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Interested in working together? Just fill out the form below. Don't like the form? That's ok, just email us. Thank you.
Interested in working together? Just fill out the form below. Don't like the form? That's ok, just email us. Thank you.
Interested in working together? Just fill out the form below. Don't like the form? That's ok, just email us. Thank you.
THE COMPETITIONS I HAVE ENTERED
SAM QIAN
World Contest Championship – Sanya FRC
When you think of global robotics tournaments, places like Houston or Detroit (FIRST Championship) often come to mind. But China has been hosting its own major robotics festivals, often under the umbrella of the World Robot Contest or “World Robot Conference + Contest” events. Sanya, in Hainan province, is one of the coastal cities that has hosted a robotic contest / FRC off-season / demonstration event tied to the broader World Robot Contest ecosystem.
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Why I joined Sanya FRC
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Deciding to join Sanya was something I thought about deeply. Why put so much effort into a tournament where everything might go wrong? Here’s what pushed me:
Challenge beyond comfort zone. I had built robots in local competitions, done well, learned many techniques. But the international or large contest level means competing with teams who may have more resources, more advanced tools, and deeper experience. I wanted to see how far we could push our design, control, and repair under pressure.
To lead technically and grow. The role of Chief Designer & Technician interested me because it meant owning both vision and build. I didn’t want to just build a subsystem; I wanted the full responsibility — conceptualizing, modeling, wiring, troubleshooting, and seeing it perform under real match conditions.
To prove our process works. Many times, small teams build robots that work well locally but don’t scale under pressure. I believed that if our design workflows, documentation, and repair schemes were solid, we could survive even when things go off plan.
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To help the team grow. I wanted teammates to see what high-level design expectations look like: clean wiring, modular subsystems, test strategies, backup parts, design logs. I felt that entering Sanya would help us build that internal culture of engineering excellence, which lasts beyond any one event.
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To tell a story. It’s one thing to say “we competed in a global contest.” It’s another to ensure that when we go, we bring with us a design philosophy that others can see, critique, learn from, and adopt. I wanted Sanya to be an example for future teams I would lead or mentor.
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What I did — designing, building, iterating, repairing
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As Chief Designer & Technician, I had many roles — many nights, many failures, many tweaks. Here’s how the journey unfolded, from idea to match day.
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Vision & concept design
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It began with the game rules we received (or speculated). We studied the match tasks: what field elements, what scoring mechanisms, movement constraints, power usage, and match durations. I mapped out possible strategies: high-speed scoring, robust defense, or hybrid balanced strategy.
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I sketched multiple mechanical ideas: drive-focused vs manipulator-heavy, kinds of grippers or lifters, sensor placements, how many degrees of freedom, tradeoffs between weight and torque. I gathered input from teammates (on feasibility, assembly complexity, testing) and refined the ideas to one or two that balanced ambition and safety.
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Then I translated the sketch into CAD models, ensuring parts fit, tolerances worked, clearances existed, and maintenance access was possible. Crucially, I aimed for modularity: ability to swap or repair a subsystem without needing to disassemble everything.
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Prototyping & fabrication
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With designs ready, we moved to the workshop. I oversaw fabrication: cutting frame rails, manufacturing brackets, aligning mounting holes, printing custom parts, wiring harness templates. I collaborated with teammates to 3D print fixtures, cut and bend metal plates, and create jig templates for consistent alignment.
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During prototype stage, I built subassemblies: drive modules, manipulator arms, sensor mounts, wiring harnesses. I oversaw iterative test builds — each version going faster, lighter, or more robust than the last.
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I pushed for early integration tests — putting system parts together early to see interaction issues (vibration, signal noise, interference). That allowed us to catch design collisions or wiring conflicts before final assembly.
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Electronics, wiring & control architecture
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I designed the wiring harness layout: routing wires neatly, grouping signal lines, ensuring minimal cross coupling, and planning for maintenance. I placed connectors with enough slack, used strain reliefs, and color-coded wires for easier troubleshooting in the pit.
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I also integrated sensors — encoders, limit switches, distance sensors, IMU (if used) — and instructed firmware team on calibration routines. I defined interface protocols between control board and motors, sensors, actuators.
During control tuning, I tested PID loops for drive stabilization, motor curves under load, and edge-case behavior (power drop, stall, sensor misread). I worked tightly with software members to align mechanical expectations with code.
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Testing, iteration, and issue tracking
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Testing was continuous. We ran drive tests, manipulator tests, obstacle courses, field mockups. Every failure was logged: what failed, when, under what conditions, and what hypothesis we had for fix.
We used versioned builds and kept an engineering notebook documenting changes, testers’ names, times, and results. That log allowed us to backtrack a change if something broke unexpectedly.
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I prioritized multiple test scenarios: different lighting, floor friction, minor mismatch in field alignment. That exposed weaknesses in sensors or tolerances we might not have seen under ideal lab setups.
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Pit strategy and field repair readiness
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Knowing Sanya would include real match pressure, I planned pit readiness. I assembled a “repair kit” including spare motors, wires, connectors, zip ties, tape, screwdrivers, extra sensors, controller boards, fuses, multimeter, soldering kit, and test cables.
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I trained a few teammates on quick repair drills: for example, replacing a broken motor, replugging a loosened connector, swapping a sensor module, or rerunning calibration. We practiced under time constraints so that in competition, pit repairs were smoother.
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When the robot came into pit after a match, I led debriefs: immediate faults, observed behavior, next interventions, and testing before the next match.
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Match day execution, adjustments & final push
During match days, I was in the pit and on the field, seeing the robot under pressure. I coordinated between drivers, coders, and pit crew. We sometimes changed powering strategies (e.g., battery swaps), sensor thresholds, or drive torque limits based on conditions.
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I oversaw calibration before matches, checked alignments, and ensured that mechanical systems stayed in tolerance. If a wire loosened or a module misbehaved, I led the fix (or patch). I also monitored temperatures, signal noise, vibration stress, and battery voltage.
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In the final matches, we were pushing components near their limits. I helped plan safe strategies: e.g. limiting torque on slow manipulator moves, giving subsystems brief rest, ensuring we didn’t overheat wiring. That balance — pushing performance while preserving reliability — became a tight dance.
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At the end, we secured 9th place (out of several teams), which was more than just a ranking — it was evidence that our design and processes held up under global contest stress.
What I Learned — Beyond design & beyond the match
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Reflecting on Sanya, I find the lessons I carry go deeper than drives, wiring, or sensors. They touch how I design, collaborate, lead, and grow.
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Systems thinking & holistic design
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I learned that no subsystem works in isolation. Drive, manipulation, sensors, wiring, battery, control loops, mechanical tolerances — they all interlock. A change in one can cascade issues in others. Good design means anticipating interactions.
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The best improvements often came from small, system-level tweaks: wire shortening, shielding, mechanical stiffening, or adjusting calling order in code, rather than wholesale redesigns.
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Value of redundancy & modularity
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In real contest conditions, failure is inevitable. What matters is how fast you can recover. By building swappable modules and backups, we were able to dodge disastrous failures. That taught me to design as if failure is not just possible, but expected.
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Thorough documentation & traceability
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Because I documented design decisions, revisions, wiring changes, and test results, we could troubleshoot faster. When a subsystem stopped behaving, I could look at logs, see what had changed, and revert or patch. That discipline saved time and preserved sanity.
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Stress testing & realistic constraints
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Lab conditions are clean. Fields at Sanya have uneven surfaces, lighting changes, vibrations, signal interference, and dust. Testing under messier conditions revealed issues early. That made me appreciate designing for the real, not ideal.
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Leadership, humility & listening
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As chief, I sometimes felt pressure to always have the answer. But I learned leadership isn’t about always knowing — it’s about guiding others, knowing when to ask, when to pause, and when to step aside and let someone else try. Sometimes a teammate’s small idea (a wiring reroute or connector change) fixed a big issue. I had to stay humble.
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Also, I learned the value of giving credit. Celebrating teammates’ small wins — “you caught that alignment error,” or “that piece of code you rewrote improved response” — builds morale and trust. In competitions, spirit matters as much as torque.
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Time management & prioritization
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The timeline for Sanya was tight. There were deadlines, travel constraints, shipping parts, test schedules. Sometimes I had to decide which part to perfect and which to leave “good enough.” I learned to cut less critical features to ensure main functions were robust.
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Also, I learned how to parallelize: while one group tests drivetrain, another works on manipulator, while a third prepares backup parts. Managing that concurrency well can double effective work done.
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Resilience & composure under pressure
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Matches, clock, repairs — everything can go wrong. Having practiced under pressure, patience and clear thinking become your allies. When in pit, I learned to step back, take inventory of what’s wrong, pick a strategy, and act. Panic kills performance; composure helps repair.
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Documentation & teaching
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Explaining your design to judges or other teams forced clarity. You can’t hide complexity behind jargon. Teaching peers, or explaining subsystem logic to newcomers, refined my communication and deepened my understanding.
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Community & collaboration
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At Sanya, teams exchanged tips, borrowed parts, shared field observations, and collaborated in pavilion workshops. That environment shifted from pure competition to mutual learning. I realized robotics isn’t just fighting for points — it’s sharing growth.
Final thoughts — how Sanya shapes me now
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Looking back on 2024 Sanya (or similar events), I see it as a crucible — where designs, habits, relationships, and resilience are tested. Emerging from that contest, I didn’t just have a functional robot or a rank like “9th place.” I had a more mature engineering mindset, a more collaborative team culture, and deeper confidence to lead.
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If someone reads this page and wonders, “Should I try big contests too?” — yes. It’s worth it. The nights of debugging, the public failures, the wiring tangles, the adrenaline in pit — they refine not just robots, but character.
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And for me, Sanya is part of why I teach, build, mentor, and keep experimenting. Every contest is another chapter — but the lessons I learned in those tense hours under lights are lessons I apply in every project, small or large.
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