Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkoRamius1086
Keep all the electronics organized and compact.
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Minor counterpoint: Organized,
then compact. I've been on teams that have done "and", and "then" works out much, much better when you're trying to fix it.
In the absence of a lot of time or resources back in my 1618 days, I had to pull a few tricks of my own. Among my favored tricks:
2007-2008
Plotter-printed graphics. Laminating them worked decently in 2007 (and may be all you need in years where there's no reaching outside the frame). In 2008, for fear of pokey robots (or bumbling students), we spray-adhesived them to lexan for more protection. I printed 1618's at USC, whose computer labs charged me $2 a square foot. (I often printed extra rectangles with just our number, just in case.)
Before/After:
2009
For 2009, we went with an all-black look--and about hit it. In spite of many last-minute scrambles right before ship, we were largely successful with a few other tricks:
Spray paint. The only part of the robot we were able to spray paint were the side and rear plywood panels around the lower part (and even then, only on one side). A few coats gave it a nice look from the stands.
Gaffer's tape. With the aluminum superstructure of the robot in the crate unpainted, and FIRST rules prohibiting any more painting in the pits, we had to figure out a new way of blacking out the rest of the robot. I was working a fair amount with a cameraman for a local TV station at the time, and he suggested a source for a roll of gaffer's tape. One roll did the entire robot with some to spare, and only ran about $20 after tax. (You might be able to find it cheaper elsewhere.)
Cut vinyl stickers. The last part of the puzzle was getting our schools and sponsors on the robot. Using the company that pinstripes our cars at work, I sent them the sponsors' vector art and had three sets cut for each. Applied properly (place them, tape down one side, flip down, peel off the backing, carefully roll it back up, carefully peel back the top piece), they look great and held up fine even on our painted plywood. Getting all three sets cut (including the differently-colored One Six One Eight) was about $75.
Another before/after:
