In preparation for the 2023 competition, as the team co-captain, I was responsible for getting members rigorously trained in design, CAD and mechanical. I picked 2 projects for this purpose.
A good way to train up the CAD team is to have members design for a previous year's game. This has the advantage of access to online forums to figure out what past designs worked, and actual practice to CAD mechanisms. We chose to replay an FRC game that had to do with object manipulation: FIRST Power Up. In this game, teams transport cubes to tip seesaws and hang from a pull up bar at the end of the match. See game video.
The first time we attempted this, I entrusted training of the new members to my CAD and Outreach leads whom I had previously trained. The members managed to get somewhere, but gave feedback that they were not receiving enough guidance to really learn.
I decided I would take the CAD training into my own hands.
Over that Fall Break, I Zoomed with the new CAD members every night for an average of 5 hours, giving them very directed and guided training. I simultaneously mentored the CAD members, and the CAD lead. I taught the CAD members how to make gearboxes, design plates that were safer to use (without sharp corners), bearing modules for a slide, and more. I held the CAD lead accountable by asking him to check in with his team so as to maintain a flow of communication about the project.
This design featured a sliding tower that doubled as a climber, with a cube manipulator in front. The robot was designed with some new lower profile swerve modules we had sourced that year.
The mechanical subteam attempted to build this robot, but did not manage to finish before we had to start cleaning up the shop to prepare for the real season.
For the next stage of CAD training, we designed for an FRC game that had to do with shooting: FIRST Steamworks. In this game, teams transported large gears around the field, shot balls into a hopper, and had to climb up a rope. See game video.
This time with the CAD team's upgraded CAD skills, and the CAD lead's improved management style, things went more smoothly, with less involvement from myself.
This design featured a pneumatic powered intake that could extend and retract during the game. The floor of the indexer pushed balls along, into a single horizontal flywheel.
The team created a pretty impressive CAD for a group that had never seen one of their designs actually built.