Never Do This, and Other Good Ideas Gone Bad

[Dillon Carey]

2007: always use active accumulation devices (rollers)

Our first arm in 2007 used a claw to grab the tubes. It didn't grip very tight and required much more attention from the drivers.

2008: make sure you can replace any part of the robot in the length of a timeout

We lost Wisconsin that year due to a motor burning out and not having a spare assembly ready to replace it.

2010: always use capture rings on CIM shafts. This way, even if the set screw holding your key in comes out, the key can't come out

At Kansas we lost in the eliminations due to overheated CIM's. They overheated because a key came out of one, causing the other CIM on the same side to overheat.

2010: do not put a bearing on a hard anodized shaft.

At Midwest we lost due to our chain falling off. Don't cantilever a swerve module off of a hard anodized aluminum/needle bearing combo.

(This doesn't mean we will never try these types of systems again. These are just examples of poor implementation.)