Re: surefire ways to break you robot
 

show optimism

Re: surefire ways to break you robot
 

1. Bring every part you can to the field just in case (ATL). Murphy's Law dictates that the one gear you don't have a replacement for is the one that will break.

2. Forget to tighten loose bolts. Realize later that part of your frame is only staying together because being hit so often (Ramp Riot, it was a pretty contact-heavy year with the King of the Hill bit) bent two pieces of the 80/20 together...and that there are no tightened bolts on that corner of the robot.

2b. Fix that. Something worse will go wrong (see 1).

3. Wire a battery backwards. (Thankfully we caught this when we were checking our batteries in the shop before we tried to use it).

Re: surefire ways to break you robot
 

Use the old KOP BaneBots transmissions. Let's just NOT go there.

Re: surefire ways to break you robot
 

Get picked by a good alliance.
nuff' said.

Re: surefire ways to break you robot
 

Dropping a ball on it. Directly on it.

Atlas...*tear*

Re: surefire ways to break you robot
 

short from the battery across the frame.

Re: surefire ways to break you robot
 

TOO TRUE ! :eek:


I've had something similar happen often back when I was with the vol. fire dept. I'd be settled in watching a movie with a big bowl of popcorn... a alarm would come in which would be a not a big deal, by the time I'd get back to the station ... my movie would be done, pop corn gone, soda gone and someone would ask if I had any more popcorn... never failed :ahh:

Re: surefire ways to break you robot
 

Uhmmm... I know I'm not the only programmer that makes parts too...

Plus... I'm sure I'm not the only programmer that has fixed hardware problems with software...

Yep... I had a pizza disappear when I went to drive once at BMR... apparently, the person who ate it disappeared too. :confused:

-q

Re: surefire ways to break you robot
 

Let it roll off the table. (Yes they did happen and oddly enough it was nothing more than a box frame with four wheels.)

Re: surefire ways to break you robot
 

..

Re: surefire ways to break you robot
 

more way to break your robot

weight reduction
rounding off corners with metal file

Re: surefire ways to break you robot
 

The other coder and I found a great way to break the bot.

For absolutely no reason whatsoever, IFI loader decided to change the file it was downloading to the bot to last years competition code. We didn't figure this out until after our next match. Before that match though, we were really freaking out. The lift wasn't responding at all, when the driving joysticks were pushed the full speed, two of the motors would reverse with for no apparent reason (we never did figure that one out). Luckily, we used mechanum wheels both years, so driving below max speed worked relatively well. No autonomous (thank god they hadnt gotten to that last year by the time they compiled this version). No lift, and no green light underglow either :(


Its all good now ;)

Re: surefire ways to break you robot
 

- Run hybrid mode with tether or programming cables plugged in (Seriously, I have no idea why, but it screwed up our hybrid every time we did it)

- Try to program with a homemade cable that happened to have one of the wires get yanked from one of the pins (You have never seen the RC flash so many error messages and strange patterns of lights)

- Make your own field, get gripper caught in lane divider (We didn't have any lexan/plexiglass/whatever over the bars) and then turn your robot in an attempt to get it unstuck

- Tweak the values for your hybrid code "Just a little bit"

- Build a cart that doesn't have anything to prevent the robot from just rolling off

- Run your hybrid code without first resetting the gyro

Re: surefire ways to break you robot
 

ONE OF OUR COACHES TRIPPED ON OUR FTC BOT

THAT'S RIGHT MR. GRIMES, I'M PUTTING YOU OUT THERE

Re: surefire ways to break you robot
 

Forget to secure the battery so it falls out of its holder...and onto the main breaker.