[BrendanB]

This was one of our worst years for battling weight but really every year we have had a weight problem.

2011 we were rookies so that doesn't count but we grossly overbuilt a multi level superstructure all out of 1/8in box tubing. Like Chris said, this is where most teams waste weight because they make them too complex or they avoid combining elements together to eliminate parts.

2012 we were 130lbs after our scrimmage event. To get under we removed the covers on the AM supershifters and replaced them with aluminum standoffs and 1/32in lexan. We moved to an off-board compressor and put some holes in our wooden shooter sides which got us down. We remained at 120 and I wish we had used more 1/16in tubing in our frame so we could have added a stinger. We passed inspection by cutting off a small zip tie to get stop the scale from twitching between 120lbs. and 120.1lbs.

2013 our first robot was about 2lbs over. After our redesign we were about 106lbs.

2014 we had a completely designed robot in CAD that said we would be 30lbs under without wiring and lexan shields but wound up being about 7lbs over. As it turns out several of the steel components like a few axles and the spring had no weights entered nor did most of the electronics and smaller gearboxes. We cheese holed our intakes and several other parts and removed nearly a pound of useless PVC spacers on our intakes. We also used thinner lexan for all paneling which helped a lot. Never using 1/8in lexan for covers unless we have a lot of weight to spare because you can't get thin lexan smoked. We also swapped some of the 1/8in cross beams for 1/16in tubing.

In the future we will look into using more thinner box tubing elements in our design. Like Kevin said, playing in New England is very brutal but you look at teams like 118, 971, 233, 254, etc who put so many mechanisms and parts on their robot and are either underweight or just at it. Definitely hoping to find that balance.

Something else is to lighten parts as you go. Its easier to throw a few holes in a part you are making before you assemble the robot and find out hours before bagging you need to shave down. Obviously not all parts should be lighted for the heck of it, but there were several parts on our robots over the years that didn't need the thickness/surface area from the beginning.

Properly planning for electronics and wiring is crucial. Many teams pull the "throw everything on the scale" but fail to remember all the wiring/pnuematics they aren't taking into account. Having a 5lb-10lb buffer is good to design around. It gives you some wiggle room to iterate throughout the season like adding a blocker, stinger, minibot ramp, 20in extension (2013 FCS), etc.