Robots after the competition

[GillSt.Bernards]

So Team 2458 was trying to come up with ideas on what to do with the robot after all the competitions for the 2009 year and off season competitions. Unfortuanatly our school will not allow us to keep the robots unless we come up with a productive use for them so we are going to edit ours to become a tee shirt launcher. We decided that would be something fun to do during the off season and that would benefit the schools because they could use it during basketball games.

Any other ideas?

[Matt C]

Wow, the school I deal with expects all the robots to still work, but won't give us enough room to store them properly.

[GillSt.Bernards]

Lucky yeah ours is like if you find a good use for it and we can use it you can keep it other wise take it apart, keep the parts that you need and dispose of it

[kevin.li.rit]

A tshirt launcher is doable, but I always like to keep a couple robots around as is. They can be useful as a platform to teach programming or test out code. It is also useful for demos.

It also seems early to tear down a robot when there are off season events that occur into the fall.

[Collin Fultz]

Originally Posted by Coffeeism

It is also useful for demos.

Use this point to your school. Tell them you will use it at demos at schools without robotics programs to help start new teams as well as at potential sponsors to try to gain more monetary support.

[GillSt.Bernards]

Originally Posted by Collin Fultz

Use this point to your school. Tell them you will use it at demos at schools without robotics programs to help start new teams as well as at potential sponsors to try to gain more monetary support.

Yeah the school is not buying that. Our school is really strange and really does not see the point in this team even though it has done so much for the students who joined

[kevin.li.rit]

If you take apart your robot you cannot attend Monty Madness!

http://www.montymadness.org/

[Matt Howard]

As a temporary solution, see if you can park it at a students house for the time being. In the meantime, ask the school if they would provide space for a storage container. Seatainers can be had very cheaply, and if you ask the right companies they can even be had for free.

Just an idea.

[GillSt.Bernards]

Yeah I am going to ask if we can keep it at our head mentor's house. The street cleaning idea is pretty cool too.

[Jared Russell]

Our team acquired an old trailer for storage and transportation of our robots and tools. If your team has the resources, you can scour the area for good deals (maybe even a donation?) and get yourselves one. It is awesome because we can take it to nearby off season events and regionals and have half a shop's worth of spares and tools sitting in the parking lot.

(Just make sure the roof doesn't leak, as we found out at PARC last year!)

[Lil' Lavery]

If for whatever reason the school doesn't allow you to keep your robot, make sure you get to it before they throw it out. Be sure to rescue your electronics, and, in particular, the cRio. All signs point towards teams having to reuse the cRio each year, so it'll save you a considerable amount if you can salvage that.

[IKE]

If all else fails, ask the school for a compromise. Explain to them the virtues of having an extra running bot for demos, practice driving, and practice programming. Ask them if you can have a maximum of 2 on hand. Let the students (Past and Present) vote on which bots get to stick around. This will keep your alumni involved (at least until you trash their machine), and it will give you a working second bot to try stuff out on.

About 10 out of 14 Killerbee robots are still around. Most can be revived with a quick dusting, but some require a lot more. If Bungee and/or rubber bands are critical to it functioning, they seem to only have a lifespan of a couple years before that stuff needs replacing.

Billfred is right though that this seems like a symptom of a larger issue. Try to get involved at open houses and other stuff. Show the school the value of your team. Have each person write a personal letter to your Super-intendent and principle letting them know what this has meant to you. Most importantly, invite them to a competition or schedule a meeting and show them picutres. If they are not involved they won't get it. It is your job as a FRC member to get them involved enough to get their support.

[rjamesjr]

We made our robot for the 2007 game launch stress balls. We use it at basketball games and demonstrations. This year's robot is going to be modified so that it can shoot the balls and we will use it for demos also.

[GillSt.Bernards]

Unfortunatly our school is not much in a compromising mood and the fact that our faculty avdvisor will not be coming back next year we are kind of at a standstill. I have sent our head mentor an email but she is not going to be able to keep it at her house and she is checking with the company but it is not looking good. At the moment we do not have any faculy advosors for next year and no one to vouch for the robot or the students. I am going to try and get to it efore they throw it out and take the electronics off and see if we can get the go ahead to convert it to a tee shirt launcher, they kind of liked that idea. Thanks!

[GillSt.Bernards]

Yeah well if we do not have a design by the time the robot is going to come back then they are just going to throw it out themselves.

Any other ideas besides a tee shirt launcher that this robot could be made into