Useful Resources
From Team 449 Wiki
This page contains various resources made by other people that you should read, sorted into categories. A lot of these are the "cream of the crop" Chief Delphi threads, but you should definitely make a Chief account and try to read what's posted there.
Strategy
- Effective FIRST Strategies is the quintessential FRC strategy resource. If you don't like the awkward camera view, you can find other versions of the talk on youtube.
- Strategic Design is another great strategy resource that also includes some mechanical design.
- Using the Engineering Design Process for Design of a Competition Robot is a great read with a bunch of cool small tips as well as advice on how to structure all of build season.
- A Strategic Approach to FRC is a shorter presentation on strategy.
General Mechanical Design
- FUNdaMENTALS of Design is the curriculum for 2.007, MIT's mechanical engineering course that centers around a robotics competition. It's very long, but it's a fun read and just getting through the intro and chapter 1 will teach you a ton.
- This CD thread has a great discussion on how to model pistons.
FRC-Specific Mechanical Design
- Spectrum Design Concepts is a summary of half the stuff on here in 200 slides. It's amazing. Read it.
- Strategic Design's second half is a great resource for this.
- 254's 2017 Build Blog is a great example of both how to design and how to document. Because it's posted in sequential order, start at the bottom of the page.
- 610's Design Tutorials are more fabrication-focused, with a long section on West Coast Drives.
- Spartan Series/ Mechanical Design for Controllability is about how to design with software in mind.
- This CD thread has some great retrospective insights from the top FRC teams, with Jared Russell's post having some amazing advice on shooters.
CAD
Control Theory
- YouTube channel with good control theory lectures (start here).
- Spartan Series/ Control System Modelling is an FRC-specific talk with examples.
Programming
- Stack Overflow is a forum for general programming help and advice.
- The Java documentation comprises official information from the makers of Java about Java.
- The Java Tutorials are also from Java, but are less dense.
- TutorialsPoint (link blocked, easily googleable) is even less dense, but an independent source.
Software Design
- Game Programming Patterns applies very much to FRC and, while it's pretty much a book, it's a fun read.
- Big Ball of Mud is a great article on how to build and sustain an Object-Oriented Programming framework.
- Lifecycle and Refactoring Patterns that Support Evolution and Reuse is another awesome article from laputan, explaining the cyclical nature of software. This applies especially to FRC, try to find the parallels between build season/offseason and the lifecycle they talk about!
Electronics
- Five Fatal Mistakes is about the biggest electronics mistakes you can make. The associated Chief Delphi thread has even more info.
- Wiring the FRC Control System is the official FIRST resource for wiring the electronics system.
Scouting
- Scouting Management and Strategy is a scouting talk from 971.
Driving
- A Strategic Approach to FRC is a short presentation with the second half focusing on driver choice and training.
- How To Drive Like a Falcon has a bunch of great drills and more.
- This CD thread and this one both have tons of videos of awesome drivers in action.