2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Improving Your FLL Robot Performance Presented by: K.K. Quah – President Technology Learning Classes for Kids

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Outline of Presentation  Background  Strategies for Improving Performance  Videos and Demos

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Background Mentor 1 year and Coach for last 5 years. Tampa based team, Mech Masters, went from State FLL score of 205 in Round 1 for FLL 2003 Mars Mission to State FLL score of 400 in Round 1 this year. Also, second in Teamwork. Keep it simple, only 2 motors on robot. Last 3 years have purely mechnical solutions (no motorized manipulator). Low cost, few pieces, extremely simple programs. Only Line follower in FLL 2005 Ocean Odyssey.

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Full Understanding of FLL Rules Just like any other sports, you MUST know the rules. Read rules and get answers to all questions at any workshops, etc. Also, continue to check FLL website for more updates. Tedious but absolutely necessary. More conditions in rules this year and suspect years to come. Have seen veteran team miss the Harvest Corn mission but still continue to push a barrel out to farm. Witholding the Barrel would have cut -25 points to -15 points.

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Use Reference Points The 4 sides of the table are useful so if you have guides that help a robot smoothly move along it, use it. One of best ways to make sure robot gets to the correct target is using the target boundaries itself as a guide. V-shaped/ funnel shaped fronts can help position robot onto the target correctly. Sometimes only an edge might be needed for guides. Example, FLL 2006 Nano Quest, delivery medication to bone mission. Use bone as guide.

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Insufficient Engineering of Manipulators Some manipulators are not strong enough and come apart after a few trials. Some manipulators need more tuning to make them more accurate (change in angles, change in shapes, change in orientation, etc.) Some manipulators not appropriate – need revolutionary change. What class lever is your manipulator?

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Simplify Path Selections Part of keeping it simple is to choose the least complicated path. It makes programming easier. Straight lines are the simplest. FLL 2005 Ocean Odyssey, we had one program going forward and backwards which could solve 3 different missions using 3 different manipulators. Less memory for programs. Turns also affected by battery power. Li-on helps. Use table areas (walls) as intermediate points in path selection for complex paths.

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Example Path with Intermediate Stop In above, there is no room for the robot to turn as the target is too close to the edge of the table.

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Reverse Into Intermediate Position -1 Start by reversing the robot onto edge of table wall.

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Square Robot to Wall then turn. Use timer (seconds) to square to wall. Effect as if robot started from the wall.

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Alignment Enhancements (Jigs) A lot of teams simply use dead reckoning but some missions require a finer control and jigs will help to reduce the errors in launching a robot out of base. Use hash marks on the table/base if available but if not make a jig which can angle a robot more accurately. Also, position jig onto the mat not the table as mats may not be exactly positioned on table.

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Better Combinations of Missions Between FLL 2006 and FLL 2007, we went from 9 missions to 13 missions. This means that combos are more important than ever. Group missions in same locale and try to solve for that as a grouping which reduces number of trips out to same area. Example, combined Hydrogen car, Red Truck and Wave Turbine into one trip and saved 20 seconds. Group missions for better flow from one mission to the next e.g. One side then the other.

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Emulate Nature for Best Effect Some rules of thumbs (rules of fingers) like grabbers should have more than 1 finger like a human hand. When you close a door, you naturally use most of your palm (many fingers) not one finger. Look at the points of contact as a larger area of contact will usually work better than a smaller area of contact (better margin of error) so check all contact points.

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Evaluate Solutions Over Many Trials One of the temptations to avoid is to change the program or manipulator after only one run/trial solution. This will lead to lots of changes without fully understanding the issues of why a solution did not work. Also, test and observe constantly. Even missions that are confident should always be tested to reveal weaknesses. Every trial run is an opportunity to make it better.

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Reduction and Integration Part of this is to reduce unnecessary pieces. So review your final solutions and try to simplify them so fewer pieces are needed. Or integrate/merge two manipulators for the same mission into one manipulator so that the operator need only pick up one item.

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Practice Choreography of Operators The members running the missions MUST have a smooth choreography. Keep working to make each transition between missions as smooth and as fast as possible. Also, they must be able to handle issues that are unexpected (contingencies) I generally say if they have not had a hundred runs before the competition comes around then they are not ready. So put a freeze on changes and make the choreography a priority.

2008 FIRST Robotics Conference Videos and Demos On table in front are some past manipulators which I consider really good. Also, here are some videos of my team in various missions thought the years.