We had a perfectly functioning autonoumous mode in the quarterfinals at LA. Then, our programmer changes something and loads it in right at the last minute before our semifinal match. There was no time to test it. Our programmer has been known to forget to change do something to the code causing catastrophic results (like not initializing at all). Luckily, what he changed only made a turn a tiny bit sharper for a dead straight run up the ramp into the wall of stacks. Wheew.
One funny moment was in a practice round at AZ when our brilliant primary driver forgot to turn on the robot before the match. Once auton mode was over, he realized it wasn't working so he ran onto the field in the middle of the match and flipped it on. The refs and judges were shocked and yelling at him to get off the field and never do it again.
Another funny time was right before the first quarterfinal match in LA. We were doing testing over at the practice field. On the back of our robot we have a flip up panel to cover the spot where the battery goes. We broke our battery hold down in our last qualifying match but I guess our programmer was not aware of that. He hit the button to start autonomous and the robot accellerated but the battery did not. The cover flipped up and the battery flew out the back, unplugged itself, slid across the floor and the robot rolled for a few feet without it. A guy from our partner team 968 came over and said "Did I just see a battery fly out the back of your robot?" BTW, thanks for making us a new hold down.
Oh, and another one. When we were testing over at the practice field our programmer had his switches set for the wrong side of the field. He is sitting on the floor with his laptop by where the field barrier would be. He pulls the trigger to start the run and the thing opens it's arms and comes rushing toward him. 122 lbs moving at 10fps is something you don't want to be in the way of. He was sitting on the floor and simply could not get up fast enough. He took a good hit but it kept on pushing for about 10 whole seconds until someone could come hit the breaker.
Another one is when we were testing down at 294's shop. We had a school laptop sitting on the floor and the robot runs autonomous and turns too wide and is heading strait for the laptop. We are all yeliing "STOP! STOP!" Someone finally gets to the disable switch on our OI and the robot stops about 2mm away from the frame blasting through the laptop.
Some of these stories might not really be scary but I just had to share them.
