Engineering Notebook Information
Basics
Engineering notebooks are an essential part of the First Tech Challenge process. Rookie teams often are confused on some of the basics of the notebook and its use.
First, work on your notebook should happen at every meeting, following every event, and should involve all team members with one designated as the main notebook scribe or coordinator.
Second, take your Engineering notebook with you to all events. It is required for many of the awards at Qualifiers and for the awards at State, Super Regional, and World Championships.
Third, official FIRST rules allow only for hard copies to be turned in for judging, but you can generate your notebook in electronic format or handwritten format as you are working on it.
Judges score the Engineering notebook on four basic elements:
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How well organized the notebook is and how well it conforms to the guidelines in Game Manual Pt 1 - Section 7.3
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Clarity of the Engineering Section and the details of the design, thought process, and construction of the robot.
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The sections describing the team and its outreach efforts.
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A Strategic Plan or Business Plan is required for consideration for several awards. How well this section outlines the teams budget, financial goals, sponsorhip recruitment, and the sustainability of the team are all factors considered.
General Format of the Engineering Notebook
As noted above, the Game Manual Pt 1, section 7.3.3 states that "no distinction will be made beween handwritten and electronic Engineering Notebooks during judging."
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Team Name and Number must appear on the outside of the notebook.
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Must include a "Summary Page" that is attached to the cover.
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Includes highlights of the team's season.
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Identifies critical pages in the notebook for the judges inspection.
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Highlights key components for special consideration.
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Identifies the team members
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May be double-sided
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Each section should be clearly labeled (e.g., Engineering Section, Programming Section, Business Plan, Outreach, etc.)
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Well organized:
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New page for each meeting or event
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Tasks and Reflections headers
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Written and organized so an outsider can understand the content
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Double sided pages
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Single line through errors - do not erase or white out errors
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X through blank space
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All pages should be signed and dated
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Use ink not pencil if handwriting the Engineering Notebook
Engineering Notebook Sections
The Game Manual Pt 1, Section 7.3.4.2 states that the Engineering Notebook must be divided into multiple sections, including:
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An Engineering Section that includes the Robot design processes.
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A Team Section that includes information about the Team and outreach activities.
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A business plan, strategic plan or sustainability plan.
The notebook can have other sections but must have, at least, the three noted above. Additional sections commonly seen in notbooks include:
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Programming Notes
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Bill Of Materials
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Newer notebooks also often have a subsection on CAD Parts developed and used
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Engineering Section
If one section can be said to be the most important - it's the Engineering Section of the notebook.
This section clearly describes the details of the robots design and construction. It focuses on the process of the robots development, the successes as well as the failures. Emphasis is on the technical aspects, what the team learned, where the ideas came from, data collected, reseach conducted, trials and errors, and outcomes. It includes CAD drawings, screen captures, or neat hand drawn illustrations of detailed robot design. Entries should be chronological order (in daily entries) with each new day on a separate page. The goal is to clearly demonstrate the team’s understanding of the creative design process. Photographs of the process, pictures, drawings, and details at all stages of the design are incorporated. In addition, the team's game strategy and the reasoning behind their design should be clearly documented. It is important to remember that for many awards it is required that the control components (sensors, etc.) be clearly documented. Team should tab or flag pages that support entries noted in the Summary Page. Any ideas adapted from an outside source should include a notation citing the original source.
Team Section
Team Section includes an introduction to each team member, mentor, and coach. Each page shoudl include the person's name, age or school year, interests, reason for joining the FTC team, and their roles on the team. Many teams include a photo of each team member in their team uniform to help judges keep track of who is who during judging.
The Team Section also includes details of team’s Outreach activities. This can be in a subsection of this section of the notebook. Documenting who set up the outreach, how many people were involved, special aspects of the event, how it relates to meeting FIRST's goals, and sustainability of the event are all aspects of the description of each event. Photographs of the team involved in the activity are also a plus for this section. If there were outside announcements (e.g., newspaper article, Blog post, etc.) they should be referenced or included in the summary of the event.