How To Succeed in Competitive Robotics: Engineering Notebook Guide - Cell Phone Edition

NOTE: This edition is formatted for cellphones and small e-readers and tablets. If you want to read this on a larger device, please use the original edition.

Maybe you are a rookie team and don't know what an Engineering Notebook is or how to start to design and build a robot.

Maybe you are a new robotics coach or mentor looking for ANYTHING that can help you figure out what you are supposed to be doing.

Maybe you are here because your team has always struggled with developing your Engineering Notebook.

Or maybe you are here because you realized perhaps a little too late that you may need to put an Engineering Notebook together before your next competition next week.

This guide can help with all these scenarios. But first, it helps to step back and widen your perspective.

One of the most important, yet neglected aspects of competitive robotics is organizing your team plan for the season and documenting it in your Engineering Notebook (or it is sometimes called something else, like a technical or design journal). The Engineering Notebook is something that is often seen as an afterthought, not important, and can be put off until the last minute. This could not be further from the truth!

Using a project management approach and documenting it with an Engineering Notebook is extremely helpful for:

• developing your game strategy and your robot
• tracking your progress as a team
• keeping your whole team informed of your collective progress
• providing a detailed reference for judges to see how much your team has accomplished
• providing a reference for your team for future competitions and seasons