General Team Leader Responsibilities

• Report to the appropriate mentors the general status of their work. Keep an open line of communication with those mentors through Basecamp since all mentors will not be there everyday.
• Ensure all team members have tasks to complete that are appropriate to their skill level and attendance. Try to ‘grow’ your team members technical and non-technical skills.
• Ensure team members complete tasks on schedule. Trust your team members to complete those tasks appropriately (don’t micromanage), but make your expectations clear.
• Regularly communicate with other team leaders and officers so everyone is on the same page.
• Update the purchasing Trello page with anything you need. Telling a mentor is not enough, but following up with a mentor is OK.
• Act as a role model for the other team members.
• Do not make big decisions on your own. This is a team effort, and your decisions affect all aspects of the team.
• If you cannot update the Basecamp yourself, you may designate an alternate to do it.
• Failure to follow the listed responsibilities will result in a loss of leadership position.

Leadership Positions

Overall FRC Student Leader:

• Team Captain (reports to Mentors)
  • Responsible for overall Team Execution (robot design, build quality, testing, and competition performance).
  • Promote the vision set forth by FIRST to fellow team members and the community.
  • Understands progress and roadblocks for all sub-teams and team members.
  • Works with leaders, team members, and mentors to overcome roadblocks.
  • Prioritizes all design and manufacturing within the context of our constraints (time, funding, resources, and driving practice) to maximize competition performance.
  • Thinks critically of the robot design at a high level to constructively criticize the design and challenge the leaders and members to improve the robot.
  • Acts as ‘Rules Guru’. Responsible for the robot and team compliance with the rules.
  • Acts as team leader at competition events:
    • Ensures (or delegates) that all team members are aware of meetings, presentations, and practice/match times.
    • Ensures that proper scouting is taking place with Scout Master.
    • Liaison with other teams in the pit (or delegates) when they are scouting our robot.
    • Makes decisions for last minute robot and game strategy changes.
    • Models FIRST core values of Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition.
    • Act as spokesperson for the team and relay any updates or changes to all team members.

Leaders with teams:

• Robot Team Leader (reports to Team Captain and Mechanical Mentors (Ricky and Steve))
  • Leads all team members through the Engineering Design Process to strategize, brainstorm, and prototype.
  • Leads all mechanical team members in the detail design and development of the robot.
  • Responsible for overall mechanical design of the robot. Thinks at a high level. Will lead primary-mechanism design group.
  • Responsible for build of competition (bagged) robot.
  • Responsible for maintaining competition robot is a usable state to maximize testing and practice time.
  • Oversees and trains members on safe tool usage, robot drivetrain and mechanism design, and CAD/CAM.
  • Ensures all team members are acutely aware of relevant field measurements.
  • Reports daily on Basecamp of current progress and plan for next day.
  • Responsible for working with Mentors and other Team Leaders for integration.
  • Acts as Pit Captain at competition events:

• Practice Robot Team Leader (reports to Robot Team Leader and Mechanical Mentors (Ricky and Steve))
  • Second-in-command for overall mechanical design of the robot. Will lead end-game design group.
  • Responsible for build of practice (non-bagged) robot.
  • Responsible for maintaining practice robot is a usable state to maximize testing and practice time.
  • Manages regular driver practice. Responsible for scheduling and implementing drive team tryouts.
  • Reports daily on Basecamp of current progress and plan for next day.
  • Responsible for working with Mentors and other Team Leaders for integration.
• Software Team Leader (reports to Team Captain and Software Mentor (Nathan))
  • Leads all programming team members in the design and development of the robot.
  • Responsible for overall software design and controls of robot. Thinks at a high level.
  • Oversees and trains members on basic programming in Java, integration of all sensors and actuators required to realize design, controls, automation, simulation, and physical testing.
  • Responsible for design and construction of the Driver Station.
  • Reports daily on Basecamp of current progress and plan for next day.
  • Responsible for working with Mentors and other Team Leaders for integration.
• Business/Scouting Team Leader (reports to Team Captain and Scouting/Awards Mentor (Stuart))
  • Leads all Business team members in the creation and submission of Awards.
  • Responsible for all Awards submittals. Needs to be organized and able to delegate.
  • Oversees all events that support awards (outreach, demos, meet and greets, etc.)
  • Responsible for Team Marketing and Image (FRC T-shirts, 8-bit avatar, and competition giveaways)
  • Oversees regular updates on our social media platforms (Team Website/Blog, Facebook, and Twitter).
  • Responsible for development of scouting infrastructure. Must train scouts on our system prior to first regional competition.
  • Reports daily on Basecamp of current progress and plan for next day.
  • Responsible for collating information from other Team Leaders to create build logs (text, photos, and videos).
  • Acts as Scout Master at competition events:

Leaders without teams:

• Shop Captain (reports to Robot Team Leader)
  • Ensures team members clean up the shop at the end of each meeting and signs off on (or delegates) Daily Shop Clean Up Checklist.
  • Ensures that all active team members have passed the current Safety Test.
  • Works with Team Captain to ensure Competition and Practice Robot are compliant with the rules and will pass inspection at competition without issue..
  • Responsible for field set-up and take-down for driver practice.
  • Maintains and improves tool and stock organization.
  • Design and build pit. Ensures it is competition-ready.
  • Creates checklist for everything needed at competition. Ensures all items on checklist are packed neatly and ready to go before each competition.
  • Acts as Student Safety Captain at competition. Responsibilities lists in Seciton 2.3 in the 2017 Safety Manual located here.
• Electrical/Pneumatics Captain (reports to Robot Team Leader)
  • Responsible for overall electronic design and controls of robot.
  • Responsible for overall pneumatics implementation.
  • Responsible for ensuring reliable robust operation of the robot in all matches (no stupid mistakes)
  • With help from floating team members as needed, oversees:
    • Position of all electrical components in overall mechanical design in CAD
    • Clean cable routing with cables of correct gauge.
    • Clean hose routing that is leak-proof.
    • Secure and robust connections to all devices.
    • Crimping, ferrules, and grounding.
    • Regular testing of components in conjunction with programming team to ensure all electronic components (transmission, communication, power, actuators, and sensors) and pneumatic components (control module, solenoids, compressor, regulator, valves, gauges, and cylinders) are operating correctly.
    • Verifies that motors and air compressor are being used within their specs and won’t burn out.
  • Reports weekly on Basecamp of current progress and next week’s plans.
  • Responsible for working with with Mentors and other Team Leaders for integration.
  • At competition events, responsible for battery charging and rotation log.