Innovative designs

[TubaMorg]

So here we are heading into the third week of competitions. There are a number of "how to make the regionals better" threads running right now that are quite serious in tone. I'm starting this thread to hear about the incredible robot designs out there. But here is the qualifier: I'm looking for ugly but functional, the non-machine shop robots, the "we only have a sabre saw" robots, the creative use of Home Depot and Lowe's hardware, the "I can't even spell CAD" designs.

While I am super-impressed with the laser cutting capabilities of some teams and the awesome robots that they come up with, I am even more impressed with the under-manned, under-tooled, under-computer-savvy teams out their that troll the aisles of hardware stores looking for ways to use what they see on their robots. You've all seen them at the competitions. The wobbly looking, baling wire robots that seem to kick butt.

I'll start with an example: One team found some flourescent orange snow fence netting to use for their ball hopper (sorry I forget the team number). Functional, lightweight....and ugly! I love it!