is needed to insure that teams are successful in the very short competition cycle The method is a six step process: 1.Identify requirements 2.Define systems/solutions 3.Create a build/test plan and a schedule 4.Execute the build/test plan 5.Ship the robot 6.Review and Finish (Use a journal throughout the entire effort)

14. Project Management (continued) Suggested Organization/Structure: RobotIntegrationFrame Transmission/ Wheels ElectronicsControlsLimb 1Limb 2 Q.B.

15. Project Management For each of the lowest levels do the first three steps: 1.Identify requirements 2.Define systems/solutions 3.Create a schedule and plan(s) for: >Time >Assignments >Cost (Budget)

16. Project Management (continued) Using the low levels plans then consolidate all the efforts into a master schedule and make sure that all the work & assignments fit into the master calendar Don’t forget to rollup all budget costs to meet the spending rules of FRC.

17. Project Management (continued) Use a journal to document all efforts, successes and failures At the end of the competition you don’t have to recall from memory all the work that took place Very beneficial for next year’s competition

18. Project Management  Kickoff – Sat / Jan 8 Week 1 – Formulate Design Idea  Quick Build – Sat / Jan 15 Week 2 – Design/Integrate Systems & Components  Quick Build – Sat / Jan 22 Week 3 – Fabricate / Procure Components Week 4 – Assemble Robot & Shipping Crate Week 5 – Develop & Test Robot Week 6 – Game Practice & Revisions  Ship Deadline – Tue / Feb 22