Storage Hunter Finds a FRC Robot

[Molten]

Originally Posted by avanboekel

1) Why would someone spend money on trying to fix something that they obviously have no clue how to fix?

I suspect you could ask this of many people's hobbies. How many people have tried to fix a car in their garage? Lots of times it turns into a 20 year project with little or no progress.

Jason

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by StashZabriski

Of course there's also the NI logos on a few of the pieces on the bot. That's something you REALLY have to look for, but they're there. I can't get a good screen capture of them though :-(

~Stash~

look at this (Cropped from 2nd picture posted, arrow added)




if you look behind the digital sidecar, there is a freescale "roc the bot" sticker... those were a cRIO era thing, as the cRIO had a freescale (power PC) cpu, while the IFI used a microchip cpu.

I even remember getting the anti static bag with the stickers at the championships in 2010. the one just like int he picture is still on my old netbook ammo box case:




I don't know if they had this sticker in 2009 or 2011 but I know this one is a 2010.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by lemiant

Has anybody emailed them and asked about this?

These shows are filled and then processed so long in advanced. There are no leaves on the trees so you are looking at March/April.

[artdutra04]

What? A "reality" show that features enhanced drama courtesy of staged plot elements?

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!

[Garrett.d.w]

I'm very surprised that they claimed that it was from MIT, especially with all of the FIRST logos everywhere (look at the digital sidecar, and I'm sure that the cRIO modules and/ or the IFI radios have FIRST logos on them).

[Molten]

Originally Posted by Garrett.d.w

I'm very surprised that they claimed that it was from MIT, especially with all of the FIRST logos everywhere (look at the digital sidecar, and I'm sure that the cRIO modules and/ or the IFI radios have FIRST logos on them).

FIRST...I think I've heard of them before. Don't they have something to do with NASA? They must have been a major sponsor for the group at MIT.

Seriously though, I would bet this is the sort of thing that passed through their minds if any. If you don't know what FIRST is, it would simply look like another sponsor. Afterall, isn't that what it means when you put a logo on something most of the time? Try to consider it from the viewpoint of someone who has never heard of FIRST and you'd probably come to a similar conclusion.

Jason

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by Garrett.d.w

I'm very surprised that they claimed that it was from MIT, especially with all of the FIRST logos everywhere (look at the digital sidecar, and I'm sure that the cRIO modules and/ or the IFI radios have FIRST logos on them).

Garret,
MIT students mentored at least one high school team in the Boston area. They built in one of the basement labs as I remember. One of my former students and boy scouts was a mentor while there.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Garret,
MIT students mentored at least one high school team in the Boston area. They built in one of the basement labs as I remember. One of my former students and boy scouts was a mentor while there.

The MIT team I recall from Boston 2010 is 97.

[Brandon Holley]

I'm kind of surprised so many of you are jumping to the conclusion that there is no way a team could've put a robot together to look like that. With our team located in the heart of Boston, we work with almost every team in the area in some fashion. There are many teams where I could see something like this being assembled.

Quite a few teams in the area are severely under-resourced when it comes to engineering support and FIRST experience.

If someone was using their 2007 bot, or practice bot and wanted to try some new code with the new control system it could easily explain why both systems are there.

I've seen quite a few bored students from time to time, and weaving pneumatic tubing through the frame seems like an extremely plausible thing for them to do.


I dunno, just seems like theres nothing so outrageous there that a team couldn't have done it.

-Brando

[Steve W]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Narrowing it down a little more, the people are all wearing coats, so it must be from someplace cold.

Or it could be 65 F in Florida

[Garrett.d.w]

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley

I dunno, just seems like theres nothing so outrageous there that a team couldn't have done it.

-Brando

You do have a point. However, with all of the resources available to FIRST students, I would expect that at least some systems would be assembled semi correctly. You also mentioned boredom, it could be that this was built as a joke.

I guess its just too fun to speculate.

[Taylor]

I recall an individual with ties to MIT with more than a passing interest in FRC, who also enjoys puzzles and teasers.

Another thought: Has anybody found "IHTFP" on the robot or in the shed? We may be the recipients of a very obscure hack.

[BrendanRadabaug]

so after watching the episode and other than the worst acting i have ever seen. the robot is so very fake. the wheels are just shoved on, (its 4 wheeled) and one of the back tredded wheels has the sprocket on the outside while the wheel on the front does not even have a sprocket. stupid show why did i look it up. rage quit. i laugh at the guy who bought the unit for $1900

[Cuog]

Originally Posted by BrendanRadabaug

i laugh at the guy who bought the unit for $1900

I don't. Have you looked at the prices of all the components "faked" onto that bot? They're not cheap. And if there was more than just that bot there's plenty of room for money making if they can move the products.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Cuog

I don't. Have you looked at the prices of all the components "faked" onto that bot? They're not cheap. And if there was more than just that bot there's plenty of room for money making if they can move the products.

Ditto.

I once tried to figure out the materials+labor cost of an FRC robot. It's not cheap--and that was with the IFI control system! Materials about $5K (control system, metal, that sort of thing), labor, well, assume every student gets minimum wage and puts in 20 hours per week for 6 weeks, then figure the mentors as whatever someone in their field can get and putting in about the same hours as the students. I'll let you do the math...

Then, you throw in the battlebot, which looked pretty nice, and the third robot, which looked in the glimpses I got to be something like an FRC practice robot.