Team358.org - Robotic Eagles - FIRST® Robotics Competition

Upcoming Events:

Feb 9, 2017 3:00 PM:
Chairman's/Woodie Flowers Due
Feb 20, 2017 7:00 AM:
Mid-winter Recess
Feb 21, 2017 11:59 PM:
Stop Build
Full event list

FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®)

Offsite Resources:

FIRST® Official Sources:

FIRST - The organization
FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®) - The high school-level competition
Locate FRC® Teams & Events
FRC Blog - FRC Director notes direct to you
FIRST forums
Season News and Email Blasts
Current FRC Game Manual
FRC Student Team Member Information System (STIMS) - Awards submissions and student-only Consent & Release Forms
FRC Team Information Management System (TIMS) - where team Main Contacts deal with FIRST paperwork, signup for events, etc.
FRC Volunteer Information Management System (VIMS) - how to volunteer to work at events.
FRC Mentor Resources Library
FIRST Senior Mentor-hosted calls
Dave Lavery's Game Animations

FRC Social Media:

reddit FRC community
FRC Facebook
FRC Twitter
FRC Blog
FIRSTWorldTube
FRCTeamsGlobal
Team Youtube Channels

Chief Delphi - The premier meeting place for FRC teams, sponsored by Team 47 (now 51). Find out about all things scouting, strategy, mechanical, programming, chit-chat, or just exchange ideas with teammates from all over the country and world.
NEMO - Non-Engineering Mentor Organization (NEMO) is a support group and information exchange for those adult non-engineering mentors who help teams as part of the FIRST robotics programs
NASA Webcast Archive - View previous years' FRC competitions and kickoffs.
National Instruments - FIRST community on the Control System roboRIO & LabVIEW
FIRST forge - sourceforge project for WPILib, Java, C++, and support application/library code
WPI Thinktank - collection of submitted articles
WPI FIRST - general resources, such as, 3rd party workshops
AndyMark - designed for FIRST power transmission and drivetrain products
Vex Robotics - suppliers of FRC speed controllers, gearboxes, sprokets, belts, motors, etc.
Blue Alliance Match Videos - Match results and movies of selected Regional Competitions & the Championship.
firstcommunity.org - social site to attract FIRST Alumni
Carnegie Mellon University, FTC Robotics Academy -
frclinks - direct shortcuts to FIRST team & event information by Pat Fairbanks

Useful FIRST Region/Team sites:

FIRST Canada - Workshops and mechanism photo galleries
MOE Team 365 - MOE University
Simbotics Team 1114 - workshops
Monta Vista Robotics Team 115 - Trainings
Miss Daisy Team 341 - Team-in-a-Box
Robojackets - Georgia Tech team
Robo Raiders Team 75 - 3dsMax animation tutorial
firstthoughts - a video archive of knowledge that teams of FIRST Robotics have acquired
frcpitcrew - if you have a question - you will be able to search and find the teams/individuals willing to share that knowledge

FRC CAD Sites

FRC CAD Sites:

FRC Designs - a student site that's collecting FRC robot CADs.
AutoDesk - Creator of Inventor, a 3D CAD program used in the FRC, and the 3DSmax animation software. Student editions of a ton of software are free here.
Team 1323 - CAD files for common FRC parts
FIRST CAD Library - CAD files for common FRC parts
Autodesk Kit of Parts - via your team's FIRSTbase account
Pro Engineer CAD - FRC & FTC Kits of Parts CAD
3D ContentCentral - KOP
Bimba CAD - pneumatic cylinders CAD
Solidworks - models, tutorials, Facebook, Twitter, and maybe team sponsorship

3D Printers:

MakerBot
Cubify
RepRap - self reproducing 3D printer
Thingiverse - shared stuff to print on 3D printers
3D Systems

Mechanical

Mechanical:

AndyMark - designed for FIRST power transmission and drivetrain products
Vex Robotics - suppliers of FRC speed controllers, gearboxes, sprokets, belts, motors, etc.
221 Robotic Systems - FIRST chassis & drivetrain products
West Coast Products - FIRST chassis & drivetrain products
Practical Machinist - forum for machining
Bolt Depot - fasteners, lots of fasteners (bolts, screws, cotter pins, etc.)
Robot Marketplace - everything you need to build your own robot
McMaster-Carr - Online store for buying gears, sprockets, aluminum stock, or anything else mechanical.
Grainger - Really just about anything from glue to electronics too
GlobalSpec - Engineering search engine
Haydon Kerk Motion - Suppliers of the Lead Screws found in the KOP
Amazon Supply - Specializes in small quantities of special parts and hard to find engineering tools and materials. Formerly Small Parts, Inc.
Rush Gears - will rapidly make and overnight ship custom made gears for a price.
W.M. Berg - spur gears, worms and worm gears, belts & chains, sprockets & pulleys, lead screws, shafts, bearings, collars, hubs, couplings
PIC Design - metric gears.
MSC Industrial Supply - lots of parts
Skyway Wheels - these wheels were in the FIRST kits for years
Colson Wheels - heavy duty robot wheels
Omniwheel.com - Omnidirectional wheels
Kornylak - Wheels (omni & mecanum)
Kids Wheels - Gearboxes, wheels, etc. for kids ride-on vehicles
Boston Gear - gears of course
Martin Sprocket & Gear - more gears
Stock Drive Products/Sterling Instrument (SDP/SI) - drive components, a.k.a. gears. A great source for spur gear stock, small bearings, including flanged bearings, chain, sprockets, and lots of other miscellaneous small stuff
Grob Inc. - Hard to find pulleys and pinion wire as well as custom broaching.
Pacific International Bearing, Inc. - These might have a bearing on (for) your problem
Robot Marketplace - all robotics stuff, all the time
Conveyor Belting - need to pick stuff up and move it around?
Brecoflex - source of Roughtop material used on all those high-traction wheels and tread drive systems
F.N.Sheppard & Co. - specialty belting
Fastenal - more fasteners than you could ever use.
BaneBots - Gearboxes, Misc. robot mechanical & electrical parts.
Bosch Extrusion - aluminum structural framing
80/20 Extrusion - aluminum structural framing, an alternate system to Bosch
T-slots Extrusion - aluminum structural framing, an alternate system to 80/20
Brunner Enterprises - Aluminum profiles
Amazon - search for "aluminum extrusion"
Generic Clamp fittings - Heavy Duty Aluminum Clamp-On Framing Fittings
Cangro Industries - Transmission components, bearings, machining (LI, NJ, NYC, PA)
Applied Industrial Technologies - Drivetrain components to loctite and tools
Misumi USA - spur gears, drive shafts, aluminum framing, custom machine parts
Rebel Gears Motorcycle Sprockets - Aluminum sprockets any tooth size 18-76 for #25 & #35 chain
West Coast Products - gears, fasteners, gearboxes, hubs, roller chain

Materiel

Materiel:

Metal Connections, Inc.- GREAT walk-in shop for local LI teams. They have lots of odd-size pieces to pick through and will sell only the amount you need. Sheet & plate, rod & bar, extrusions, tube & pipe, stainless steel, specials
K&S Metals - Brass, aluminum, copper tubing
Online metals - Aluminum, brass, stainless steel, bronze, plastic, composites.
Aluminum Discs- Cheaper scrap alluminum discs manufacturing leftovers
Aerospace Composite Products - Fiberglass, Kevlar® and Carbon materials are available in various forms, in large or small quantities.
Laird Plastics - locations cover the US and Canada
Port Plastics - including Acetal, Nylon, Fluoropolymers, Factory Mutual Listed materials, Static control materials, Acrylic, Polycarbonate, laminates, Phenolics, ABS Polyethylene, Polypropylene, Styrene and polyurethane.
Interstate Plastics- Like their name says...legal for FTC too
Metals Depot- Aluminum, steel, brass -- Bar, tube, angle, sheet
Yarde Metals Dropzone- Odd sizes of excess metals (aluminum, steel, brass) - like a garage sale, just check back often for what you need
3M- If it's made of vinyl or glue
Smooth-on- Mold special parts using liquid rubbers & plastics
Engineer's Handbook - reference information for mechanical design, manufacturing and engineering
The EMF Safety Superstore - Magnetic shielding

Pneumatics

Pneumatics:

Automation Direct - Valves & fittings
Pneuaire - Valves & fittings
Allied - purchase fittings (for FRC generally 1/4" tube fittings)
Motion Industries - pneumatics section
Coast Pneumatics
Fluid Power Education Foundation - learn more about pneumatics
FESTO - supplier of solenoid valves in the FRC KoP.
Bimba - Supplier of the actuators used in the FRC.
Thomas - Manufacturer of the compressor distributed with the FRC KoP.
Clippard - Manufacturer of the storage tanks distributed with the FRC KoP.
Parker - supplier of some of the pnuematics used in the KOP
Norgren - supplier of some of the pnuematics used in the KOP
SMC Corporation of America - Need valve assembly instructions? Supplier of the disassembled valves used in the KOP
Freelin-Wade - pneumatic tubing like the coiled stuff in the KOP
HPE Automation - HPE coordinates the donation of approximately $1 Million in pneumatic components to FIRST.
Monnier, Inc. - regulators and stuff
Nason Company - KOP pressure sensor
PIAB Vacuum Products - KOP vaccum pump
Wika Instruments - KOP gauges

Electrical

Electrical:

Cross the Road Electronics - designer/producer of the 2015-2019 FRC Control System and the Talon motor controller.
eStop Robotics - An FRC team spinoff with FRC specific parts
Parallax Omni - robot electronics, sensors, and more
Acroname - Specialty robotics electronics.
All Data Spec Sheets - A compendium of manufacturer's data sheets on electronics of all kinds.
DigiKey - electronic parts and sensors.
Newark - Electronics and sensors supplier (slightly more expensive)
Mouser Electronics, Inc. - electronics and sensors.
Radio Shack - Local supplier of basic electronic parts.
Future Electronics - electronics and sensors.
Grayhill - Supplier of wonderful encoders.
Jameco - Hobby electronics, especially good for FRC robot controller pins and connectors.
Hitec Servos - Supplier of the servos that are in the FRC KoP.
Powerwerx - Supplier of the Anderson quick disconnects in the FRC KoP and a good source for wire and power connectors of every shape and size.
Connector Concepts, Inc. - supplier of the breakers and fuse panels for KOP
Tyco Electronics - supplier of connectors
Banner - supplier of light based sensors, e.g., range or object detection
Terminal Supply Co. - supplier of electrical terminals
Bournes, Inc. - Potentiometers, encoders, etc.
AP Circuits - For custom printed circuit boards
MSC Industrial Supply Co. - Supplier of terminal connectors in the KOP
Battery University - For online practical battery knowledge
Snap Action Fuses - The auto-reset breakers we use on our FIRST robots
MK Battery - The supplier of our FIRST robot 12v batteries (2007)
Mercotac - Rotary electrical connectors (replaces slip rings)
All Electronics - electronic and electro-mechanical parts and supplies
Electronic Goldmine - Cheap surplus electronic parts
Findchips - Multi-vendor/distributor parts search engine. Type in a part number and get a list of distributor part links
Images SL, Inc. - Science, Robotics, & Electronics
MPJA - Surplus electronics
Scott Edwards Electronics - Robot-sized LCDs
Spark Fun Electronics - Prototyping supplies right up our robotics alley & lots of useful sensors
Octopart - A search engine for electronic parts if you already know exactly what you want.
Robot Power - Motor control (non-FIRST)
LED calculator-single - for single LEDs | LED calculator-array - for arrays of LEDs
West Mountain Radio - computerized 12v battery load tester
Pololu - robotics & electronics

Computers

Computers/Programming:

FIRST Forge Ð hosts FIRST community software projects Ð start/share your own project
National Instruments - FIRST community
WPI FIRST Robotics Resource Center - Collection of FIRST related technical presentations & other information
FRC Java Programming Environment - WPI release of the FRC Java environment and libraries
Wind River - 2009 control system C/C++ environment
Java Tutorials - Beginners introduction to Java programming
C++ Tutorial - Beginners introduction to C++ programming
LV Mastery Tip jar - FRC specific step by step video taped lectures
LabVIEW Wiki
Kevin Watson - pre-2009 Kickoff code & repository of code examples, detailed documentation and FAQs on older FRC coding topics.
Microchip Technology, Inc. - The maker of the FRC robot controller microprocessor 2004-2008.
Introduction to Sensors - Engineer's Handbook
Player Project - Free Software that enables generic research in robot and sensor systems

Robot Specific

Robot Specific:

Vex Robotics - erector set style robot kits up to full sized FRC parts
Robotikits - kits to affordably introduce students to robotics, science, and solar technology.
FingerTech Robotics - RC hobby robotics parts, including 2" mechanums
Super Droid Robots - Autonomous Robot Sales and Development
Lynxmotion - robot kits and components
the Robot Store - finished robots (Roomba, mowers) to kits
The Robot MarketPlace -
Trossen Robotics - Robot kits and parts
E-Clec-Tech - robotic, physics, and electronic kits and parts
MobileRobots - Research & University Robots, Software & Accessories
RobotShop - personal robots, professional robots, robot toys, robot kits and robot parts
robot cafe - Robot specific links of interest
Ridge Soft - Robotics Hardware, Software and Curriculum for Your Classroom
Budget Robotics - small hobby robots & animatronics
Robot Village - outlet to buy or rent robots
Crust Crawler - Underwater thrusters, robotic arms, walking hex & biped kits
Evolution Robotics - integrated vision and autonomous navigation
Procerus UAVs - Procerus Technologies - Kestrelª Autopilot System for mini and micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Tools

Tools:

Grizzly - Industrial tools
Enco - Clamps, bits, welding, lubricants, etc.
Northern Tool - power tools, generators, compressors, etc.
My Tool Store - all tools
Wiha Quality Tools - all tools
Sears - more tools in your neighborhood
Home Depot - tools (& material)
Lowes - tools (& material) too
Bosch Tools - power tools
Harbor Freight - still more tools
Mike's Tools - new and refurbished tools
littlemachineshop - source of tooling, parts, and accessories for bench top machinists
Allen Designs LLC - Great measurement tools at a VERY reasonable price: Digital Calipers, Micrometers, Dial Indicators.
welding tips and tricks - practical welding advice

Robotics Competitions