Thread: Robot gone wild
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Unread 31-03-2003, 17:45
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Gui Cavalcanti Gui Cavalcanti is offline
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Join Date: May 2001
Rookie Year: 2001
Location: Needham, MA
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Robot gone wild
Alright, so we're competing in Philadelphia on Friday, and I notice as the driver that the robot can no longer turn the left wheel forward (we have two-wheel drive). The funny thing is, reverse works fine. Since we're in the middle of a qualification match, however, I don't think about it,but I do what I can and get to the top of the ramp in reverse.

Once I get there and let go of the sticks, the left drive starts to jerk. I wonder if the joystick calibration is off, and compensate by moving the stick forward, holding on till the last second. The buzzer sounds, and I unhook our controller. That's when it happens.

Suddenly, our machine is no longer on the top of the ramp. At first I thought it had merely slid off because I had not positioned it correctly, but the still-going video of the match showed that the robot was actually moving under it's own power . Remember, the competition controls were not only disabled, but physically disconnected from power.

Referees fled from the field as the 422 machine started spinning randomly. Our operator station crew, including me, was obviously flipping out. The robot's left drive was powering forward at our maximum possible speed, knocking bins out of the red scoring zone right and left. My crew and I ran over to the red side of the field.

Needless to say, the FIRST crew was very nervous, and the announcer was freaking out. Our robot is incredibly menacing when it's spinning; when it's arm is down, it has two horns at it's top denoting where our grippers used to be. Luckily, a quick-acting referee grabbed the robot's side and lifted the wheel off the ground, and one of our teammates hit the power switch.

Apparently, a bin had hit the left drive's Victor 884, and had shattered two of the transistors inside. We took it apart later, and it looked like pieces of the broken transistors were shorting out the rest. Carnage! Anyway, we had replacement Victors on the robot (we had removed a couple of systems that day, sadly) so all was well thereafter.

Anyone else have a robot gone wild story?
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Gui Cavalcanti

All-Purpose College Mentor with a Mechanical Specialty

Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Class of 2008