Robot Ethics?

[Steve S.]

Originally Posted by negfrequency

Alright. I asked my teacher kindly the other day if i could tear this years robot to shreads so i could recycle the parts and model them on CAD over the summer some more.

I guess i have permission to demolish the child, but other kids are telling me its "sentimental" and should be kept. We kept our first years robot, but i was wondering if it is "unkind" to the robots feelings to do this....please help.

and one more thing, keep it together and you can compete in the RCCR II in october

[Jeff Pahl]

We always keep at least the last year's robot intact. In the last month I think we have had 2 demos for potential sponsors, with another coming up, and they go much better when you have a functional robot. We try to keep them intact longer than that, but they seem to turn into parts for various projects when no one is looking.

Also, our software team usually uses the previous year's robot as a test bed until we get something working each year.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I understand that you want to improve your CAD skills. May I suggest, however, that you take into account your entire team's feelings? Perhaps it would be more appropriate to vote on this as a team, and discuss it, rather than letting one person take apart the robot. Though your intentions seem positive, the robot was created by the team, so its future should be decided with the impact of everybody who contributed.

[DonRotolo]

I agree with Katie Reynolds: Do you have to damage it to disassemble it? Just reassemble it when you're done, and all's well.

Having a robot for the drive team to play with during the off season is valuable.

Don

[KenWittlief]

If you look at your robot as an engineering prototype, and add up all the time and materials that went into it

then for the average team that prototype machine 'cost' around $30,000.

You better have a really good reason for destroying a $30,000 investment.

Its not a question of sentiment or ethics, its a matter of logic and responsibility. There are many things you can use an intact robot for, student science days, demos for grade schools, off season competitions, fundraising...

[sanddrag]

another vote for the "don't do it" choice.

[Eldarion]

Noooo! Don't do it!

[Joe Matt]

Don't do it, we still have the 384 wall of fame, and I love it.

[Pat Fairbank]

I'm sad to say that the only one of our robots that is intact is the 2006 'bot (and rest assured THAT one will be enshrined forever in some kind of trophy case!).

Don't take it apart, even if you say to yourself that it's just temporary - you'll never get the various people required motivated enough to put it back together, should you ever want to do so.

[Donut]

Since it's this year's robot, I say don't take it apart. If you're short on space, do it in a year or two like we do (it's actually a nice little fun activity, people hitting pieces with hammers trying to get the robot apart). You need something to show off for recruitment, sponsor visits, and other demonstrations, so at least keep it around until you finish building next year's.

[Martinez]

As a voice for the teammates yet to come, don't do it. It is truely inspirational to see a teams legacy of older robots. As Ken said, your robot is a serious investment and should be treated well.

[Qbranch]

We use our old robots often for the purpose of demoing for our existing and potential sponsors.

Having three robots running at once is a great way to drum up interest

(Picking up balls, shooting balls, moving tetras )

-Q

[Alexa Stott]

Don't take it apart unless it is absolutely essential. A few bits and pieces of some of our old robots have been taken off due to the fact that we absolutely needed a few of the parts, but we have never completely ripped one apart.

I remember my first robotics meeting, which was in the middle of September of this year. Some of the seniors took us freshman into our back room where we store everything. We have a shelf in there with about 5 robots on it. We were really able to get a sense of history just by seeing those retired bots up there. I looked at them, and realized what I was getting myself into. I was looking upon a legacy that I was about to become a part of. As some of the members told us about the robots, I was able to realize how much each of them meant to them.

Each season has its triumphs and some have its difficulties, and the robot is a symbol of what happened that year. Just think of the amount of time you spent working on that robot, testing it, programming it, designing it, building it, fixing it, etc. Now, do you really want to get take apart something you put so much into, just for a few more detailed CAD drawings? In a few year's time, you may revisit your old team (if you're still not with them, of course), and if you keep that robot, you can look back at it and remember how great this season was, or how you wished you had done better, or whatever.

Keep the robot around. It could be useful for inspiring rookies like me, or giving them a sense of history.

Besides, old bots are great for teaching new members programming, or even some of the mechanical aspects of building a robot.

[nparikh]

Originally Posted by AtalanteStar25

Don't take it apart unless it is absolutely essential. A few bits and pieces of some of our old robots have been taken off due to the fact that we absolutely needed a few of the parts, but we have never completely ripped one apart.

I remember my first robotics meeting, which was in the middle of September of this year. Some of the seniors took us freshman into our back room where we store everything. We have a shelf in there with about 5 robots on it. We were really able to get a sense of history just by seeing those retired bots up there. I looked at them, and realized what I was getting myself into. I was looking upon a legacy that I was about to become a part of. As some of the members told us about the robots, I was able to realize how much each of them meant to them.

Each season has its triumphs and some have its difficulties, and the robot is a symbol of what happened that year. Just think of th
e amount of time you spent working on that robot, testing it, programming it, designing it, building it, fixing it, etc. Now, do you really want to get take apart something you put so much into, just for a few more detailed CAD drawings? In a few year's time, you may revisit your old team (if you're still not with them, of course), and if you keep that robot, you can look back at it and remember how great this season was, or how you wished you had done better, or whatever.

Keep the robot around. It could be useful for inspiring rookies like me, or giving them a sense of history.

Besides, old bots are great for teaching new members programming, or even some of the mechanical aspects of building a robot.

Even though we're on the same team, I completely agree. Now a junior, I still remember being in Elementary School and hearing of our teaming winning the National Championship in 2000. I later got a chance to see that robot in middle school during the robot demos the team did. Then I got a chance to see 2003's National Finalist robot. For me, the robot is something more than just a few pieces of metal and electronics. Each robot represents something unique. It represents all the hard work that team members put into it. It is an everlasting(hopefully) showcase of all the sweat and toil put into an amazing machine.

I'm glad we have every robot since 2000...every time I walk into that back room I stop for a second and look at them and their legacy. As Alexa said, it's something quite amazing, quite inspiring...quite touching.
Through those robots I get a sense of the people that worked on it. I see a connection with the past and all the members of the team that have moved on. I know we'll never retire our 2000,2003, or this year's bot. They've been amazing.

But an amazing robot is much more than one that has had an impressive record of wins or one that's one lots of awards. An amazing robot is one that sticks truly in your heart as something that inspires you, something that moves you, something that helps you remember amazing times.

If this robot means something to you, if it strikes at some kind of passion in your heart, if it produces even a modicum of sentiment...I'd say keep it. Perhaps you can inspire more people. Perhaps you'll have something to look back at. Perhaps you'll have something to practice and train with. Or maybe you'll just have good memories.

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by Qbranch

We use our old robots often for the purpose of demoing for our existing and potential sponsors.

Having three robots running at once is a great way to drum up interest

(Picking up balls, shooting balls, moving tetras )

-Q

Sounds like your team puts on an impressive show. I'm trying to get our fleet to a point where we can do that, our '06 robot can, '05 sorta can but the arm won't work (limit switches were unplugged and pins aren't labeled), '04 could, but it might be a bit dangerous (chassis is loose, needs to be partially reassembled), '03 can (our only fully functional robot), '02 isn't going anywhere (a drill transmission was blown last year), '01 doesn't exist anymore. So that makes one ball shooter, one box pusher, one tetra grabber (assuming the arm gets fixed), and one big boxy thing with an arm. (I think the arm either lost a manipulator somewhere or was only designed for hanging) Hopefully '01 will come back to life in the form of a T-shirt cannon robot.

On topic. Robot disassembly is good and bad. I'd say practice CAD by designing something since that's how you'll be doing it during competition. If you must disassemble something, remove one mechanism, CAD it, reassemble. That way you get more mechanical experience too. Worst case scenario, leave a husk, that way at least drivetrain/chassis people can get ideas.