What hath we wrought? 2016 Horror Stories

[adciv]

After & During the 2016 season I've come across a number of horror stories of all sorts from the fields.

Teams learned how good their wiring was and how tough a field could be on robots.
FIRST learned a bit about the monsters they've brought forth by the damage to the fields.

I've heard of batteries winding up feet away from robots after a crossing. I've been at an event where a robot left the field (and the e-stop button failed).

What have you seen this past season?

[Bryce Clegg]

I know that all the competitions I went to in North Carolina they put all the small parts from the robots that came apart in a table off the field. Also, I witnessed a robot smoking after the match ended and the robot tried to stay up for the scale.

For our team, we didn't protect our mini-cims and the end where the wires come out of popped off. I believe this happened because of the step to keep the robots on for the capture. We ended up putting tape on it to keep it together, and it still worked.

Many a time I saw the zipties pop off and lexan decorations forcefully removed from the sally port by too-wide robots.

[Hallry]

I'm still impressed with the way this output shaft sheared at MAR Champs.

[Andrew_L]

Originally Posted by Hallry

I'm still impressed with the way this output shaft sheared at MAR Champs.

Is that 1/2" hex to 3/8" hex on the same shaft? Based on the shear it looks like the step up to a larger size may have helped make the near perfect shear point.

[bkahl]

Originally Posted by Andrew_L

Is that 1/2" hex to 3/8" hex on the same shaft? Based on the shear it looks like the step up to a larger size may have helped make the near perfect shear point.

Looks like the 5/8" step down to the 1/2" hex on the WCP Dog Shifter output shaft.

Regardless, this Step down is the exact spot to expect a failure on the part.

[Andrew_L]

Originally Posted by bkahl

Looks like the 5/8" step down to the 1/2" hex on the WCP Dog Shifter output shaft.

Regardless, this Step down is the exact spot to expect a failure on the part.

Gotcha - didn't see the slot at first.

[billbo911]

Among all the carnage this years game produced, there were a couple things that made me smile, and a couple that made me cringe!
Who will ever forget the "Pole Wars"?


I witnessed a Defence attack a volunteer. I saw it roll up and smash her fingers right in front of me before I even had time to react. (Sorry, no pictures for that one. This is not the place for that.)

Auto was fascinating this year! While some teams were "grinding" out two ball Auto, others took a slightly more aggressive approach! More power, all the time! I saw more Driver's Stations on the ground this year than ever before!
I even saw one team that missed the memo that "Robots are NOT Points!"





This is where they ended up during Auto, and this is where they stayed all match.

This year's game was brutal for both Robots and the field it's self.
If you had a design flaw, this game would find it and show it to you, RIGHT IN YOUR FACE!!

[Dan Petrovic]

Anyone who ran or helped run a competition understands the struggle of dealing with the defenses. Stronghold was cool, but it was a big logistical challenge.

As for failures, we've broken four 17t gears from the AndyMark Sonic Shifters (2 during the regular season). We have one more competition this year and hopefully we don't need any more because they appear to have been discontinued.

We also sheared a 1/2" steel drive shaft very early on in the season.

I hope we can go back to 4" or 6" wheels (aka a wheel size that were used to determine gear ratios for COTS transmissions) so that we don't keep breaking parts with unsuspected loads.

[Connor McBride]

Originally Posted by Dan Petrovic

Anyone who ran or helped run a competition understands the struggle of dealing with the defenses. Stronghold was cool, but it was a big logistical challenge.

As for failures, we've broken four 17t gears from the AndyMark Sonic Shifters (2 during the regular season). We have one more competition this year and hopefully we don't need any more because they appear to have been discontinued.

We also sheared a 1/2" steel drive shaft very early on in the season.

I hope we can go back to 4" or 6" wheels (aka a wheel size that were used to determine gear ratios for COTS transmissions) so that we don't keep breaking parts with unsuspected loads.

To add to this, we also cracked our beaver tail intake. It was so sad watching the robot drive as the intake flopped around.

[TheBoulderite]

One of my favorite ironies occurred at IRI this year when TechFire's motor started smoking on the field.

[ctt956]

'Nuff said.

Originally Posted by TheBoulderite

One of my favorite ironies occurred at IRI this year when TechFire's motor started smoking on the field.

IIRC 2640(HOTBOTZ) had a drivetrain motor burn out during a match. Their robot was pretty good, and they fixed it quickly, but one whole side stopped working properly at DCMP. Still an amazing performance with a broken drivetrain.

[TechWaffle]

Originally Posted by TheBoulderite

One of my favorite ironies occurred at IRI this year when TechFire's motor started smoking on the field.

Yeah, that was very ironic.

[OccamzRazor]

Originally Posted by Bryce Clegg

I know that all the competitions I went to in North Carolina they put all the small parts from the robots that came apart in a table off the field. Also, I witnessed a robot smoking after the match ended and the robot tried to stay up for the scale.

For our team, we didn't protect our mini-cims and the end where the wires come out of popped off. I believe this happened because of the step to keep the robots on for the capture. We ended up putting tape on it to keep it together, and it still worked.

Many a time I saw the zipties pop off and lexan decorations forcefully removed from the sally port by too-wide robots.

Yeah I think you witnessed us smoking after the match. Asheville was not kind to us. Our climber gearbox decided it was done after about 60 climbs so we used our backup from then until Champs. Still managed not to hit the carpet and foil the capture!

[Bryce Clegg]

Originally Posted by OccamzRazor

Yeah I think you witnessed us smoking after the match. Asheville was not kind to us. Our climber gearbox decided it was done after about 60 climbs so we used our backup from then until Champs. Still managed not to hit the carpet and foil the capture!

It probably was you guys, it seemed like your robot successfully scaled almost every single match. Your robot was an amazing one to watch and compete against. I remember that at Asheville we were playing defense against you, and your robot hit the ground very hard, at the point where most robots would break. Then, you guys fixed the robot and won the next match.

[bobbysq]

I call this match "New Drivers Vs. Intake Rivets"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly654puHgZc

This is a good lesson about planned failure points though. If we had used steel rivets instead of aluminum rivets to hold the tubes making up our intake together, the intake would have broken further along, and in a far harder to repair place.