The importance of testing

[BrendanB]

Our team has a system of testing every mechanical action of the robot after we change the battery before a match to ensure everything is working. If a problem occurs on the field, we don't touch anything and turn it on in the pit to diagnose and fix the problem. We even do a thorough check before matches and eliminations to ensuring the robot's status and you would be surprised at what you can find changed within a match. Before an elimination last year we were extremely close to losing the sprockets on our left drive system, several crucial cables and connections were about to come undone(we now use zipties on power and other connections known to come lose so that it does not happen again), lots of bolts and screws were nearing coming out, and other minor issues that would have affected the outcome of our matches.

Lessons learned, system checks take time but are worth it in the long run!