Breakdowns at Off-season events
 

I don't know about other teams, but whenever we go to an offseason event, the robot always seems to break after every match. I was wondering, first, if other teams have this problem as well and, second, if people think that this is because of wear on the robot, or lax in refereeing.

NOTE: This is not to degrade any referee at an off-season. I think that everyone works hard to make an off-season run and I want to thank all of the referees for the entire season and off-season.

Re: Breakdowns at Off-season events
 

I'm willing to be it is a problem with robustness. I don't think the refereeing has anything to do with it. Some robots just aren't built to last the number of matches people run.

Re: Breakdowns at Off-season events
 

We learned this lesson the hard way.....

Our 2004 Robot (rookie year):

After 2 Regionals and the Championship Event (~ 30 matches in total) + 4 off-season events (~42 matches in total, a lot of them against team 25) + countless hours of driver practice/accidents/testing = one beat up rookie robot.

I cannot tell you how many drill motors we went through that season. The robot just naturally got worn down to a point where if we tried to disassemble something, it was so warped that we couldn't put it back together. If your robot breaks a lot during the off-season, you are on the same boat as the rest of us. Think of it this way, anything that breaks is a great learning experience for the new guys.