Re: Mistakes
 

The most wonderful mistake of all:

We were in the eliminations this year (2008), and in the first round of the sem-finals, our robot just stopped moving.
I perosnally checked all electronics were ok, robot powered on, radio connected and everything, but the robot won't move.
So, I presumed that it was a radio connection problem, sinc USUALLY robots don't move when there is no radio connection.

So, I go on to check with the FMS guys, check what's up with thier systems, and they say it's all good. I tell them, "Our robot was OK!" and start arguing with him.

Later on, before the seconed round of the semi-final (oh, yeah, we lost the first round by 6 points) we got a timeout.
We used this time to check all robot systems.
I checked the power distribution, the gold thingy where power is given to the CIM victors (40 Amp) (I wasn't in the electrical team, but I'm familiar with how it works). I looked at the victors for a seconed before I touched some wires over there and I noticed the lights of the victor going on and off, and then soudnly it was solid orange, so everything was fine.

Seconed round starts, autonmous start.
A few seconeds of tention, and the robot soars to the first line. Me and the rest of the drivers cheer.

Teleop, 15 seconds to end.
Robot was working flawlessly with no problems, I was turning around the opposite side towards the opposing alliance's overhead to take out the ball they placed.
I stop the robot right underneath the ball so we can pop it out.

To my manipulator driver: "Ok, raise the arm!"
him: "I'm trying!!!"
announcer: "5,4,3,2,1 and times up!".

All the electrical wires going through the gold thingy got loose just as I stopped the robot, so all mechanisims (the arm and the drivetrain) didn't responed at all.
I only realised it wasn't the radio after the end of the day.

Moral:
Keep rolling (atleast in the game of Overdrive). :rolleyes:

Oh, yeah, we lost by 2 points. Soo....yeah....major bum.

Re: Mistakes
 

Test driving our robot and it hit a pillar and severely bent the forks in front. After this we added a new rule for our team: Don't let David Killoran drive the robot!!![

Re: Mistakes
 

Fail Faster, Learn More, Focus and Execute. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mottos on Team Rush.

As far as personal failings, I cannot TELL you the number of times I have flipped logic in the code. I usually end up exclaiming, "Just do what I want you to do, not what I tell you to do! " Needless to say, I cant stand how long it takes to download.

Mechanical failings, put me near any tool, I will fail with it, I promise.

Re: Mistakes
 

i forgot about ths in my first post but always were saftey glasses around tools even if your not using them!!



i was making the diamond plate triangal corner gussets for our forks and i had to sand each three edges down on each one i think i did like 40 of them I had asked one of our mentors dave to show me an easier way to do it (on our combo bench and circular sander) and he took the triangle and started showing me and the sander sucked it out of his hands and shot it through the gap between the metal bench and the sandpaper and flung it out the other end VERY FAST!! We dident relieze what had happened untill i saw it fall out of the air and onto the floor 30 feet away

it had come about two inches from my face and the back of daves head!!


the moral- always pay attention if anyone is working even if you are very far away!

Re: Mistakes
 

The black wire on the PWM cable goes closest to the fan on the victor, plugging it in backwards ONCE will destroy the unit.... It took our team 2 years of random dead victors before we read the manual and obtained this key bit of information.
It really didn't help that our troubleshooting method before we obtained the manual was to plug the wire in the other way to make sure it wasn't backwards.

Another problem we had was one when the serial cable plugged into the radio on the robot came loose. The end plugged into robot controller was still secure. Somehow, the positive lead from the battery was also loose (after the main breaker). Someone went to turn on the robot and we had smoke everywhere. The battery grounded through the RC via the serial cable ground casing, causing the wire to heat up and burn the insulation.
Fortunately, no permanent damage other than the serial cable.

Re: Mistakes
 

1. During the build season, the programming team uploaded new code, and when we turned our bot on, the motors were Default all forward. Ran over a mentor. Luckily noone was hurt. We learned that the wheels should be raised when testing a new change ^.^

2.We spent about 3-4 hours, for 3 straight days trying to figure out why our robot wouldn't move. Turns out we were using 2 reciever boxes instead of 1 transmit 1 recieve >.<

Re: Mistakes
 

Oh yeah, a mistake was definitely letting me operate our robot's arm/elevator...for some incredibly odd reason, the cover wasn't on the electronics board, and I moved the joystick for the arm, intending to move it out of the starting configuration...
Wrong joystick. I accidentally moved the elevator down, and rammed the fingers of our manipulator into the mess of wires. We untangle them, and I try again...and do the same thing :eek: (I'm the reason the joysticks are now labeled)

And another thing...lathes and hacksaws don't mix. One of our mentors was using a hacksaw to trim something down on the lathe, the blade caught on the metal, and got totally bent into what resembled a lightning bolt. The he decided to do it again, and the same thing happened...I'm not sure why, but we handed him a brand new blade after that, and he managed to not break it (I don't even know why we let him have a second shot at it).
Moral of story: Hand tools should NOT meet machinery.

Re: Mistakes
 

Same thing, except not minor in any way. 2.5" carbide insert facemill spinning at 6,000 RPM straight down into the top of my vise at 1,000 inches/min.

Re: Mistakes
 

oooohh, any pics?

Re: Mistakes
 

I was driving the robot at a demonstration, and the Victors were in coast to make the driving a little smoother (we had really bad driving code that year, with no speed scaling whatsoever). It was heading a little fast towards us, so the other driver hit the E-stop. Unfortunately, E-stop wasn't wired to switch the Victors to brake mode, and it almost hit our table.
Lesson: while E-stop prevents you from moving the robot, it also prevents you from stopping it.

Also, during a test of a Victor, I supplied power to the wrong side, and blew out one direction. (it was unfused, but it probably would still have happened with a 40A fuse). EVERYTHING should be labeled and color-coded (nail polish works well. A dab of white on the fan blade also helps tell if it's moving or not).

Re: Mistakes
 

We installed a sonic sensor on the front of the robot to detect objects and stop before a major collision.

I believe I may have been the person who suggested that we have a student holding a piece of cardboard stand in front of it to make sure it was working.

Re: Mistakes
 

Ever see a CNC machine try to tap 2 inches of threads into a 1.75 deep hole?

:ahh:

Re: Mistakes
 

449's mistakes

-Leaving a flashlight in the drivetrain (Trenton)
-Removing programming cable while downloading, and assuring programmers that the light turned green (Cheaspeake)
-leaving critical sensors unarmored (Chespeake)
-designing easy-to-break armor for sensors in question (Chesapeake)
-cutting steel on a chopsaw with a light metal blade (no one was hurt, but the blade makes a great clock)
-making a chat system connecting the pit and the stands (freshmen...)
-scuff up floors at school
-scuff up ceiling!

Re: Mistakes
 

we had a couple of small metal shavings fall into the victor, it didnt move very far when we put the robot on the field.
The programing team also forgot to put an absoute value into the mecanum programing, That robot only went left, and later we decided to name it lefty

Re: Mistakes
 

????!!!!!

Explaination?