WARNING All teams should read this

[coldabert]

During our last regional in Pittsburgh we were teamed with an illegal robot. I am in no way complaining to that team and I dont want them to feel bad about what happened. As a matter of fact, I gave them a way to contact me and I would like to help them.

For you other teams and electrical people, I would like to share my experience with what happened so that you do not have the same problem:

Some how team XXX made it past inspection with small "blade" type auto fuses rated at 40 A for their drive train CIM motors. These are one time use fuses and will blow frequently during a rough match. They used these in the small breaker block. Those blocks are not designed for 40 A of current and could easily melt if under full load.

Needless to say, we were in an alliance with a team that could only drive at its slowest speed for fear of being completely disabled. I am not sure if this happened because of a problem with the rules (I think it is cover in rules: R88 and R44) or if the inspectors missed it.

Make sure you check potential alliance robots for illegal setups. You dont want the same thing to happen to you. I know the inspectors cant catch everything, but your team should double check everything when it gets to alliance selection.

Good luck everyone in Cheasapeake (spelled something like that) and Atlanta. And good luck to team XXX.