Pre-match Checklist

[smurfgirl]

We use one adapted to the robot for each year. Biggies this year are to check that the battery is fresh and ziptied in, the air valve is shut, hybrid mode switches are set to correct position, driver 2 has control board and tether cable, robocoach has remote, etc.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Tomasz Bania

We instituted a mental checklist...

The whole point of a checklist is that it is not stored in someone's head. Relying on the pit and drive crews to remember everything is risky, especially if what they need to remember is more than about five or six things.

One copy of our robot's "preflight" list is affixed to the inside of the robot. It steps through a full functional test of all motors, pressure regulators, pneumatic actuators, and sensors.

[StephLee]

We have a set of systems checks the drive team, mentors and pit crew run through after each match, as well as a list of things the drive team needs each time it goes to the field. We also have a safety checklist that drive team members know to follow after the matches to make sure no one gets hurt. Stored energy means safety procedures are mandatory.

[Chris Fultz]

We do a full check before leaving the pit, and then have a written list we use in the staging area and on the field for placement. To be sure we don's lose it, it is written on the top of my left hand, with a sharpie*. This way it won't get lost or forgotten.

The 2008 list includes:

New Battery (s)
Battery zip-tied
Back-Up Battery zip-tied
Pneumatic bleed closed
Pneumatic air pressure over 100 psi
Hybrid Mode Set
Robot ON
IR sensor ON


* which i am sure will be determined later in my life to be causing some disease

[BigJ]

1675 does their check in the pit just before queuing.

It includes (I'm going off of memory here)

• Battery Check
  • New battery
  • Battery secured
• Pneumatics Check
  • Check pressure and all that jazz.
• Electrical Check
  • Check IO connections(PWMs/Relays/Digitals/etc.)
  • Tighten connections in distribution block
• Controls/Code Check
  • Reload working version of code, EVEN IF you are 150% sure you didn't work on it since last match.
  • Test drive control
  • Test manipulator control (if safe)
• Drivers Check
  • Are they here???
  • Do they have their screwdriver? (more on this later)
• Mechanical Check
  • Tighten any crucial nuts/bolts/screws/things

Yeah, since our fiasco at the Quarterfinals of Midwest, our drivers carry a screwdriver for the distribution block with them, just in case.


(PS: ooh, nested bulleted lists!)

[Bomberofdoom]

We used a checklist, but it wasn't enough to keep or robot in maintained for the semi-finals, where the electrical wires to the "Farm" (lego like thingy) got disconnected without us noticing.

Tip for teams:

Make sure your sub-teams go over ALL the possible problems that can occur on the robot (try and improvise if you need to) and find the solution to those problems. Gather these together, see what is common and what is not, and let a pit crew member to be responsible to check the robot 5 minutes before you're called to the next match.

[Schnabel]

We made a preflight checklist, but we started ignoring it the farther into finals we got at Purdue and we began to do more than was put onto the checklist. It got as bad as using a wet wipe to clean the gripper wheels right before each match!