Competition Equipment

[Cory]

Team #: 100
Years of Participation: 9
Team Name: Wildcats
Regionals: Sacramento, Silicon Valley

We brought a: Drill Press, Mini-mill, a few vises, jigsaw, a few drills, probably some other stuff Im forgetting too.

We brought two laptops.

We had an effective organization system that turned out to be ineffective, due to the tendency of people to toss tools everywhere instead of putting them where they belong. Anyways, we made this tool carrier out of some pegboard and 2x4's. It folded open to be about the length of a table, and had hooks for every tool in it. It worked very well in theory, but obviously not in competition. It didnt help that when we transported it EVERY tool fell off its hook and into a pile in the bottom.

We did keep all of the small parts, such as screws, electronics supplies, and other assorted stuff in those little craft trays that have little plastic dividers to organize stuff nicely. We made a wooden carrier for these trays that also helped to keep them all in once place. And then we just tossed everything else in a tote

We decided that after slaving over our 1'tall, falling apart cart last year we needed to make a new one. We used some spare 80/20 that someone had donated to us, along with some pneumatic casters and some sheet metal to make a pretty nice cart. We had a top level for the robot, as well as a lower level for tools and other stuff. We divided the lower portion to have a dedicated battery charging area, which worked very well. Until things started touching and arcing.... We had a powerstrip attached to our cart as well, although pretty securely. We had the non-pronged connector for a cord permanently attached to the cart, as well as four outlets, which was *REALLY* nice. We also used a foot or so of 80/20 and some pivots to have "legs" on top of the cart so that if we need to work on the drive train, or under the robot, or just wanted it higher, we could put the robot on these legs and lift it a foot. If we wanted it lower, they would just pivot down and out of the way. Overall, I would say that our cart was extremely effective.

For giveaways, we made these little "clippies". They were Clips that had a orange wire cap (I have no clue what all these electronics things are actually referred to as, so bear with me )
striped with black to look like our cat in the hat theme. Then we tied a piece of string with an orange foam triangle that said 100 on it to the whole thing. I personally didnt care for them much, but they seemed to be a great hit. We foudn them everywhere, and many of the judges were seen wearing them too

Hopfeully next year we can just organize stuff better and make sure it stays organized.

Cory