Rah Cha Cha Rukus (Rochester, NY) Observations

[purduephotog]

Good Morning all-

We had a scrimmage last night hosted by Penfield Robotics Team. While there a number of issues became apparent with the OI and RC capabilities of the robot- so much so that I am writing this post to urge you to test them before you ship.

1) When unplugging the OI from the Robot tether the channel would reset to 40.
2) When unplugging the OI from the Robot Tether the OI would occasionally reboot, and then reset to channel 40.
3) The 'no data' red light would come up at least 15% of the match, even when everything was running correctly. Commands would lag and the system had horrible response time- you could just sit there and watch when all the Victors lost signal as the match would progress.
4) The default wheels and the carpet at the site generated tremendous amounts of static electricity- something new this year (I'm assuming they didn't build a totally new field). PLEASE BE CAREFUL when touching your electronic components.
5) As many people have said the default transmissions are not up to the level of quality that was expected. I'll supply a photo that looks like a pile of grease on a steel plate, when instead it's simply the faux-steel that has been mushroomed when the tranny sheared. Pathetic.
6) Not a single team I watched had an autonomous mode.