What are some of your rookie/silly mistakes?

[Anupam Goli]

Originally Posted by mman1506

Last year our scouting team didn't do anything because they didn't think we would make it to elims. So when we found out we were the alliance captain for seed #8 we panicked and all of our team members decided it would be a good idea to use the OPR calculations I had been running all day. So our rep walked up there with a laptop in hand (Karthik made a Blackberry Playbook joke) running calculations. We later found out we had chosen 2 defensive bots to join our defensive bot .

We didn't stand a chance

And this is why you always scout in person and don't use OPR. If anything, you can help another team decide their pick.

Rookie mistake on my old team's part: In 2010, we (1002) had our entire frame elevated 1 foot off the ground. Picture here. Well, R19 that year said that robots had to be designed to prevent balls from going more than 3 inches into the robot's frame perimeter... Inspectors weren't thrilled with that, and our fix caused us to get so many penalties it wasn't funny. Also, our driver made the mistake of ramming into a robot that was trying to hang that year.

[Chris is me]

In 2012, we were chasing technical problems for the entire CT Regional that would eventually be traced to a bad Digital Sidecar (ugh). On Saturday we hadn't moved in any of our matches, and we had a really critical last match with 177, fighting for the #1 seed. We had our problem fixed... but we didn't plug in the cluster of Andersons that wired our electronics board back into place. So we didn't move, 177 lost the match, and I thought we were done.

It turns out, we *did* get picked, but I think a lot of teams assumed we intentionally sandbagged Saturday to do it. We didn't, we were just stupid, I promise!

(Fun fact: If 177 seeded 1st, they would have most likely selected 118. 2168 would probably have picked 195 and then 2791, three robots without comm problems in the CT eliminations, possibly winning the regional. So leaving our Anderson connectors unplugged in that last qualifying match may have cost us a regional win.)

[JesseK]

Silliest mistake ever: thinking 1/4" ground clearance in a game called "Lunacy" is OK.

[HighlandersFRC]

Our biggest mistake(or blessing) was when our robot entirely tipped over at the Hub City tournament...but...the amazing part? Our drivers seemed to move the arm just right and the robot got right back up! here is the Youtube link http://youtu.be/EyCxActmHPs at 2:26 (#4499)...it was just amazing! The kids on my team were equally surprised...the judges asked them if they planned that in their design!