[TogetherSword8]

We had a great time being right next to you guys in the pits at Greater Pittsburgh!
One general rule we have is if we used a tool to build something on the robot, we bring it to competition. This is beyond our regular assortment of wrenches, hex sets, screwdrivers, etc., but no, we are not bringing band saws or drill presses, we make do with hack saws, hand drills, a lot of care and measuring more than once!
As everyone else says, cots items are immensely useful. For example, we had a set of fittings get knocked out on a piston this year, and we had a second identical piston we quickly replaced with so we had more time to fix the first piston properly.
Many people talk about checklists. We have a sheet of paper with check boxes next to each item that we put inside of a plastic sleeve, and we use dry erase markers to mark off each item as it is completed before a match.
We have our checklist and cots electronics list saved on our computers (I was in charge of those) and I think we have our tools list digitized somewhere as well. I will make sure to send them to you and post them here when I get to the school tomorrow. (and maybe others can point out some things we are missing too!)