FIRST Fare 2012
Designing and building a FIRST robot can be a daunting undertaking. Ideally, every member of an FRC team should have enough knowledge to make a contribution during the 6-week build season starting in January. Without seeing a wide range of robots, and understanding some technical basics, it’s hard to take a central role. That’s where FIRST Fare comes in.
FIRST Fare is both a robot show and a collection of technical/marketing seminars. You’ll get a detailed look at some of last year’s robots from veteran teams. You can ask questions, discuss ideas, and network with other people involved with FRC. The teams coming to this event are there to share the knowledge they’ve gathered. Last year nearly 800 people came. The other main function of FIRST Fare will be seminars on a variety of topics. These are typically presentations by experienced mentors, students or professionals. There are multiple seminar tracks with something of interest to anyone on a FIRST team.
Time and Location
FIRST Fare will be held Saturday, October 27th, 2012 at 10am til 4pm. It will be located at Gladstone High School, located right off of I-205.
Gladstone High School
18800 Portland Avenue
Gladstone, OR, 97027
Food
This year’s food supplier is to be determined. We will probably have pizza available for purchase. More info on this coming soon. There are also a few local restaurants (Subway, McDonalds, Taco Bell, Safeway deli, and Los Volcanes Mexican eatery.)
Clothing
It’s always great to wear your FRC shirts if you have them so other FRC’ers will know where you’re from.
When you Arrive
Please get a name tag in the sign-in area, entry marked by posters. Teams, please send one team member and your coach/mentor to sign your team in.
Presentations
Workshop/presentation descriptions will continue to be updated/added, and the schedule will be available in the next post. Here is a list of workshops scheduled so far:
- Manipulators for FIRST Robots – Bruce Whitefield (Team Mean Machine)
Compilation of approaches used for FIRST robotics game piece manipulating systems. Will briefly discuss pro’s, con’s and design trade offs for a number of different manipulator designs.
- Drive Trains for FIRST Robots – Dale Yocum (Catlin Gabel)
The drive train is the most important part of your robot yet many teams make some basic mistakes in their design and construction. This session compares 2 wheel, 4 wheel, 6 wheel, Mecanums, treads, and some of the unusual ones. We’ll look at the various transmissions and motors available to FIRST Teams. Vendors such as IFI, Skyway, and AndyMark will be discussed and audience members will share their experiences.
- Highlights from the FRC Business Roundtable – Chris Steiner (Glencoe Robotics)
Glencoe business team members and other session leaders will present the latest findings on public relations, fundraising, and outreach strategies
- Tool Design and Safety – Matt Driggers (Green Wrenches)
Faster, easier and better quality work is done by using the right tool for the right job. This presentation is focused on WHY tools are designed the way they are and HOW this affects safety. Safety captains, mentor/parent volunteers who supervise students, and new team members, will benefit most from attending.
- Sewing LEDs into Fabric – Speaker TBD
- Inventor – Paul Normand (Autodesk)
- Fusion – Manjiri McCoy, Jeff Strater (Autodesk)
- Beginner’s Labview – Kristina Landen (Wilsonville Robotics)
- Advanced Labview – Jim Chastain (Wilsonville Robotics)
- Chairman’s Award – Marina Dimitrov (Catlin Gabel)
There are still a few spaces for more workshops, and if you’re interested, please email andy.hunt@gladstonerobotics.com.
