Crazy Robot Inspection Stories

[EricH]

Originally Posted by FRC4ME

And of course, I can't count the number of times I've witnessed the classic: "OMG WE'RE SO OVERWEIGHT - oh wait, the battery's in...whew."

There were a number of teams at Arizona that could have passed weight with both battery and bumpers aboard.

[JimWright949]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

Whatever happened to it?

People from team 360, 1983, 2046, and 488, all brought sawzalls to the robot teams pits and basically cut the thing in half.

The starting robot was steal plate on a tall wooden frame. The ending robot was lexan on a short wooden frame.

-Jim

[ratdude747]

at Boilermaker last year, i remember a rookie bot with bumpers held together with zip ties. i have NO clue how they passed inspection.

[Hastypickle]

In 2007 we built our robot for the 60 inch tall, 110 lb class. We were a dedicated ramp-bot with plywood ramps. We uncrated our robot and once we could start inspection we went to get it sized and weighed. We were just under 60 inches, but we were about 30 lbs overweight. We had to cut a foot off of our robot and cheese-hole the plywood ramps. We barely made inspection, but we didn't trust the ramps for any high-speed climbing.

[AdamHeard]

Not a bid deal, but a scary one....

971 was next to us at SVR this year, and their inspector was pretty sure two regulators were illegal.

Also, one of our inspectors seemed fond of saying, "I don't know what this is, but did you guys do it right?"

[Andy Baker]

At one regional this year, there was a team who was still building their drive system all day on Thursday. We inspectors would check with them about every 30-40 minutes, and they would always say "we are ok, thanks for the offer to get us help, but we are fine".

After the pits closed on Thursday, we went to look at their robot in more detail. They still did not have their drive system wired up. However, they had partially completed their neon light system, and they also had a Globe motor (illegal) and an old Window motor (illegal).

I left them a note, saying that these two motors were not allowed this year. One of the inspectors was assigned to them in the morning, and they finally were focused on getting their robot driving.

Andy B.

[Bharat Nain]

One year, a robot inspector asked us to flip our power switch 180*, while asking us to keep the wire orientation the same way. I never did get that...

[pathew100]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

After the pits closed on Thursday, we went to look at their robot in more detail. They still did not have their drive system wired up. However, they had partially completed their neon light system, and they also had a Globe motor (illegal) and an old Window motor (illegal).

Hey, even if it didn't move, at least it was going to look cool, right?

[Engineer]

My first year mentoring was for the 2008 Overdrive competition. Reading the rules (after the robot was finished) we discover the rules that state the light from the IFI controller must be visible from three free in front of the robot. The robot had an extremely low center of gravity and the IFI controller was on the bottom of the robot about 3/8” off the ground. The robot looked great and we didn’t want to cut it up to make the IFI visible. The rules stated that the “light” from the IFI board must be visible. We made a placard with the same wording as the on the IFI controller with a 3D printer and piped the “light” up with fiber optics to the placard. Al Skeirkiewicz probably remembers this one. The inspection judges said the IFI controller was not visible and said it did not pass. We argued that the rules state that the “light” must be visible and the “light” is visible. It was the actual light from the LEDs. In the end the judges said it was very clever idea and let us compete but told us that if we went to the national competition, we may not pass inspection. BTW we also won the GM Industrial Design award with that robot.

[JimWright949]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

At one regional this year, there was a team who was still building their drive system all day on Thursday. We inspectors would check with them about every 30-40 minutes, and they would always say "we are ok, thanks for the offer to get us help, but we are fine".

After the pits closed on Thursday, we went to look at their robot in more detail. They still did not have their drive system wired up. However, they had partially completed their neon light system, and they also had a Globe motor (illegal) and an old Window motor (illegal).

I left them a note, saying that these two motors were not allowed this year. One of the inspectors was assigned to them in the morning, and they finally were focused on getting their robot driving.

Andy B.

In Oregon last year there was a team who behaved like that all day long on Thursday. By Friday morning they still did not have their wheels on the robot... the motor controllers were not wired up... they were in the first match... and with help from a team (I really wish I could remember which one) got through inspection and made it to the field in time.

-Jim

[EricH]

Had a rookie team in Arizona this year, in great position for the inspectors to watch them. They come out of the crate--and I'm thinking, there is no way that they'll pass inspection. Obvious ball control mechanisms above the bumper zone, active no less, and their bumper was a piece of PVC covered with something that wasn't pool noodle and was held on by wires. To their advantage, they had used the kit frame and a lot of VEX metal.

1013 showed up and spent all day Thursday getting them more legal. Sometime around noon on Friday, they passed.

Oh, and the Arizona pits were held open an extra half-hour on Thursday, to let us finish the teams in the inspection line. Friday morning, we still had two teams who hadn't started. They both got partials before the pits opened on a visual inspection.

[AustinSchuh]

In 2004, 971 put all the fuses for the robot on the negative side of the victors, instead of the positive side. Needless to say, we spent a fair amount of Thursday rewiring that part of the bot.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

I got a million of em!
I am leaving the rookie stories out of this post since it is not really fair. So here goes...
Eight CIM motors. "Rules says you can use the KOP motors and identical spares."
Non KOP motors because the KOP motors aren't strong enough
Robot is 6-8 inches too long.
Robot is 150+ lbs because they used a bathroom scale and interpolated the readings for each wheel.
Robot is 136 lbs and the engineering mentor tells his students not to listen to the LRI, they will play anyway and no one can stop them. Queuers do not like robots with no inspection sticker.
Robots with two or more batteries.
Robot with a 2" x 40" pneumatic actuator, inspection turned it into ballast.
Fifteen wheels on the floor last year. OK, it passed but it didn't drive very well.
Bumpers at last year's elevation, in black, with no numbers, made out of 1x6 pine.
Circular saw blades for wheels, "But they really grab the carpet!".
Aluminum box for chassis with the radio inside. Has been happening for years.
Battery used for counter weight on a moving arm to help hold robot on pipe. This was actually legal that year.
Chain sprockets used for ball handler. Reminded team of rule specifying no damage to field or game pieces.
Bumpers made of one pool noodle to conserve weight. Found steel inside bumper.
SUV winch for lifting with 1/2 HP motor. This year was not the first year for this.
Bumpers made out of stained and varnished 2x6 lumber. Furniture grade but not legal.
The entire robot from the 120 amp breaker on, wired with #18 wire. "We have tons of it so we used it."
I could go on and on....

[ALTrammell818]

Our electronics team wired the game controller wrong. It shouldn't have passed inspection. Due to this we didn't run throughout Traverse City. We also passed inspection at Wayne State. Shortly through Detroit some of the field crew found the problem.

It was a sad moment when we realized that the inspectors should have noticed the problem and not let us pass due to the issue.

[pathew100]

This year, a mentor walked up to me (inspector) in the pits:

"The team next to us showed up and dropped off their robot and left. It's last year's robot. I remember because we helped them build it here at last year's event."

Sure enough, in their pit was a robot that had slick wheels and a trailer hitch on it....