paper: Richard's Top Ten Boneheaded Mistakes

[Dave Flowerday]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

Best advice in that paper IMHO.

I'd take that one step further: even when the tether isn't screwed in, it could still rip the port off the RC if the cable gets pulled away at the wrong angle. We've gotten in the habit of looping the tether and programming cables once around a solid piece of the robot (usually our frame) before connecting it. It's a good idea to do that on the OI/computer side as well (don't want your OI or laptop being yanked off the table!). This way, if the robot takes off, the cable will get stretched tight against the frame. The cable may be damaged, but at least the tether/program port wasn't ripped off your $500 RC!

One thing I'd add to the presentation (didn't see it in there but I just skimmed it): make yourself a "robot disable" dongle (or buy one from AndyMark)! No OI should ever be without one. We attach ours to a piece of velcro and keep it with the OI at all times.

[FourPenguins]

Richard, it appears that this was originally in the form of a powerpoint or similar presentation. Are you planning to make it available in that format?
I'd love to present this to my team

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by FourPenguins

Richard, it appears that this was originally in the form of a powerpoint or similar presentation. Are you planning to make it available in that format?
I'd love to present this to my team

Some folks have requested the PowerPoint (.ppt) version of this presentation. In its original form it was about 20MB, but when I stripped off some images and included them as separate JPEGs the total size was only about 400kB. The stripped .ppt file and three .jpg files have been added to CD Media. Please use them and let me know how it goes with your team or local audience.

[Dan Petrovic]

Now... to plan when we can show this to our team.

We can relate to several of these....

...and you bet we learned how to avoid making those mistakes again!

I just can't wait to hear our software lead say "I told you so"

[JaneYoung]

the tether....a very scary oops.

[Guy Davidson]

This is a very well done paper that hits the issues right on the head. We'll be sure to show it to our team and hopefully learn from it.

[Bob Steele]

By the way,
To repair the tether port costs $100 and about 10 days of time to IFI and back.
I know ... I have a receipt...

R

[techtiger1]

Bob thats a true story too, 1251 has one of those receipts too never made that mistake again. Richard great compulation of thoughts and ideas very well presented. Thank you. I will certainly take the time to hand these out before kickoff to every student, veteran or not. Actually some of the mentors could probally use this one around too. =).

[Sunshine]

Awesome,

This will be shown at our next meeting

[Ed Sparks]

Great Job! Thanks Richard .....

[Pavan Dave]

My favorite part is how Texas is it's own "region" in the US.

7 is very important and so is 3. Controls and software are the most overlooked IMO.

[Kevin Sevcik]

We too have one of those tether receipts. A newer mentor plugged in the tether before trimming anything or lifting the wheels. Worse, it was for Stack Attack, so the bot ran up a half finished ramp and literally flew off the other end.

At any rate, in light of posts about the IR thread, perhaps we should add testing circuit boards on anti-static bags or other conductive surfaces.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Pavan

My favorite part is how Texas is it's own "region" in the US.

Although not a Texan myself, I hold with many others that Texas is indeed its own region.

My great-aunt Edith did her doctoral work in Texas, and then embarked on an academic career back in the day when female professors were almost unheard of. She taught history at Delmar, down in Corpus Christi, for over three decades, before retiring in Austin. Hers was a commanding presence, at family gatherings and elsewhere.

Aunt Edith insisted that Texas is more than a State, it's a state of mind.