FRA "Roboteer's Handbook" Youtube channel?

[Flag Captured]

Hi all,

Just thought I'd share an idea I've been mulling over for a while now - as a newcomer to the sport, I've asked a fair few questions regarding the build and design of robots, how pneumatics setups would work, motors, voltages etc. and I know that I've seen a few others asking questions.

Now, I know various roboteers have made their own guides independently on their own sites or what have you, but how about this - a communal FRA "Roboteer's Handbook" youtube channel that any roboteer could send their video tutorials through to help answer some of those basic and advanced questions. Different teams could go through different topics each video - for instance, I could talk about the ESCs you'd need to get your first featherweight off the ground, and then another team could have a separate video that explains the benefits and drawbacks to different kinds of batteries, the next one then talking about drive motors. This could then go on to more complex things such as pneumatics, and then onto different weight classes and so on. After most of the main topics are covered, another team could talk about how they designed their machine or weaponry, and why they did so (e.g. having a compact body to save weight, a sloped back to help self right etc.) to help others get inspired from it too.

Regarding the actual tutorial videos, if this sort of thing were to go ahead, I'd be more than happy to edit them all together into a uniform format, and upload them (put my media university course to good use, since I've got no other video projects on the go anymore!) onto the channel itself, with contributors filming their respective videos themselves and then emailing it or something. Details aren't set on that side of things, still open to change if there's an easier way to do things!

I just think it'd be a nice idea for everyone who wants to get involved to help create a catalogue of tutorials for both beginners and veterans alike, and it'd be a cool little archive to have there...


If anyone's interested, let me know by posting here or something, it's just an idea for starters, but I just thought I'd see if anyone else A-thought it was a good idea and B-would be interested in contributing to it!

[Niels - Team K.a.L.M.]

That would be easily done I think. Just make a tutorial on how to use the search button.

But you're right having a visual aid will help most builders more that just a bunch of words on their screen.

There are already numerous clips on YouTube detailing on how to build components/parts for our robots.
You could consider opening a thread in the botbuilding subpages where you place the links and video discriptions in an order you'd feel happy with.

[overkill]

Kudos to Matt for stepping up to the task. Doing some tutorial videos is a good concept, but a YouTube channel is not the place for them IMHO. To be useful the videos need a good index with several levels so you can browse and find what you need - YouTube just isn't set up for that. In Australia, we had a section of our forum dedicated to educational articles and it was really easy to drill into it to find exactly what you wanted. It fell out of use as it needed a curator to organise and promote it.

To make the resource useful, I suggest making a front-end catalogue on the FRA site so its easy to find what's needed and having a set of rules or style guides so the videos have a bit of a common look to them. If the idea builds up, I can think of 10+ topics I could contribute.

[typhoon_driver]

Your issue with it is the differences in opinion of how things should be done. For instance, I think sabretooth speedos are crap, electronize are great and the T85a ones are awesome but others wouldn't necessarily agree.

[daveimi]

It could be a bit hairy showing randomers stuff like how to easily set up full pressure pneumatics.

[overkill]

Just add a disclaimer at the front of every video. If people don't try new stuff how are they ever going to learn?

[daveimi]

A disclaimer won't stop a 14 yr old. Some of the heavies have literally tons of force in the ram.

I'm all for showing the general public how to lock up drill clutches, how to melt UNF nuts into Colson wheels, how to cable up esc's and batteries etc. It's just my opinion that certain things shouldn't be attempted unless your a reasonably accomplished engineer that understands the dangers of what your dealing with. If someone were to hurt themselves as a result of testing a FP ram, I think it would be irresponsible to say "...well there was a disclaimer on the vid...".

I also agree with the poster above in that a lot of the basics are already available if you search for them. A library of links would be good. For instance...a lot of Ellis' how-to's are the best in the business and already in common circulation.

[Flag Captured]

Thanks for the feedback to this, everyone! I get the point regarding it might be better to shy away from Youtube as a hub for this sort of thing, it can get a bit of a mess if not done right. I think what a few of you have mentioned about having an index on here (to incorporate already existing tutorials) might not be a bad idea at all - I do like the idea of having a video archive (as well as picture/text tutorials) that would allow people to have that visual help for them to base their own designs on.

Gary, I see where you're coming from with that and I'd imagine that'd play into things but that's probably a benefit to having it so that anyone can upload a tutorial describing their way of doing things, though really the only thing you'd have to consider is mentioning other options for batteries or ESCs and the risks that run with them, or why you'd recommend ESC X over ESC Y. At the end of the day, these aren't absolute instructions for each and every robot, so people can always adapt and make it their own, but it just would help provide that spark for new builders to get clued up and get involved!

Perhaps we could have a chat with Kane (or whoever runs the FRA site) and have it as a sub-category of the site as opposed to a forum topic/board? I think both that and the forum post idea that a few have suggested already would work well though.

I see where you're coming from regarding the health and safety aspects of it all too, Dave, but the thing is that if someone DID want to do it, they'd find out anyway - it's better them learn how to build it properly and reduce the risk of anything going wrong than reading up a little bit on it and making up the rest. Granted, you will always get that one person who doesn't listen and does it anyway, but that's the same with everything I guess. Better them knowing the proper way and the risks that go with it than just thinking they can figure out the rest as they go! All you can do is warn them of the risks both before and after, like Robot Wars used to do... it's a dangerous hobby by nature, so there's not much you can do other than that!

[harry hills]

I think while the basics should be covered (they pretty much already are) We really should be encouraging people to do their own research and learn what works for themselves, even if it means reading the forum a bit or asking a question. I really don't think any of this is particularly necessary.

[overkill]

The point of creating new tutorials or cataloguing existing stuff is so that we don't have to answer the same questions over & over. Doing your own research can be expensive; how many people can afford to buy 3 or 4 different ESCs to find the one that works best for them?

I think what Matt is getting at is that if experienced builders contributed a bit about the ESCs they used (as an example) and he compiled that into a comprehensive guide, then noobs could read that and ask more educated questions on the forum.

As for 'the basics', I see a lot of builders that don't know what they don't know . I could write a surprising amount on just drilling holes that many builders don't know about.

Perhaps including material on really dangerous stuff like flame-throwers and HP pneumatics is a bad idea; a general overview of these topics would still be good, so new builders at least know WHY they are dangerous.