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Week 1 · Lesson 4 45 min

The Engineering Design Process and Getting Started

Learn the engineering design process that FTC teams use to solve problems, and plan your team's first practical steps.

In this lesson you will

  • Describe the steps of the engineering design process.
  • Use a decision matrix to compare design ideas.
  • List the first practical steps for a new FTC team.
  • Write a simple engineering plan with goals and a timeline.

Lesson

Experienced teams do not build the perfect robot on the first try. They follow a repeatable process: understand the problem, try ideas, test them and improve. This is the engineering design process, and it is the backbone of everything you will do this season, from choosing a drivetrain to writing your engineering portfolio.

DefineResearchBrainstormPrototypeTestImproveIterate
The engineering design process is a cycle: after testing, you return to earlier steps to improve the design.
  1. 1
    Define the problem
    Write one clear sentence about what the robot must do and the limits it must respect.
  2. 2
    Research
    Read the rules, look at how similar problems have been solved and collect measurements.
  3. 3
    Brainstorm
    Generate many ideas quickly without judging them. Sketches are enough.
  4. 4
    Choose
    Compare the ideas against your requirements and pick the most promising one.
  5. 5
    Prototype
    Build a quick, cheap version to test the idea, using cardboard, spare parts or a simple CAD model.
  6. 6
    Test and improve
    Measure how well it works, find what fails and repeat the cycle with changes.

The process is a loop, not a straight line. Every test teaches you something, and that lesson sends you back to research, brainstorming or prototyping. Recording each loop in your engineering notebook shows judges how your design grew.

Example: picking up a game element

Imagine the game asks robots to pick up a game element from the floor and carry it to a scoring zone. Your problem statement might be: the robot must collect one game element from the floor in under two seconds and hold it while driving. The team brainstorms a roller intake, a claw and a scoop, then compares them.

IdeaSpeed (x3)Reliability (x2)Easy to build (x1)Total
Roller intake3 (9)2 (4)2 (2)15
Claw1 (3)3 (6)3 (3)12
Scoop2 (6)1 (2)3 (3)11

Getting started: your first weeks

  1. 01Read the current Competition Manual together and highlight the robot rules.
  2. 02Unpack and organise your kit, labelling bins for screws, motors, structure and electronics.
  3. 03Set up the control system: the Control Hub, the Driver Station and the battery.
  4. 04Build a simple drivetrain so the programmers have something to test on early.
  5. 05Write and run a first TeleOp OpMode that drives the robot.
  6. 06Start CAD accounts, the engineering notebook and a plan for outreach.

A simple engineering plan template

TEXT
1TEAM ENGINEERING PLAN - Week 1
2
3Season goal:   (what does success look like for us this season?)
4Problem:       (one sentence the robot or team must solve first)
5Requirements:  (rules and limits from the Competition Manual)
6
7Week | Build             | Programming          | CAD / Portfolio
81    | Organise kit      | Install tools        | Start notebook
92    | Basic drivetrain  | First TeleOp OpMode  | CAD accounts
103    | Test drivetrain   | Simple Autonomous    | Document tests
114    | First prototype   | Tune driver controls | Outreach idea
12
13Risks and how we will handle them:
14Next review date:
Copy this template into your engineering notebook and fill it in together.

Keep your plan simple and realistic. It is better to finish a small plan and improve it than to write a huge plan nobody follows. Review it at the start of each week and update it based on what you learned.

Key terms

Engineering design process
A repeated cycle of defining a problem, researching, brainstorming, choosing, prototyping, testing and improving.
Problem statement
A clear sentence describing what a design must achieve and the limits it must respect.
Prototype
A quick, low-cost version of an idea built to test whether it works.
Decision matrix
A table that scores design ideas against weighted criteria to help a team choose.
Iteration
One pass through the design cycle that improves the design based on test results.

Practical exercise

Run a mini design cycle

  1. 1Pick a simple challenge, such as moving a tennis ball 1 metre using only paper, tape and string.
  2. 2Write a one-sentence problem statement with a time limit.
  3. 3Brainstorm at least three ideas in five minutes and sketch them.
  4. 4Score the ideas in a decision matrix with weighted criteria and choose one.
  5. 5Build and test a prototype, note what failed and improve it once.
  6. 6Record the whole cycle in the engineering notebook with sketches and results.
Deliverable: An engineering notebook entry showing the problem statement, sketches, decision matrix, test results and one improvement.

Knowledge check

Answer every question, then check your answers.

  1. Q1What is the first step of the engineering design process?
  2. Q2Why is the design process drawn as a cycle?
  3. Q3In a decision matrix, what does the weight of a criterion show?
  4. Q4Why should a new team build a simple drivetrain early?

Further resources

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