pic: Sir, your robot is illegal

[Jon Stratis]

Seeing this picture just makes me wish I had a picture from North Star, when I got to tell Al his team's Bill of Materials didn't pass inspection

[Ed Sparks]

I'm not in the picture because I was laughing so hard that I fell down ......

Funny thing is that I lead the LRI training for pneumatics and pointed this sort of thing out to all the regional LRI's. Unfortunately Andy also was an instructor for another subject and didn't get to hear my training.

[Bertman]

It could have been worse. Not sure how, but I think you needed a few more LRIs in the huddle. It does show that the rules are the rules are the rules...... and sooner or later we run into somebody that knows the ones we missed (or maybe they have something against purple ;-).

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Bertman

It could have been worse. Not sure how, but I think you needed a few more LRIs in the huddle. It does show that the rules are the rules are the rules...... and sooner or later we run into somebody that knows the ones we missed.

Yes, that true... but they were PURPLE, Bertucci! Purple!



Jane

[Michael Hill]

If this is for real, it's moments like these that makes me *facepalm* at FIRST. Rules like disallowing the painting of pneumatics really detracts from the overall goal of FIRST. This isn't the way to inspire students to become engineers/scientists/etc. Way to drop the ball again, FIRST.

[DampRobot]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

If this is for real, it's moments like these that makes me *facepalm* at FIRST. Rules like disallowing the painting of pneumatics really detracts from the overall goal of FIRST. This isn't the way to inspire students to become engineers/scientists/etc. Way to drop the ball again, FIRST.

While it's true that some rules (especially pneumatic rules) are what many of us would conciser overly strict and overly strictly enforced, they are there for a reason. Perhaps the inspector could have been more lenient in this instance, but the rule was almost certainly well thought out and enforced with the best intentions.

The specific rule that painting the tanks violated, I believe, was R-70, which prohibits modifying pneumatic components. While painting them might be considered a "labeling," one could certainly read the rules such that painting the tanks would be illegal. Imagine if FIRST hadn't put in place the rule. Some team would thin the tank walls down to save weight, only to have the tanks explode when the system was pressurized. Modifications, especially to pneumatic components, have the potential to be very unsafe.

No, this rule does not inspire future engineers. It simply was put in place and enforced to keep them safe.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

If this is for real, it's moments like these that makes me *facepalm* at FIRST. Rules like disallowing the painting of pneumatics really detracts from the overall goal of FIRST. This isn't the way to inspire students to become engineers/scientists/etc. Way to drop the ball again, FIRST.

No it is to ensure we have future engineers that weren't injured by exploding pneumatics. As someone pointed out in the case of plastic tanks the solvents in the paint certainly have the potential to weaken the plastic. In the case of metal tanks paint could cover the fact that the tanks have been modified and people in the normal paint prep procedure often sand items first which of course would weaken them even if only slightly.

[Tom Line]

There were several teams at Michigan district events that were told they were illegal for having stickers on their air tanks.

In one my more childish moments, I grabbed our triple-balance Lochness Monster sticker and slapped it right on our air tank, then went to each inspection just waiting for someone to say something.

We passed all of them, including champs. I definitely know a bit of what you were feeling in that picture.

[Garrett.d.w]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

If this is for real, it's moments like these that makes me *facepalm* at FIRST. Rules like disallowing the painting of pneumatics really detracts from the overall goal of FIRST. This isn't the way to inspire students to become engineers/scientists/etc. Way to drop the ball again, FIRST.

While it is true that some rules on the surface will make you want to facepalm, there is always a lesson to be learned from these rules. FIRST places constraints on what we may do to keep us safe and make the games challenging. Working to find solutions while keeping the rules in mind is how we students learn. It forces us to be more creative, to take a route other than the obvious one. This, in my opinion, is one of the many goals of FIRST.

I look back at my own blunders with rules like this one and see the impact that they have made on me. I have noticed that they make me consider all of the angles to a problem. Because of these rules I am a better problem solver.

I see these "facepalm" restrictions as an inspiration to work in a STEM field. People are given restrictions that fall under this category every day with little to no reason as to why these restrictions are put in place. This simulates the curveballs that people are thrown on the job. Working around these rules is fullfilling, especially when you have a creative solution. Sometimes it's just fun to hit a curveball, this is why I am inspired by these rules.


Thank you FIRST for throwing the odd curveball.

Thanks for reading,
Opinionated student

To OP,

We all have these moments.

Our robot fell over

Please excuse the blur, I found out that gravity was hungry for more than just robots

[RayTurner1126]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

If this is for real, it's moments like these that makes me *facepalm* at FIRST. Rules like disallowing the painting of pneumatics really detracts from the overall goal of FIRST. This isn't the way to inspire students to become engineers/scientists/etc. Way to drop the ball again, FIRST.

well, to give a real world example, a teacher of mine told me that as a chemical engineer for 3M, they had a problem where the chemical they used to turn the sponges yellow was making them fall apart. so, they thought, why not just change the color, problem solved, right? nope, no one would buy different color sponges, therefore they had to find a new way around the problem. just saying, the "rules" in real life can be worthy of a *facepalm* too. so maybe these rules are helping us in some way by showing us that there are always going to be restrictions...some of them seemingly stupid.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

Seeing this picture just makes me wish I had a picture from North Star, when I got to tell Al his team's Bill of Materials didn't pass inspection

That's a story that is going to be told around the campfire for many years.

[Thad House]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

That's a story that is going to be told around the campfire for many years.

What exactly happened with this?

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Well,
It turned out that we had made a bunch of changes and had added the new stuff but never removed the old stuff. I think there was also some additions that we were thinking about adding but never did. Our mechanical lead had to go through the list and check everything against what was actually on the robot. I couldn't go near the pit for a while so I wouldn't laugh.

[Jon Stratis]

I especially likes the several hundred dollar pneumatic cylinder from the BoM that never made it past the drawing board. It was good for a laugh for all of us there!

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

I especially likes the several hundred dollar pneumatic cylinder from the BoM that never made it past the drawing board. It was good for a laugh for all of us there!

That one we never did have enough weight to put on. The one that we did add never was used.