[GeeTwo]

Ignoring the possible offense of the term used (and noting in passing that I have heard far more offensive terms that mean the same thing), here are a few examples of creative use of products:

There was a rookie robot at Bayou in 2014 (Aerial Assist) which was largely constructed of scrap metal, such as old road signs. The goalie riser was particularly shocking, but up close, all the rough edges were knocked down and it was a slick piece of work on an extreme budget.

The second iteration of our boulder pickup this year used a Home Depot "Homer Bucket" cut off to about 12" tall and "dissected like a frog" to both help bring the boulder to the centerline of the robot and ensure a clean pour into the launcher. Iterations 3, 4, and 5 have returned to all aluminum and/or polycarb construction, but none have centered the ball as cleanly as #2.

Our 2013 Ultimate Ascent climbing slide was rather curious. A CIM was mounted in a piece of angle which was mounted to a T-hinge, and drove a timing belt sheave directly. The other end of the timing belt drove a "lead screw" composed of threaded rod and a coupling nut. The gh interesting bit was how the belt was tensioned by a turnbuckle hooked into the last hole on the t-hinge. The carriage that this lead screw drove rode on flanged bearings against an inverted rail of aluminum angle. It looked like junk, but it was one of the few mechanical systems of our 2013 robot that did not fail at Bayou.