Post Season Robot Upkeep
 

So this isn't exactly robot showcasing, but more how do you keep a robot in shape so you can showcase your robot. Specifically, post season. During the regular competition season, our team, like many other teams, keep our robot in absolute pristine condition. However, once competition ends, our upkeep is...less than idea. :o Yes there are teams who have the budget and time to keep every single robot from their history up and running at any given time. As much as I wish we were, we are not one of those teams. We can, at most, usually keep 2 robots running. The two robots would be the previous seasons, and our "demo" robot.

So it got me thinking now that school has started again and we have a lot of demos coming up, how do other teams keep their robot in shape for demos? Do you have a regular maintenance schedule? Do you just take the robot out to play on a regular basis and fix it so you get your play time? Is it how you get your new members trained? I'm open to any and all possibilities, even if you think that demo robots are a waste of space (I hope you don't though! :ahh: )

Re: Post Season Robot Upkeep
 

We usually have quite a few oppurtunities to show-off our robot in the off-season, usually at a school assembly/rally or a sponsor presentation. Often times, we play around with the bot a day or two before when we'll need it and often times there's a problem and we end up fixing it at the last minute. That remains true for our competition bot. Our T-Shirt cannon and demo bots are made entirely out of old robot parts (like really old) and they use the old radio instead of the cRIO. These bots get played around with all the time (especially our t-shirt cannon) and so in the rare occurrence that there is a major problem, we usually have plenty of time to fix it. So, to summarize, we basically just "checklist" our bots when we know they'll be needed, we don't see the need of regularly scheduled inspection. If the bot is tucked away in it's own little corner with nothing near it that can cause a problem, nothing will really happen to it. Of course, since our parts are old, we do have to occasionally replace parts and cables.

Re: Post Season Robot Upkeep
 

Our robot gets more off-season play time than it does on-season. In fact our 12 comp bot spent the last week at the fair running 5 minutes every 30 minutes 12 hours a day for 7 days. We burned out more motors than we had all season and cracked 2 batteries from the continual use. We had to slow down because we short-cycled those two batteries and they protested in a most unprofessional fashion... (We were use 8 batteries total).

We always keep 1 robot up and running for demos. Usually it's that year's comp bot. It gets repaired as needed. For the last 4 years, we use beta test to rehab an old bot, or update our comp bot to the latest code.

Normally it's only 2 or 3 people working on it the week prior to a demo. It's really quite fun - no pressure and you have the time to try things and fail, throw them out and try again.

Frankly, the off-season is more fun that the build-season when it comes to the lack of stress.

Re: Post Season Robot Upkeep
 

So what I'm seeing is that generally teams maintain their bot through just work on it the few days prior to the use, but many uses turns into fairly regular checks. Our team doesn't have too many demos (we're in the process of accumulating more) so there might be periods where the robot is in end of competition shape for a few months, which by the time we look we've lost track of specific minor fixes. Also, we should look into alternate control methods (read: not cRio) to keep costs somewhat down. How about managing motor controllers? Usually if we burn or need one, we usually pull from our demo bot. (need to work on not doing that) Do other teams just keep a ready stock of them? Is there a safe alternate to jags and victors, that's cheaper than $85 a pop?

Re: Post Season Robot Upkeep
 

Thus far it seems that we are in the minority since we use 5 out of our 8 robots for something:

2005: Converted to a T-Shirt canon currently used as a way for rookies to learn how to use tools (We mount and dismount the canon assembly and it is there job to put it back together which also repairs anything needing repairing)

2006: Main outreach bot (historically) we use it so much that we notice things slipping on it that needs repairs quite often and repair it to keep it in working conditions as it goes

2007: Currently used to teach kids how to drive a tank drive configuration and for general testing against our current bot (all it is at this point is the body and drive chain the arm was retired long ago)

2008-2010 all had to be disassembled due to not having a consistent build space those years

2011: Is becoming the other main outreach robot since the minibot is a real crowd pleaser and our system for picking up and scoring really surprises kids is also becoming along with it's older sibling a practice bot since it has mecanums. Due to several reasons (The two main being it going insane in the build space due to a rookie programmer, as well the launcher attempting to cut a metal pole in half) this also became a robot for rookies to get used to working on.

2012: This one might replace our 2011 bot as the mecanum trainer/competitor since it has more weight and we don't thing we will use it as an outreach bot, but not much has been done with it this summer.

Hope our robot uses/upkeeps help you out

Re: Post Season Robot Upkeep
 

During the summer we take our bot on demos almost once a week. (Sometimes we will have two demos a week and then none the next week but it averages out to about one a week). When something breaks, we fix it. For example, right now I maybe should be repairing one of the switches on our driver's console that popped off last demo.

Re: Post Season Robot Upkeep
 

I believe some teams have had success using a cortex controller from Vex to control their robot. It won't have the durability of a cRio system. Most of those already have the Vex systems though, they're hardly cheap. I can't say much more than that since we've never tried it.

We can't manage to keep more than 2 bots running. We have 4 cRios: two older 8 slots and go on older bots, and then the two 4 slots that we use for comp and practice. We routinely have to take components like vics, jags, spikes, compressors, wheels, and other items off older robots to save money. Keeping just two running is fairly extravagant (for us) from a monetary standpoint. That's one of the primary reasons we usually only have 1 or two robots functioning.

We're fairly lucky that some of the older robots have wheels - the only reason they do is because we've changed sizes and types a couple times.

The old style IFI controllers are also still out there used if you feel like programming C and enjoy integer math.

Re: Post Season Robot Upkeep
 

Hello...

Heres how ours are, we try to keep them all running and intact, but
over the years have paid more attention to some than others.

2005 Runs and is still in its original confiquration, but needs to be reprogrammed.
It only drives at this time. May be used to teach
C+ programming.

2006 Runs and is still in its original confiquration. We use this one often for
demos and practice.

2007 Mechanically still original, but is being rewired and reprogrammed. We
used this robot as a prototype for the 2011 robot.

2008 Mecanum wheels removed and replaced with regular wheels, arm has been
removed,it is being used to teach new students how to build and is being rebuilt for
another purpose.

2009 (we weren't able to build or compete)

2010 More or less intact, but will be a test bed for prototyping
and its confiquration may change from time to time. Some of its
mechanical systems will be kept intact.

2011 In its original confiquration and is sometimes used for demos.
We also use it for programming testing.

2012 In its original confiquration. Currently being repaired and readied
for off season competition. Some slight improvements are being made
to it.

Re: Post Season Robot Upkeep
 

We've been forced to keep our competition robot in top shape due to not having another reliable Demo robot.

2009 was stripped of it's electrical components and It's body resides at one of our local sponsers.

2010 we don't talk about ;)

2011 still runs, but has a large 3 stage arm that makes it very dangerous, especially since people who drive our robot love to spin in circles.

So far we've had 3 off season events, and are planning on doing one more. We've also done more demonstrations then I can count, we are actually doing one today in fact. One of the good things is that we can show the new team members how to work on the robot. For replacing 1/4 of our drive train, to replacing tread on our tires.

Re: Post Season Robot Upkeep
 

Although this thread is still young, I feel that my team hasn't done such a bad job of robot preservation as I initially thought.

We are a petty old team (15th year), but we are also a pretty poor team, which quite often necessitates cannibalizing an old robot for its parts. If a robot is still mostly in tact after build season, then it is kept and any scavenged parts are replaced. If it is mostly destroyed, we finish the process. Honestly, the only time we ever have a robot break down on us is when we rip it apart for its innards. They usually don't give us any problems.

Currently we have 4 "fully" functional robots in our arsenal:

2012: Current competition robot for fall events. Will probably be converted to IFI after WMRI and become our #2 parade robot. Everything is still competition stock.

2011: Downsized for indoor maneuverability. Also retrofitted with IFI (because we have 1 crappy cRIO and probably 12 IFIs) Currently missing 2 manipulator motors (needed for 2012), but can still drive and we plan on adding some back on the first week of fall.

2008: Completely competition operation until this past Sunday, when we lost half of our pneumatic functions midday. A simple diagnostics should uncover the problem. Serves as our primary parade robot since it is has many moving parts visible parade-side. At one point, it was stripped of its wheels, axles, pillow blocks, battery plug, and all accessible pneumatic pistons, but has since been refurbished.

2003: Manipulator has long been removed, but still drivable. Kept for nostalgia purposes (last team robot to not be welded).


I guess, when analyzing the situation, these robots have survived as opposed to their robot brethren because:
a) they were a good design
b) they worked in competition
c) they serve a postseason purpose
d) we didn't need all their parts (luck of the draw?)
e) they have a nostalgic value.
None of them are in pristine condition, but they operate which is all that is required of them. We are starting to run out of storage room, so I'm not sure if we will keep all 4 in 2013 or replace one with the new competition robot.

Re: Post Season Robot Upkeep
 

Our team has been around since the beginning 21 games ago. We have a lot of bots. Im slightly disappointed in the number of functioning bots we have and I have been taking time to resurrect some of them.
1992-Was all intact I just had to find the long black power cable and toggle switches that drove it.
2003 Ball drive bot- This was retrofitted electrically
2007-This was resurrected for software testing
2009-Still functioning but extremely banged up
2011- The comp bot still runs and has some new add-ons; the practice bot was scrapped for parts
2012-We are maintaining both our comp and practice bot because the comp bot is getting a few new add-ons and the practice one was basically rebuilt for IRI

About 1/2 our robots are non functioning either due to electrical or mechanical disrepair. When I get time I try to revive old bots and maintain them. My next project is our 1998 national champ bot. Basically we fix robots semi-regularly and bring bots to demos based on if they are functional.

Re: Post Season Robot Upkeep
 

In the past it was hard to keeps bots going simply because of the cost of some of the components involved.

Bot's since I joined the team:

2005: was a dog and didn't survive other than one piece of the lift hanging on the wall.

2006: the frame survives and is used as a cart. The lexan shooter pieces that were beautifully hand cut by one of our mentors survive as part of a mobile hanging from the ceiling.

2007: is mechanically intact and is displayed "ramps deployed" hanging on the wall.

2008: the frame survives as decoration and is also hanging on the wall.

2009: is completely gone other than a few of the lexan covers.

2010: is currently our t-shirt bot controlled by a Vex cortex controller.

2011: is 99% intact and is going to be used for fall training.

2012: Is still fully functional and ready for two fall events, it will stay intact because shooting basketballs is great for demo's. It's practice brother is also working but will be dismantled following it's use as a pre-rookie bot for fall events.