"The Little Things" - Helpful hints for all

[Samwaldo]

Originally Posted by BJC

-Put your bumpers as low as reasonable.

Why?

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by Samwaldo

Why?

You're more likely to win pushing matches if you have lower bumpers than your opponents. Part of their weight will shift on to your robot and you will gain traction and they will lose it. It also helps to have stiff bumpers that don't move up and down at all.

Lower bumpers also normally make it harder for your robot to tip over since your at less of an angle when your bumpers hit the ground.

[bvisness]

Focus on a strong feature of your robot and just try to make it consistent.

You're more likely to get chosen in alliance selections if you have even one feature that makes your robot stand out. Our team's success this year was largely because we had a very consistent 5-disc autonomous. A team we work closely with generally seeded higher than us last year, but didn't have one particular feature they could "sell" to other teams.

[KrazyCarl92]

Originally Posted by Samwaldo

Why?

While I can't speak for Bryan, I can say that the reason our team would like to do this is that lower bumpers are advantageous for CoG reasons, pushing match reasons, and avoiding tipping.

The lower CoG is quite obvious. However, less obvious are the pushing match advantages. During a pushing match, normal force is quite often transferred between the robots. Consider 2 robots with equal weight and traction capabilities, both at 145 lbs with bumpers and battery but different bumper heights. When they engage in a pushing match, it is possible that the one with higher bumpers may transfer some of its weight to the robot with lower bumpers. Now you may have the high bumper robot with 130 lbs of normal force available to "turn into" tractive force, while the low bumper robot might have 160 lbs of normal force to "turn into" tractive force. This means the robot with lower bumpers could have more pushing force due to the increased normal force on its wheels. The ground still supports the total weight of both robots, but not necessarily equally at all points. In addition the robot with higher bumpers may tend to get up-ended in this situation.

It can also help in avoiding tipping. If the bumpers are lower, they will "catch" the robot as it tips more quickly than if they are higher up. I have also seen robots tip such that their support polygon is the frame and the bumpers, which is way less probable with lower bumpers.

[vhcook]

Swarf is the devil. Protect your electronics.

Tug-test all crimps.

Program manual overrides for your fancy code so that when a sensor fails or the mechanism ends up in an unexpected state, the drivers have a way to recover or work around the problem.

Remember your robot is going to have to go through doors in the bag. Plan bumper transportation accordingly.

[DampRobot]

I'm sure I can think of more, but a post in the thread reminds me of a major misconception most new teams have.

Playing good defense is not about ramming or pushing your opponent. It's about preventing them from accomplishing what they want to do for as long as possible.

Avoiding defense well is not about out-pushing the defending robot. It is about evading them ask quickly as possible and continuing on to scoring.

[cadandcookies]

- Talk to people. Talk to people from other teams, talk to people on your team, know what is going on at the event, know what is going on in your own shop. Building connections with other teams can be the difference between playing on Saturday and not. Building connections within your team is the difference between existing and not. People like to work with people they know.

- Welds are light. Rivets are light. Nuts and bolts are heavy. Consider which you prefer on your robot.

- For mechanical: Programmers are your friends.

- For programmers: mechanical are your friends.

[kuraikou]

Make electronics very easy to access because you never know when you need to change or replace something.

Evaluate your needs each year. Don't expect to be able to use a similar setup to a previous year just because it worked then.

[saikiranra]

- Label everything you take to competitions. A pen, a few pieces of paper, and some tape can really help. You can easily check which box has what you need and can make other notes on the labels.

- Always take raw material to competitions. You never know what can break. At IRI, our shooter support welds cracked and we had nothing to fix them. Thankfully, 67 had some 1/8th inch thick sheet metal and was awesome enough to let us have some. Even after Battle at the Border, the shooter is still going strong.

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by Nate Laverdure

This is in reference to <R65> in the 2013 manual. Standard practice for many teams, including mine, is to apply hot glue to PWM connections. Was this disallowed at any events this year?

I would have have failed you at inspection when I used to inspect regularly.
See full text of the rule below for everyone elses reference.

Originally Posted by Nate Laverdure

R65 The Driver Station software, cRIO, motor controllers, relay modules, wireless bridge, and batteries shall not be tampered with, modified, or adjusted in any way (tampering includes drilling, cutting, machining, gluing, rewiring, disassembling, etc.), with the following exceptions:


Please note that the Driver Station application is a separate application from the Dashboard. The Driver Station software may not be modified, while teams are expected to customize their Dashboard code.




A.User programmable code in the cRIO may be customized.
B.Dip switches on the cRIO may be set (applies to cRIO-FRC only).
C.Motor controllers may be calibrated as described in owner's manuals.
D.Fans may be attached to motor controllers and may be powered from the power input terminals.
E.If powering the compressor, the fuse on a Spike H-Bridge Relay may be replaced with a 20A Snap-Action circuit breaker.
F.Wires, cables, and signal lines may be connected via the standard connection points provided on the devices.
G.Fasteners may be used to attach the device to the OPERATOR CONSOLE or ROBOT.
H.Labeling may be applied to indicate device purpose, connectivity, functional performance, etc.
I.Brake/Coast jumpers on motor controllers may be changed from their default location.
J.Limit switch jumpers may be removed from a Jaguar motor controller and a custom limit switch circuit may be substituted.
K.If CAN-bus functionality is used, the Jaguar firmware must be updated as required by FIRST (see Rule R68-D).
L.The First Touch I/O module’s firmware may be modified.

[yash101]

As mentioned above, make your electronics easily accessible and strategically place them. At the Las Vegas competition last year, our robot was small and lightweight. Our electronics were so scrunched up, it was hard for more than one person to work on it. Also, the shooter motors were in the way to make some arrangements. Also, place electronic components strategically to ease confusion. Place the motor controllers near the motors themselves, or at least in the direction of the motor. If you are arranging your motor controllers in a square, have the front left drive motor in the front left, etcetera. Also, think about overheating. We didn't have a problem with this because we had an overall good electronics arrangement, if too many electronics are in a too small, enclosed space, they will overheat. Also, if you are using a coprocessor, like a Raspberry Pi or an oDroid, place it so you can cool it very effectively. That way, you will be able to overclock it more without worrying about heat damage.

Also, VERY IMPORTANT:
DO NOT CUT CORNERS! Do everything completely and don't skip steps, like skipping wearing safety goggles when testing a shooter prototype. Things happen and it is a mess!

Also, keep plenty of time to debug on your robot. You should spend at least an entire build season day debugging code and making sure it works. Make sure the entire team knows what you're doing, even if it isn't what they don't do. For example, if you are putting vision tracking, let the team know how you wish to tackle it. Not only will people be more comfortable with you doing it, but people who have done it before may step up and offer you a helping hand

As mentioned before, know every part of the robot. I, myself, am very curious and like to go to other team members who do not seem that busy at the moment and ask what their robot does and how it works. This also improves the reputation of the team.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT THING:
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!
GRACIOUS PROFFESIONALISM: Engineers must have a good amounts of this. It is what brings them forward and gets people to like them
Shake hands with others at competiotions
Cheer other teams even if they are an opponent
Be nice and welcome others' ideas.
Offer a helping hand to anyone who needs help. This could be just getting a tool for them.
Tell the Truth! Do not give someone a false positive. That could be catastrophic

NEVER BOO OR MAKE CYNICAL REMARKS. It probably is anyways against the rules, but if it isn't, never make fun of a robot or say anything rude or bad. That team spent it's time working on it's robot and they should be recognized!

This all above, I wish to implement to my behavior this year

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by Justin Montois

- Hot Glue certain electrical connections

Don't trust everything you read on Chief Delphi.
There have been specific rules against the above comment in the robot rules several years.

[Mark Sheridan]

Don't use set screws to transfer torque or loads. I even try to avoid them in no load applications such as encoders. Outside of FIRST I only use them in very low load situations, low vibration settings.

[Nate Laverdure]

Originally Posted by Peter Matteson

There have been specific rules against [gluing electrical components] in the robot rules several years.

This is in reference to <R65> in the 2013 manual. Standard practice for many teams, including mine, is to apply hot glue to PWM connections. Was this disallowed at any events this year?