We have seen both ends of the spectrum over the years. For several years running, we were consistently underweight. We even went so far as to purchase a 27-pound block of lead from Small Parts (back when they were one of the only legal parts resources) that we used as ballast for the robot (suitably coated and protected, of course). Then there was our experience three years ago. Despite several warnings from the integration team, the individual subteams refused to stick to their weight budgets when building their sections of the robot. As things came together, the total weight became a bleaker and bleaker picture. Finally, two days before the shipping deadline, we weighed in at a massive 42 pounds overweight. Everyone finally got the message - time for a diet! At times like that, the only viable solutions tend to be rather drastic ones. So we took a quick run to Home Depot and picked up one of these:
It is amazing how much weight you can remove when you are really motivated (and it is interesting to have the entire team go through the "features that are 'highly desireable' vs those that are 'absolutely needed' exercize).
-dave
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