[Venkatesh]

1. Is it really BETTER to have them mounted on a non insulating surface?

This year, we constructed our electronics "deck" to be removable from the robot, so a board made sense. If you are careful with your wiring, you don't need a board at all. It has made things easier for us, though.

2. Is it better to have them mounted on a board that is easily deattachable from the robot?

In the hectic scene of the pits, will you have time to remove a deck, check wiring, check code, recheck wiring, and recheck wiring again, and then reinstall the board? Remember the number of devices that much be connected. We tried using terminal blocks to keep all the wire that interfaced the board with the 'bot separate, but our board ended up affixed.

3. Is using velcro to mount each individual component a good idea?

Honestly, I wouldn't trust velcro for components so critical. However, if you are able to construct stable mounts with velcro, and happen to have spare components, go for it. Velcro knots and meshes might be strong enough.

4. How easily accessible should they be?

Anything that can go wrong will. Robots that should move won't. Robots that shouldn't, will. Speed controllers will explode, resembling small atomic bombs (really), relays will jam, etc. Accessible components are a good idea.

5. Is it a bad idea to need to flip the robot over to take out the battery?

Can you (1 person) change a battery in an emergency in under 2 minutes? If so, good. Personally, I like to have the battery as accessible as possible, especially if a robot frame is aluminium. In the off chance of a short, you can do something. However careful wiring can eliminate that problem.

6. Has there been any accidents that you know of where any part excluding the motors and fuses had to be replaced completely due to any reason other than physical disturbances?

We have had speed controllers (victor 883s) which appeared to work, but the electrolyte in the capacitor had dried up, and they didn't actually power the motors. We have never had problems with relays, spike red or blue. In fact, we have never even blown a fuse on the relays. Our main problems have been more physically oriented (physical damage, etc).

7. how what gets HOT? the motors..... the victors? well they already have fans on them...

The victors get hot, but not very hot. I believe that the Victors act like the Tekin Rebels, generating the greatest heat at low speeds. I'll have to check that sometime. Motors (especially the drill) get very hot after significant run times. Last year, we had a drill motor reach a temperature where they were far too hot to touch, and that was after roughly 10 minutes of running. I personally like to cool them, but I don't see too many robots that do so.