[Al Skierkiewicz]

I would like to remind everyone of the rough game that were are playing this year. If you are playing in your first event this weekend or next, do not be surprised if your robot inspector points to items he would like to see fastened to your robot. In particular, the bumpers and the battery. Batteries are receiving as much external damage from hitting items inside the frame as they would from a drop. Bumpers are hit so hard that many mounting systems are failing. Remember that under G20, a robot can be disabled should the bumpers fail during the match. I have had several teams tell me that their bumpers failed in spite of their using the "lift test" described elsewhere.
I also want to remind teams that any changes, no matter how small, you make to your robot must be reinspected. If you add something or take something off, we need to know what the new weight is and we need to inspect the change to be sure structural integrity is good and no other items have been compromised. This reweigh helps get you through final inspection quicker and helps us get through all the teams prior to alliance selection. This is a very serious issue, without the reinspection, you are playing with a un-inspected robot. Many teams are taking off shooters and adding ballast to become a better defensive robot. These changes are often done in haste and therefore without regard to the effect it might have on other robot functions. Let your inspection team be your eyes and ears as they can look at your robot with a little clearer vision and help you get the design you are trying to achieve. We really want you to win. We feel we are part of your team.
There have been two very clear issues with teams this past week. One is the mounting of the plastic tanks on arms and moving appendages of the robot. Not only is this a poor choice for air flow (the tubing length is excessive), it exposes the tanks to hits from other robots. Excessive current causing power to brownout on the robot. This can bring about temporary loss of the radio, full reboot of the radio and/or cRio, fault conditions on Jaguars and shutdown of digital I/O and DSC. Be sure all primary wiring (battery, main breaker and PD input) is tight, both crimp and screw terminals and the hardware. This is a real issue for teams running inefficient drive systems.
Good Luck Everyone.