Al's 2016 Inspection Thread

[Jacob C.]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

[SNIP]
8. Check other wiring, particularly power wiring to RoboRio, PCM and VRM modules and all CAN buss wiring. Give every wire a "tug test" to insure the wire doesn't pull out. I found more than 20 robots this weekend that had one or more loose connections. Most often teams have simply not stripped the wire long enough for the push terminals to grab the wire.
When in doubt on anything, come over and ask the LRI or other inspectors for advice or assistance. Small problems become huge on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning.

I can't emphasize this enough.

I was the FTAA for the Kettering University District this past weekend and there were a lot of instances of teams losing connection with the field because of radio and roboRIO power issues.

Specifically I would add the following:

1. Make sure the power connection plugged into your radio is secure. There were many cases where teams encountered mild to large impacts and had their radio either reboot (which takes a good 60 seconds to reconnect to the field) or lose power entirely. My personal choice for this is hot glue as you can still peel it off by hand if you need to, but just make sure it's secure.

2. Standard consumer-grade Velcro is not sufficient to secure small electrical components. There were several robots that lost radio/roboRIO power because components came loose during a match. There was even one match where a team's radio ended up disconnected and on the field. Please make sure you're using robust attachment methods - zip ties can work ok in a pinch, but hardware is usually the best method.