What is the most ghetto thing you've seen on a robot?

[JohnSmooth42]

We had to fix our intakes at an off season event one year and we discovered a shaft key had come out. While looking for said shaft key we found a rivet on the floor. I don't think I need to elaborate on this any more...

[Andy A.]

Originally Posted by JohnSmooth42

We had to fix our intakes at an off season event one year and we discovered a shaft key had come out. While looking for said shaft key we found a rivet on the floor. I don't think I need to elaborate on this any more...

In the same vain, HSS drill bits make crappy yet expedient dowel pins. Drill the hole and, while still running the drill, angle it to the side with a sharp jerking motion. Instint pinned connection. Back it up with a drop of CA glue if you're the nervous nelly type.

[hwu24110]

I was not able to witness the performance of the robot, but I remember in 2014 Aerial Assist, I looked down the end of the convention center and I saw a robot that featured a folding chair (with arm rests) as the catching mechanism.

[Alex2614]

Okay, okay, can we move past whether or not you think the title of the thread is offensive? We get it. You've all made your point. Now let's focus on the actual INTENT behind the words and what the thread was intended to be about?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by hwu24110

I was not able to witness the performance of the robot, but I remember in 2014 Aerial Assist, I looked down the end of the convention center and I saw a robot that featured a folding chair (with arm rests) as the catching mechanism.

Had one of those at L.A., too.

This year, I've seen a robot that held its intake in starting configuration with... wait for it...

...Painter's tape. Yep, folks, painter's tape, 1" wide and stretched long. I knew they needed a new piece when they were trying to find a spot to stick the two pieces they made every time they went out for a match together...

[araniaraniratul]

Originally Posted by hwu24110

I was not able to witness the performance of the robot, but I remember in 2014 Aerial Assist, I looked down the end of the convention center and I saw a robot that featured a folding chair (with arm rests) as the catching mechanism.

So it was the same robot in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. In 2014, we (294) stuck a lawn chair on 687 because they had an awesome drivetrain but their other mechanisms were struggling. It helped them consistently get that first assist. They eventually grew out of the chair by the time eliminations in LV came around. I love bugging one of my co-mentors (687) about it though!

[BeardyMentor]

The following story is not the most kludgey thing we have ever done, but it is one of the most successful kludges we have ever pulled off.

This year at Mount Olive, we took the robot out of the bag and noticed the intake arm was spinning loose on the shaft. We looked a little closer and somewhere between final testing and bagging the robot, the 3/16" key had fallen out of the sprocket. After looking through everything we brought we discovered that the spare key stock had not been packed. After calming down, we cut the heads off of some #10 bolts and shoved them into the empty keyways and re-tightened the retaining set screws with loctite and they held for the entire event.

[Peyton Yeung]

We had an interesting "fix" this past weekend. During a match the sensor for our defense manipulator broke off. This sensor tells the robot where the arm is so we can go under the low bar/portcullis in autonomous mode. With no spare sensor we hot glued a limit switch to the inside of our robot, used the unused wire from the limit switches pwm cable as a string, and fastened the other end to the arm. This depressed the switch when the arm was fully down. The funny thing is that it worked for the rest of the competition.

[Why_A_Username?]

Although I disagree with the thread creator's diction, due to the conotations with racism and poverty, I do wish to share the"jankiest" thing that we on 2910 have done this season.

Our current robot: Lady Bertrude, had one of the shooter motors come completely off during our second to last semi final match at the Glacier Peak week 2 event. The repair consisted of wrapping "Engineering Tape" (duct tape) around it until it was reasonably secured. this allowed us to play in the last match, where the other shooter motor bent horribly to one side.

Also, during build season, we did not build a channel for the climber rope, and promptly allowed it to rest on top of our gatherer angler sprocket and chain.

These kind of jury rigs often are the result of a lack of time or budget, and really ought to be looked at more fondly than anything else, as they add character and identity to a robot, and symbolize creative and clever design in a pinch.

[ratdude747]

Here's another "improvised" repair that was notable.

Boilermaker Regional, 2013. In the finals it was the 1 seed vs 2 seed. 359+868+1747 vs. 234+1741+3147. 3147 had a "unique" design that year, with nothing but a human-loaded "bucket" frisbee shooter and drivetrain in the base, and on top of that a belt-driven climber that also housed the battery and electronics.

Final match 1: 3147's climber breaks at the actuator driving the base-to-climber joint, and can no longer support the climber assembly. They are disabled for the rest of the match as a result. Not good, as that assembly can't be removed (since all the eletricals were inside it). Likewise, with the assembly flopped down, they're not in starting configuration... What to do?

Allaince 2 uses thier timeout coupon, and after the timeouts, 3147 comes out... with a broomstick supporting the climber! IIRC it was also duct taped in, which added to the "jerry rigged" look of the repair. Suffice to say, the stick snapped in match 2, they were disabled once again, and with Alliance 1 winning both matches the competition was settled.

TheBlueAlliance links to the matches:

http://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2013inwl_f1m1
http://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2013inwl_f1m2

You gotta do what you gotta do sometimes...

[C.Lesco]

Originally Posted by Andy A.

In the same vain, HSS drill bits make crappy yet expedient dowel pins. Drill the hole and, while still running the drill, angle it to the side with a sharp jerking motion. Instint pinned connection. Back it up with a drop of CA glue if you're the nervous nelly type.

Oh my god im so happy to hear that we werent the only ones doing this. Sketchiest thing, losing bolts on battery box, fixing battery box to frame using zipties which all broke at the end of every match.

All fixed for worlds though