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Team Handbook
Team 695 Bison Robotics Handbook (2024-2025)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 WHAT IS FIRST?
FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a non-profit organization founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen. His inventions include the Segway, a portable kidney dialysis machine, and small portable medical infusion pumps. FIRST® is a global nonprofit organization that prepares young people for the future through a suite of life-changing youth robotics programs that build skills, confidence, and resilience https://firstinspires.org.
1.1 FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC)
FRC is an international game that combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology. Under strict rules established by FIRST, teams of high school students are challenged to build and program a robot to compete in a challenging field game against like-minded competitors. The teams are guided by mentors, who have professional backgrounds in engineering, software, and data analytics to help students build a competitive robot. Important life skills in leadership, collaboration, and project management are developed.
1.2 FIRST® Core Values, Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition
FIRST® philosophies of Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition are expressed through our Core Values:
- Discovery: We explore new skills and ideas.
- Innovation: We use creativity and persistence to solve problems.
- Impact: We apply what we learn to improve our world.
- Inclusion: We respect each other and embrace our differences.
- Teamwork: We are stronger when we work together.
- Fun: We enjoy and celebrate what we do!
Gracious Professionalism® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. With Gracious Professionalism, fierce competition and mutual gain are not separate notions.
Through Gracious Professionalism®, fierce competition and mutual gain coexist. Participants compete intensely while treating each other with respect and empathy. There is no trash talking, nor disingenuous platitudes. Knowledge, competition, and empathy are comfortably blended.
The term was coined by Dr. Woodie Flowers, (1943 - 2019) Executive Advisory Board Chair Emeritus & Distinguished Advisor of FIRST®.
Coopertition® fosters innovation by promoting unqualified kindness and respect in the face of intense competition. Teams help and cooperate with each other, even as they compete. It's about learning from teammates, teaching others, collaborating with mentors, managing and being managed. Coopertition® embodies the spirit of competing while assisting and enabling others whenever possible.
1.3 Seasons of a FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC)
Team 695 operates June through April. There are three different “seasons” for Team 695: Off-Season, Pre-Season, and Build-Season. Off-Season begins in June and ends around back-to-school time in August. Pre-Season begins after Labor Day weekend and ends in November before Thanksgiving. Build-Season starts on the first Saturday after New Year’s Day and ends in mid-April after the World Championship (if we qualify).
Interested students need to apply to Team 695 in June at the beginning of the Off-Season. This is the time when mentors and veteran students are able to focus on familiarizing new students with FRC and basic skill development.
2.0 ABOUT TEAM 695 BISON ROBOTICS
Team 695 is Beachwood High School’s FRC team for grades 9-12. Each FRC team is assigned a number at the time of their rookie year registration. Teams with lower numbers were generally founded before teams with higher numbers. It is commonplace to refer to any team by either their name or their number. Team 695’s rookie year was 2001.
2.1 Team 695’s Primary Goal
Team 695’s Primary Goal is to engage its students in a technically challenging hands-on STEM environment which fosters development of real-life skills with the goal of fielding a competitive robot at competitions.
Students who are committed to the program tend to be ahead of the curve compared to their peers in soft skill development (communication, time management, problem solving), technical skills relevant to engineering, and project management.
There is no previous experience required. New students need only to bring a positive attitude, good effort, and willingness to learn in order to achieve a rewarding experience with Team 695 and FIRST® robotics.
3.0 TEAM ORGANIZATION
3.1 Head Coach
John Keyerleber is the head coach of Team 695. This role involves managing team structure, such as mentors and student leadership, and he serves as the primary contact for parents. Coach Keyerleber is also a mentor.
3.2 Mentors
Team 695 is fortunate to have mentors who work in STEM related fields such as engineering, software development, and data analytics. Our mentors are key to the success of the team. The role of our mentors is to guide our students through the process of developing a game strategy, designing and fabricating the robot, and competing at various events throughout the year.
Our mentors are:
- Chris Dickey design and fabrication
- Matt Keyerleber design and fabrication
- Kyle Wiesmore design
- Sameer Shah strategy, scouting, data collection, website, project management
- John Keyerleber head coach, software, electrical
- Natalie Keyerleber volunteer coordinator and logistics
3.3 Subteams
Team 695 students are organized across various subteams, which are specific areas of focus that include: Strategy and Scouting, Design+CAD, Fabrication, Software, and Business. In the Off-Season, new students have the opportunity to learn about and explore the different subteams to determine which might be a good fit with their interests. Within each subteam, proficiency levels exist, and during the Off-Season, students are able to participate in training to help improve their robotics skills and achieve proficiency levels. This training is conducted by the mentors and the veteran students who have previously achieved their own proficiency levels.
This organization and approach underscores the importance of student participation in the Off-Season training. Students who actively participate in the Off-Season training and achieve their proficiency levels within their subteams will be in a better position to positively contribute to the team and the robot development during Build-Season.
3.4 Robot Steering Committee
During Build-Season, there are numerous important team decisions that need to be made, which involve elements such as robot strategy, game play, robot design, and its functionality. These decisions are often time-critical and under the pressure of the Build-Season schedule, so it is impractical for the entire team to participate in every decision. Thus, the Robot Steering Committee (RSC) was created to handle these decisions. The RSC is selected each year around the beginning of the Pre-Season, and it consists of three veteran students who have strong experience within Team 695, skills in leadership, management, and organization, and a solid knowledge of other teams across the FRC community. Selection to the RSC is determined by the mentors through a written application and interview process for interested students.
3.5 Volunteers
FIRST® would not exist without volunteers at every level of the program. Team 695 invites family and friends of the program to assist with weekend lunches, donating snacks, and carpooling from the high school to the warehouse or to events as needed.
4.0 STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES
Students are responsible for embracing the game and committing to mastering their roles, so that they can make positive contributions to Team 695’s success. They are the primary “hands-on” people for the robot strategy and scouting, design, fabrication, and software. While the ultimate goal of Team 695 is to enable its students to function autonomously in their roles, safety is always FIRST! If unsure, ask questions!
4.1 Onboarding
The Robotics Team Liability Waiver, which is in effect for one year from June 1 - May 31 must be signed by the student and parent or guardian and submitted in order for a student to participate with the team. Other forms may be requested as needed throughout the season. These forms include field trip permission forms, overnight trip forms, and student registration with FIRST®.
4.2 Communications
Primary team communications to students and their parents and guardians is through email. During Pre-Season and Build-Season, an email update is usually sent on Sundays. If you are not receiving email updates, ask. Do not remain incommunicado!
Students are also expected to participate in the team Slack channels, which are used to provide more real-time updates, especially during Build-Season. Note that direct messaging in Slack is prohibited and will be monitored accordingly.
4.3 School is the Priority
All students are expected to be in good academic standing based on the requirements outlined by Beachwood Schools. Any student deemed to be in poor academic standing will be asked to pause their participation with the team until there is a correction in academic performance. Any student who is struggling with academics should take the opportunity to speak up to team mentors, so that we can help when possible.
4.4 Attendance
The time commitment to FIRST® robotics is similar to playing on a sports team or participating in a music group. During Build-Season, this time is spent at the warehouse working on the robot as well as at home on such tasks as research, CAD, and software development. In order to be eligible for the Travel Team, which attends away, overnight competitions, students are expected to at least meet a minimum number of hours per week. More importantly, casual participation in the robotics team often results in a student who is disengaged and not really contributing to the team’s success. If a student finds they are doing too many things and cannot meet the team’s attendance requirements, they should prioritize their interests and consider reducing the number of activities in which they participate. We want to ensure that everyone on the team is engaged and contributing to Team 695’s success in a meaningful way!
4.4.1 Scan In and Out
Students are required to scan in and out when they arrive and depart the warehouse, so that we can track attendance. Failure to scan in and out for a meeting at the warehouse will result in no attendance credit for that meeting.
4.4.2 Scheduled Meeting Days
Prior to the start of Pre-Season and Build-Season, students will be surveyed to provide their preferred meeting days. These survey results are used to help us to schedule the number of students at the warehouse at any given time, so that we have consistent coverage. If a student is going to miss a meeting, they must inform the coach, so that the student can schedule make-up time or take an excused absence.
4.4.3 Pre-Season Attendance Requirements (Sep 2 - Nov 22, 2024)
Students are required to average at least 2.5 hours per week
Warehouse hours:
- Thu, 6:30 - 9:00PM
- Sat, 10:00AM - 12:30PM
Attend at least one Pre-Season event (9/14 Warren and/or 9/28 Science Center)
Maximum of three (3) excused absences
4.4.4 Build-Season Attendance Requirements (Jan 4 - Feb 28, 2025)
Students are required to average at least 8 hours per week
Warehouse hours:
- Tue/Wed/Thu, 6:30PM - 9:00PM
- Sat/Sun, 10:00AM - 8:00PM (lunch will be available early afternoons)
Attend at least one day on kickoff weekend (Sat Jan 4 and Sun Jan 5)
Maximum two (2) excused absences
4.4.5 Productive Time
Students are expected to be engaged and productive during their warehouse hours. Specifically, ClickUp will be used to assign tasks and deadlines for which students are responsible. During Build-Season, which is fast-paced and rapidly changing, students are encouraged to attend as much as possible and stay connected with Slack.
4.5 Training
Similar to sports teams and music groups, Team 695 expects its students to undergo training and development and to practice those skills. Most of the skills needed to participate are not common to the average high-schooler. Much of the training occurs during the Off-Season. This training is not limited to rookies; returning students of the team are expected to develop and refine their skills before each Build-Season. In addition, mentors will often make suggestions regarding other resources such as training videos and other online information that students are expected to utilize to further develop their skills.
4.6 Tasking
ClickUp will be used to assign tasks and deadlines for which students are responsible. Students are expected to monitor ClickUp outside of warehouse time, so that they know what they should be doing when they arrive at the warehouse.
4.7 Code of Conduct
Every student is responsible for treating others with respect and kindness and understands that they are a representative of Team 695 Bison Robotics. Negative comments regarding other teams are hurtful and unproductive. At competition, what you say to another student and how you say it may be overheard by judges, potential sponsors, or members of other teams.
Student behavior is subject to all local, state, and federal regulations, including those of the Beachwood City Schools District and the Student-Parent Handbook. Bullying, harassment, discrimination, or other behavior that creates an unsafe or hostile team environment will not be tolerated. These include actions at school, during team meetings, at competitions, during team travel, or in online forums used by students regardless of whether they are team-sanctioned communication platforms. In addition, students are subject to the following team-specific expectations:
4.7.1 Communication Policy
All messages between students and adults must include at least two adults. When students e-mail adults, they must CC a second adult, and use reply-all for subsequent messages. Direct-messaging on Slack is not permitted and will be monitored for compliance.
4.7.2 Phone Use at the Warehouse
Phone use in the main warehouse shop area is prohibited. Phones can be stored in your safety glasses bin. Phone use for team-related tasks can be used in the office areas such as the CAD room, LEGO room, and TV area. Unacceptable phone use includes playing games, using social media, or other distracting and unproductive tasks. Students who do not comply may be sent home. Students may use their phones during breaks and are expected to put them away after a break has ended.
4.7.3 Online Representation
Online representation of Team 695 is limited only to Chief Delphi. No posting on FRC-related social media platforms such as FRC-subreddits or FRC Discord servers. Students who plan to post on Chief Delphi should have their post reviewed in advance by a mentor. All posts are to be thoughtful, productive, and in keeping with the Team 695 Code of Conduct.
4.7.4 PDA Policy
All relationships on the team must remain professional, especially with any potential for public displays of affection (PDAs). PDAs are acts of romantic physical intimacy visible to others, not to be confused with platonic acts of friendship. Robotics meetings and events are places for students to work and be focused, and PDAs can be distracting to everyone. Therefore, all forms of PDA are prohibited at team meetings or events. Those involved in a relationship must not let it interfere with robotics. Students who do not adhere to the PDA policy will receive a warning and are at risk of being sent home from meetings or events.
4.7.5 Hotel Policy
Winding down after a long day of competition is encouraged. All students are to socialize in the common areas of the hotel, for example: lobby, pool, or other reserved meeting space. Students who are not sharing a room together must not be in other student rooms unless permission has been given by the head coach. A curfew time will be set by the head coach, and a room check will be conducted around that time to ensure that all students are in their assigned rooms. Once the room check is complete, no one should leave their rooms unless there is an emergency.
Students are expected to be respectful to their roommates. Staying awake excessively late, loud talking, gaming, or watching TV in a manner that is causing teammates to lose valuable sleep is unacceptable.
Failure to adhere to this policy may mean a call to parents and BHS administration to have the involved students picked up and taken home.
4.7.6 Consequences
Violations of any of the above student expectations will be addressed through a progressive disciplinary review based on the seriousness of the behavior, recognized effort by the student to rectify the behavior, and any repeated violations. This review will include the student, parent or guardian, head coach, and BHS administration. Such reviews can result in the student being removed from the team.
4.8 Team Apparel and Dress Attire For Competition Policy
Shirts and other team apparel may NOT be noticeably modified—for example, a leftover large shirt given to a petite student may be tailored, but cutting off sleeves, lowering the neckline, or any damage to any logos is not allowed. Team apparel should not be sold to anyone outside of Team 695, regardless of the circumstances. It can be traded to other FRC students, but should NEVER be sold to them.
At competition, it is important for Team 695 to maintain a unified image. As such, all students who are attending any events are to wear the current year's t-shirt. Each student will be given one shirt prior to competition season, with the option of ordering additional shirts, hoodies, or other apparel. Throughout each competition, students should not cover their team t-shirt with any outerwear that is not branded with a Bison Robotics logo. On practice days of competition, the team may decide to relax the standards and allow previous years’ shirts. The team may also decide to create a specific t-shirt for an event, in which case that t-shirt will be an option to wear in place of the current year’s t-shirt. Dress codes for off-season events may differ from the above policy and will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
5.0 WORKSPACE RULES
- Safety glasses and closed-toed shoes must be worn at all times in the warehouse space and CNC room.
- Long hair must be tied back and secured firmly to prevent getting caught in tooling equipment.
- Bulky and/or loose clothing that can get caught in tooling equipment must be removed. Hoodie straps must be tucked into the collar or removed.
- Follow all safety guidelines and protocols. Use of team tools is a privilege, not a right, and safety is paramount.
- Students MUST BE TRAINED AND SIGNED OFF to use tooling and equipment.
- Return all tools and equipment to their given places. It is frustrating and decreases team productivity to have to search for tools.
- Students who wish to borrow a piece of team equipment outside of a meeting need to ask a mentor.
- If a student has to leave before a meeting is over, they must give an appropriate amount of notice and obtain permission from a mentor. The student must also clean up their workspace prior to leaving.
- Do not download or install programs onto the programming or CAD computers without the permission of the respective mentor and a reason directly related to robotics.
- At the end of each meeting, the last 15 minutes will be dedicated to a “Clean 15”, at which time every student in attendance will help clean up the space that was used. If students are staying later than the official meeting time, the Clean 15 will still happen at the end of the official meeting time, and any students staying later will be expected to leave their workspace clean.
- Personal equipment brought to team meetings or events must be in compliance with all school rules. In particular, personal knives and multitools containing knives will not be allowed at team meetings or events. Violations of this rule will result in confiscation of the tool in question; repeated violations may result in removal from the team.
6.0 COMPETITION TRAVEL
The opportunity to travel with Team 695 Bison Robotics to competitions is an exciting experience. Students who travel with the team have earned this privilege by meeting the minimum travel requirements which are the following:
- Need to meet the minimum amount of productive work hours during Pre-Season and Build-Season.
- Good academic standing.
- No outstanding or unresolved code of conduct violations.
All students need to be mindful of their schedules prior to committing to travel dates with the team. Students need to look at their calendars to identify any potential conflicts. Last minute cancellations can impact the team. In addition, refunds for travel are not guaranteed. Any unforeseen conflicts should be discussed with the coach as soon as possible.
6.1 Travel Team Roles
The Travel Team is made up of several predefined roles. Depending on the nature of the roles involved, one person may fill multiple roles. The Travel Team consists of students who will be assigned specific roles at competition. These roles include the following:
6.1.1 Safety Captain
- Position is selected by the fabrication mentor.
- At competitions, the safety captain is responsible for ensuring that the team's pit area is in compliance with all safety rules and regulations, as well as keeping safety equipment well maintained.
- At home, the safety captain may run safety training as well as maintain the team's first aid kits and conduct regular reviews of safety practices.
6.1.2 Drive Team: Drive Coach, Driver, Operator, Human Player, Technician
- Membership is selected by the head coach and may involve a try-out process.
- Must be dedicated and committed to their role at competition, and committed to attending Driver/Operator/Human Player practice above the required team meeting hours.
- Enthusiasm for working closely with the Drive Coach and following their instructions.
- Willing to put in extra time and effort to be competitive, and to work closely with other drive team students.
- Ability to solve problems on field before matches.
- Collaborate and communicate with pit crew, strategy and scouting.
6.1.3 Pit Crew
- Membership is selected by the fabrication mentor.
- Work as a team to diagnose and fix problems with the robot and be prepared to help teams who come to our pit.
- Exceptional knowledge of robot functions.
- Willingness to go above and beyond to ensure robot competitiveness.
- Collaborate and communicate with Strategy and Scouting and the Drive Team.
6.1.4 Lead Scouts/Strategists
- Exceptional managerial skills, attentiveness, and familiarity with the scouting system.
- Understands competition rules.
- Adaptability and the ability to handle stressful situations.
- Ensure the scouting system is running and find solutions to technical issues.
- Substitute in for scouts if necessary.
- Communicate and collaborate with stand scouting, drive team, and pit crew.
6.1.5 Stand Scouting
- Analyze and observe matches qualitatively.
- Master use of Scoutify.
- Collect and upload accurate and consistent scouting data during qualification matches.
- Thoroughness and attentiveness while watching matches.
- Communicate and collaborate with lead scouting/strategy.
6.1.6 Pit Scouting
- Excellent communication skills.
- Understands competition rules and robot construction.
- Able to efficiently visit other team pits and gather pertinent information for match play.
- Communicate and collaborate with lead scouting/strategy.
- Can take quality pictures of robots in pits.
- Shares the information gathered with the drive team, scouting and strategy as needed.
7.0 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
In order to ensure that Team 695 knowledge is passed down effectively and to maintain the integrity of team resources, we ask that students understand that all documentation created for team activities and shared with any students is considered part of the growing team knowledge base. When information is shared through Google Drive, GitHub, Dropbox, email, or any other sharing service, it becomes part of the team knowledge base and will be considered team Intellectual Property. Materials protected under this Intellectual Property Policy should never be removed from team access.
8.0 MEDIA CONFIDENTIALITY
No video and written documentation regarding Team 695 robot design or strategy is to be shared during the build season unless approved by the head coach. Confidential material is to be shared with the team only. The head coach and mentors will determine the proper time and media source to release information regarding the above.
9.0 FINAL NOTES
We expect that all team members will follow and understand all rules and policies in this handbook. The leadership team reserves the right to set consequences for major violations and consider confidential information in decisions. Core leadership also may change the handbook during the season. If this occurs, the team will be promptly notified of the modifications. Lastly, core leadership encourages all students to raise concerns about the team directly with them in person or through email. The students and team climate are our first priority, and we strive to do all that we can to support our team. We hope that all of our members can have a part in that process. Thank you, and we look forward to a wonderful season with you!