PLTW Project: Don't You Hate It When...

[Mr. Pockets]

Don't you hate it when...
-People claim not to know anything about upcoming team functions and/or meetings because they don't check the team forums
-You test a conveyor system two days before a competition and one of the PVC rollers snaps clean in half!
Love the thread idea. I totally can see this becoming one of those timeless ones!

[Karibou]

...bumpers come off in the middle of a match, even though you double and triple checked them before queuing
...people assume that all robot-builders are geeky boys who sit in a dark basement playing COD5 all day
...parts don't fit together because of a .001 inch difference
...mis-communications lead to one and a half week's worth of work having to be re-done in three days

Originally Posted by Mr. Pockets

-You test a conveyor system two days before a competition and one of the PVC rollers snaps clean in half!

I second that.

A few non-robotics ones...
...you get mosquito bites in the most awkward-to-scratch-places
...websites pester you with constant weight-loss ads
Don't you REALLY hate it when girls claim that Robert Pattinson/Edward Cullen is their future or current boyfriend? (I mean, COME ON, robots are MUCH sexier)

[gallo26]

Don't you hate it when....
....your software team loves the camera and decides to put in code to override the drivers during a match if it locks onto a trailer. Lucky though the lighting is messed up and they forget about that code they wrote. Then suddenly they magically get the correct lighting and that code initializes.... skyneting you??

That was the best!!! One full match... 100% autonomous....


Oh! I have another....


Don't you hate it when....
....When your told to quickly go out on the field at nationals to drive practice matches, you get down there to realize you missed it. Ask to fill in another match... Luckily the field had an empty spot... in that EXACT match your robot was in, but on the opposite alliance. You get ready for that match hearing that your not allowed to play unless your fully inspected.... and they wont let you play even though it's your original match....

I can't wait to read what everyone else has. This is a very clever thread... humorous.

[Travis Hoffman]

Don't you just hate it when you were just at Kettering Kickoff and had to program in your robot radio WPA key but then you have a demo for the school board of a rookie FRC school in your area a few days later but you forgot about the stupid need to remove WPA security for the radio so it will work with your router but then you also realize that you had the WPA security from IRI set in your router and didn't have enough time to remove that before the demo started so we had to skip the robot demo and show videos instead but it was all good in the end because we fixed the problem while the board continued with their meeting and ended up demonstrating the robot anyway and several business leaders were in attendance by chance and are now interested in sponsoring the team so even though WPA keys suck the NEOFRA team representatives in attendance still accomplished their mission?

[mcb]

when... no more buttons can fit onto your clothing at competitions?
when... people assume that they can't join robotics because they "aren't smart enough"?
when... you already have other commitments and can't go to a build meeting, or any robotics meeting for that matter?

[Mr. Pockets]

In robotics don't you hate it when...
...your robot has problems with the radio so it ends up becoming immobile before your drive team even touches the controls?
...when you learn at competition that 1/3 of the batteries you brought do not in fact work?

In other news, don't you hate it when...
...you attempt to make a sarcastic question online, but somewhere along the way the tone and inflection get lost in cyberspace, so you just end up sounding like a complete idiot asking a totally pointless question?
...you end up procrastinating doing a project you know that you have to finish by coming on CD and consequently not noticing that before you know it it's already 11 PM?

Edit:

Originally Posted by Mcb

when... people assume that they can't join robotics because they "aren't smart enough"?

At one of the registration days at the beginning of the year I actually made a sign saying: "I'm not smart isn't an excuse".

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pockets

"I'm not smart isn't an excuse".

That could be applied to so many areas.
--

Don't you just hate it when - the moment comes to crate or bag the robot and you have to wait a while to see it again?

[McGurky]

when...You forget to feed the watchdog
when...People claim they have no idea about a meeting when you send out 3 E-mail reminders weeks ahead of said meeting
when...People who are signed up to bring food on a night dirring build season, dont bring food!!!!
when...your team is deploying code to the robot when in the pit, and right as you are getting called up, Labview freezes, the code fails deploy, you try again but you don't have enough time so you end up with no code on the robot!
when...you just happen to take the fried battery to use for the match and not one of the nine perfectly good ones?

[Katie_UPS]

when those amber safety glasses your team ordered three years ago STILL didn't come in yet...

[Akash Rastogi]

when the school "promised" you a CNC mill 10 years ago and the spot for it in the shop is still vacant. >.<

[Trent B]

Originally Posted by mcb

when... people assume that they can't join robotics because they "aren't smart enough"?

I agree, if you can turn a wrench you can work on the mechanical team.

Building a gearbox or a c-slot chassis are not that hard with instructions. Nor are bumpers etc. People assume you have to be smart to make a robot, you don't have to fit the geek stereotype to work on it. I came in with minimal knowledge, two years later I want my team to start CNCing out their frame instead of 8020ing it.

when... most of my school goes "we have a robotics team?" whenever it is mentioned.
when... the mechanical team says here is the robot find somewhere for the electrical and make it work, first year our electronics were impossible to access, this year we had to dig through spaghetti for our battery. (I am the CADer/Lead CADer (if we get others) next year, so things will be different )

[ehochstein]

...when the entire drumline yells at you because you skipped drumline to go to robotics.... again!

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Wiifi

...when the entire drumline yells at you because you skipped drumline to go to robotics.... again!

Did your drumline win a regional?

Don't you hate it when you miss second seed by three flimsy little plastic balls? (and 6th or so by 2?) I still kinda dream about the alliances that would've been formed on Newton.

Don't you hate it when you have to leave your FIRST team?

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Don't you hate it when you have to leave your FIRST team?

Nope, it is a good opportunity to get new experiences on different teams, if I could I would join a different team every year!

[Trying to Help]

... you finally have the shipping rules drilled into your competition-tired head and they change on the afternoon of the last day?
... when your lead programmer is so tired he falls asleep while on his cell, the evening before competition? Luckily he was at home and not driving at the time.
... when someone mis-wires the battery?

Trying to Help