Brandon Holley

Game-Breaking:

How To Breakdown an FRC Game

My Background:● I am Brandon Holley

● 18th FRC Season

○ 13th as Team 125 Mentor

● Mechanical Engineer

○ Northeastern University Alum

○ Mechanical Engineering Lead at Sonos Inc.

● Boston Local Kickoff Coordinator

● Boston District Event Chairman

● Beantown Blitz Coordinator

Why are we here? Understand the importance of those

first 2-3 days of build season

Take a systematic approach to

strategic design

Organize your build season and

create processes that work for your

team and create consistently

competitive robots

DisclaimerThis stuff works…seriously…

...for 125, this is how WE do it…

…our formula has been tweaked and scrapped many times…

…many other very successful teams take similar approaches…

…you gotta find what works for YOU…

..never stop iterating…never stop progressing.

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we WILL catch

excellence” – Vince Lombardi

Game-Breaking: The Formula1. Use Your Goals!

2. Understand the Rulebook

3. Detailed Scoring Analysis

4. Outline Robot Skills

5. Detailed Time-based Analysis

6. Robot & Alliance Conceptualization

7. Understand Your Capabilities

8. Strategize

9. Group Decision

10. Now the real work begins…

1. Use Your Goals!

Remember these?! We just talked about them!

Strategic choices require a North Star to follow.

Make sure your goals are SOLID and have buy-in across the team.

2. Understand the Rulebook

Objective: Become rule experts

Read the manual…separately…together……again……and again…

Group discussions can be productive, but solo work is required

Try to parse out the strategies that are illegal, unproductive, or ill-conceived

Write down unknown questions. Help each other understand.

3. Detailed Scoring Analysis

Objective: Understand how to score

Review the scoring details in the manual

List all ways to score points in a clear and

organized fashion

4. Outline Robot SkillsObjective: Create a list of EVERYTHING a robot could do

on the field to complete the game tasks

Identify which kills are required for which tasks

5. Detailed Time-Based

AnalysisObjective: Determine 1st pass realistic point thresholds for

various robots

Helpful to divide into sub-groups, reconvene, re-divide,

reconvene, etc….

Dissect large-scale philosophical arguments into small

tangible pieces

Begin to understand how robot concepts can compliment

each other

(ex: 3 pure fuel shooters on an alliance will not perform well)

Can feel tedious at times –make sure everyone understands

this will pay HUGE dividends

Detailed Time-Based

Analysis (cont’d)Make presentations of each group

Challenge each other’s assumptions

Find common threads between all the groups

Start the process of building consensus as a team

Begin talking about what an alliance can look like

6. Robot & Alliance

ConceptualizationObjective: Determine what wins.

Group brainstorm various robot concepts

Focus here is on WHAT they will do, not HOW

Robot strategies of all types should be analyzed

Use the previously generated lists as your robot task menu

Attempt to simulate, in whatever capacity, how a match & tournament will play out – what

type of robot beats another, what type of robot is #1 seed?

Find out what a winning alliance could look like, and make sure you can be apart of that

alliance

7. Understand Your

CapabilitiesObjective: Align on a commonly understood set of abilities your team has, and

doesn’t have.

Look back to our 1st hour…

You now have a strong idea of what type of robot can win

You now have a strong idea of what a winning alliance can look like

You must be honest with what your team can execute

(ex: 40kPa autonomous vs. single gear autonomous)

Every team has a chance to build a robot on a successful alliance

Understand Your Capabilities

(cont’d)Team assessment:

Can we build it?

If we build it, can we control it?

Jack of all trades, master of none

Several simple tasks may be easier to execute than a single complex task

Use your goals!

8. StrategizeObjective: Understand what types of robots will exist on the field. Decide what

approach your team will take.

With concepts narrowed down, and

capabilities agreed upon, its time to

finalize a strategy

List which tasks each of your

robot concepts needs (ex: gear bot

vs fuel bot)

Remember, some of your concepts require specific actions completed in certain

amounts of time

The end result will be a list of tasks each specific robot will accomplish

9. Group DecisionObjective: Build your robot spec sheet.

The moment of truth…you must decide

which robot you’re going after!

Voting

Try to build consensus in the group.

Try to be quantitative wherever possible.

Highlight the areas that are NUDDs

(New, Unique, Different, Difficult)

Group Decision (cont’d)Piece by piece build up your robot’s spec

sheet based on the strategy you’ve

selected

MUST, WANT, NICE TO HAVE

Break your tasks down if necessary (ex:

shoot 10 balls/second, 20 balls/second)

Get buy-in across the board – this is not

easy to accomplish

Take a picture!!!

10. Now the real work begins…Intense development of NUDDs must

begin right away – focus is important

Key strategic choices based on x period

of time need to be validated with

prototyping!

A quality prototype is worth its weight in

gold

Have a basic schedule outlined to track

progress – you need to keep moving the

ball forward

Now the real work begins…● Prototype, manufacture, test…repeat

● Celebrate failure

● Always be thinking of a plan B (or even C)

● Meet your build schedule

● Use your unbag windows/witholding

allowance to improve over time

● Practice!

● Plan for expansion & improvement

● Event planning: spare parts, tools, positions

● Be the most prepared team in a match

● Take scouting seriously

● Keep your ear to the ground

Other Resources● “Effective FIRST Strategies” by Karthik Kanagasabapathy

● “From Design Requirements to Robot Design” by Aren Hill

● “To Compete Consistently and Effectively” by Logan Farrell

● “Mechanical Design” & “Strategy & Game Analysis” by Mike Corsetto

● “Game Analysis and Strategic Design” by Rahul Yarlagadda

Thank you to:● Karthik Kanagasabapathy, Ian Mackenzie & FRC1114

● Kevin Kolodziej, Josh Pordon, Adam Smith & FRC 1675

● Michael Corsetto & FRC1678

● John V-Neune & FRC148

Thank You● Contact anytime:

○ brandonjholley@gmail.com

○ nutrons@gmail.com

● Presentation feedback always welcome as well!

● Presentations will be posted

○ www.nutrons.com

QUESTIONS?