Use Velcro on your Control Board!!

[Corey Oostveen]

Attention Teams,


We overlooked the necessity of keeping our control board firmly on the control station.

We did the common, "this thing weighs like 30 lbs no way it will go anywhere"

We could not have been more wrong. In a game where teams are trying to autonomously navigate around the field as fast as they can. You are going to run into some problems.

THE STORY:
So the match starts out with our control board in Station 1. So we are looking directly at the other teams robots lined up. Hybrid starts, a team comes out going as fast as they can and slam directly into the wall. This impact causes our 30 lb plus board to go flying in the air spinning. It landed on the joysticks and shattered the one that operates our manipulator. Not only almost hitting our drivers but nearly damaging the competition port on the OI. So half the match we drove around without use of our manipulator. While I looked for a team to lend us their joystick. A team that was in queue Graciously lent one to us. So halfway through the match we gain use of our arm and manipulator again. The team came and apologized but it was something that should have been prevented by us.


SO! Moral of the story is Teams PLEASE place Velcro on the bottom of your control boards. The Velcro located on the stations is the loop/soft end and is 6 inches away from the wall. So you will need to place the Rough end of Velcro on your control boards accordingly.


Corey
Team 288

[SL8]

Thanks. I never thought of the " when robots go wild" scene.

[Danny McC]

Yeah. The same thing happened to one of our alliance members in Jersey yesturday during the qualifiers(555). Luckily, they had their joysticks fixed by the next match. But when they said they should velcro your control board down, they really meant it. I hope that by next week all teams participating in regionals will have thier boards secured.

[Toolman]

This happened to team 870 three years ago. We thought we would be penalized if we touched the controls and the head ref. said the following...
Drive team members are permitted to touch the control board to prevent damage even during the auton mode. Just don't operate anything. Push it back up or catch it. When drive begins continue with the game.

[Qbranch]

We were in que when WildStang had was on the floor during autonomous mode. An opposing robot came full speed and rammed into their operator station... Their control box fell off and hit the ground!

I was kind of amazed they didn't wait to start the teleoperated period till they got situated again...

-q

[SL8]

Originally Posted by Qbranch

We were in que when WildStang had was on the floor during autonomous mode. An opposing robot came full speed and rammed into their operator station... Their control box fell off and hit the ground!

I was kind of amazed they didn't wait to start the teleoperated period till they got situated again...

-q

They were probably accentuating the fact that we had been forewarned.

[Corey Oostveen]

Originally Posted by Qbranch

We were in que when WildStang had was on the floor during autonomous mode. An opposing robot came full speed and rammed into their operator station... Their control box fell off and hit the ground!

I was kind of amazed they didn't wait to start the teleoperated period till they got situated again...

-q

We didn't touch ours until tele mode we were afraid of getting a 10 pt penalty.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Coosty

We didn't touch ours until tele mode we were afraid of getting a 10 pt penalty.

If it's falling off, you better not get a penalty!
This situation is called out in the rules as a no-penalty situation. (If you do get a penalty, find out why after the match...and if it's for touching your control board, talk to the head ref, if he hasn't already dealt with it.)

[Eugene Fang]

http://www.soap.circuitrunners.com/2...j_qf3m1BAD.wmv

you can see a team's OI falling to the ground after a crash in hybrid mode.

[K.Porter]

During the practice rounds at GSR I watched the team next to me (I forget who it was) catch both their controls, and the entire computer housing underneath the driver station.

Luckily they were being attentive...otherwise, the entire blue alliance (and possibly the day's events as a whole) could have had some trouble.

[SL8]

Originally Posted by EricH

If it's falling off, you better not get a penalty!
This situation is called out in the rules as a no-penalty situation. (If you do get a penalty, find out why after the match...and if it's for touching your control board, talk to the head ref, if he hasn't already dealt with it.)

Where exactly in the rules does it say that . I'd like to know for future reference.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by SL8

Where exactly in the rules does it say that . I'd like to know for future reference.

<G47>, the last sentence.

Originally Posted by 2008 FRC Manual, Section 7.3.6 Team Member Actions

<G47> TEAM Positions During HYBRID PERIOD – During the HYBRID PERIOD, the DRIVERS and COACH must stand behind the PLAYERS LINE within their ALLIANCE ZONE. During the HYBRID PERIOD, the ROBOCOACH must stay within one of the two designated ROBOCOACH STATIONS (either local or remote). Each violation (stepping outside the designated area, or stepping across the PLAYERS LINE) will result in a PENALTY. Exceptions will be made in cases involving personal or OPERATOR CONSOLE safety.

[Corey Oostveen]

Originally Posted by EricH

If it's falling off, you better not get a penalty!
This situation is called out in the rules as a no-penalty situation. (If you do get a penalty, find out why after the match...and if it's for touching your control board, talk to the head ref, if he hasn't already dealt with it.)

Another reason is it just happened so fast and the board was launched up it didn't just fall off.

[Rebecca Leung]

Yes, use Velcro! As Qbranch said: while we were busy watching our own robot during hybrid, an opposing robot slammed right into the front of our driver's station and our OI suitcase was knocked to the floor. Luckily the competition cable was not screwed in, otherwise our suitcase would be hanging and the OI would have ripped right out. We instantly ran forward to pick it up, I didn't know if hybrid was over or not but we weren't really thinking about that. If we had joysticks I know the damage would have been worse.

[danshaffer]

I have to agree with everything that was said in this thread. I saw quite a few good hits at Portland, including one that knocked down the field electronics box on the red alliance side (it was quickly ziptied into place). So remember, bring 4'-5' of Velcro to your first competition and don't let this happen to you!