Crazy Robot Inspection Stories

[Just a Mom]

What is your craziest story about robot inspection?

[Ed Sparks]

I can't remember what year and what regional but .......

A rookie team actually brought the kit of parts to their first regional. They thought they were suppost to build the robot at the event. With a lot of help from surrounding teams, they were able to compete as a box on wheels.

[ehochstein]

Last year, 10,000 Lakes Regional we had 5 CIM motors on our robot and the maximum was 4. We spent all of the first day taking out 2 of them.

[David Brinza]

Last year at a regional in the western US, a team built a robot with illegal motors in the drive system. In spite of urgings from inspectors and offers of assistance of several teams, they refused to change their robot. Needless to say, the robot did not pass inspection and was not permitted on the field.

This team sent human players to every qualification match and they found themselves near the top of the standings at the end of Friday! After a loss on Saturday, they dropped just out of the top 10 for alliance selections. About midway into alliance selections, they were listed as the top seed among the available teams. They were picked by a team that had not scouted and the team with the illegal robot accepted the invitation!

In the elimination round, they were replaced by a backup robot.

This year's rule of issuing zero seeding points to teams whose robot has not passed inspection for the match will prevent this from happening.

[JohnBoucher]

Originally Posted by Ed Sparks

I can't remember what year and what regional but .......

A rookie team actually brought the kit of parts to their first regional. They thought they were suppost to build the robot at the event. With a lot of help from surrounding teams, they were able to compete as a box on wheels.

Annapolis Aim High game. One kid shows up with the kitbot in pieces. We got him running.

[Peter Matteson]

Philly 2005 a team had 4 globe motors on their robot. I was not an inspector at the event but saw this 20 ft away and casually asked an inspector if they had passed inspection, they had...

Last year at Hartford we had one rookie team with serious electrical issues. As I was approaching to see if they were ready for me to inspect the robot I saw some sparks from some poorly insulated wiring, I decided they were not yet ready but started the mechanical inspection fter they removed the battery.

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

Annapolis Aim High game. One kid shows up with the kitbot in pieces. We got him running.

Originally Posted by Peter Matteson

Philly 2005 a team had 4 globe motors on their robot. I was not an inspector at the event but saw this 20 ft away and casually asked an inspector if they had passed inspection, they had....

I remember both of these. Good times!

[Alex.Norton]

Originally Posted by Peter Matteson

Philly 2005 a team had 4 globe motors on their robot. I was not an inspector at the event but saw this 20 ft away and casually asked an inspector if they had passed inspection, they had...

I had a team try this on me last year. I'm happy to say that they did not pass inspection till they had removed two of the motors.

[JimWright949]

In Seattle last year, a team brought, what I thought at the time, their rolling tool box to the scale. They then put the tool box on the scale and I discovered that the 180 pound item on the scale, was, actually their robot.

I called a few other veteran mentors over and told the team. 'These people are here to help you loose 60 pounds of robot.'

-Jim

[ErichKeane]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

Annapolis Aim High game. One kid shows up with the kitbot in pieces. We got him running.

This happened at Portland this year. They showed up with the kitbot. The SWAT kids and a bunch of other students spent all of Thursday building this robot, which actually ended up doing pretty well.

[Ian Curtis]

We were once told it was illegal to have two modified AndyMark shifters on our robot. The sticking point wasn't the modified though, it was the pair of $350 items.

"You can not pass us, but I can see a dozen robots from right here that won't pass either."

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by JimWright949

In Seattle last year, a team brought, what I thought at the time, their rolling tool box to the scale. They then put the tool box on the scale and I discovered that the 180 pound item on the scale, was, actually their robot.

I called a few other veteran mentors over and told the team. 'These people are here to help you loose 60 pounds of robot.'

-Jim

Whatever happened to it?

[Mike Betts]

Years ago, my team did a massive redesign after a pre-ship scrimmage and shipped a robot without a single wire attached. Needless to say, it was a busy day in the pits for me and my electrical team... We still had many wires loose when, at the urging of the inspectors, we began inspection (it was supposed to be a partial mechanical only).

I was soldering a wire to a motor and had a student crimping a ring lug on another wire when the inspector (on the other side of the robot from us) got to the power-up part of the checklist and told the students to power up the robot...

Which they did...

I was not a happy camper...

[EricH]

I'm sure there are probably a few from Arizona this year, due to the long line... But I'll put a couple in there.

I'm inspecting a team from Mexico. It's sometime Friday morning (I think--might have been afternoon), and they bring their robot over. I quickly spot their pneumatics issues (vent valve is in the wrong place, which is an easy fix). But then I noticed something else--their casters were mounted at the edge of the frame, creating <R16> and <G30> violations every time they swing. Move them inside? Not easy. One of the other inspectors went to find a few parts for a quick redesign. A few minutes later: "Here are the brackets, now we just need the wheels."

They got that fixed and had some lexan from another team (donated to form an upper shield) ready. I noticed another issue--the penetration restriction. Showed them how to fix that, they went off to their pit to take care of it. I went over there a while later with a soccer ball and a tape measure, and they hadn't put it on yet--it was ready, just not on. I helped them place the barrier, then went back to inspection. A few minutes later, they came to find an inspector. This time, they passed.

It can also get crazy when the FTA wants to know when the "You can bring your robot in, but it has to be in pieces" was enacted, while you're in the middle of inspecting a team. (He got the answer after I was done with that inspection.)

[FRC4ME]

At VCU this year, 619 wasn't doing very well - we basically had to rebuild the robot on Thursday - and by noon on Friday the inspectors were doing everything they could to let us go out on the field. So they let us sit on the field (and gain seeding points) with the bumpers ziptied to the robot - provided we promised not to drive with it that way. We didn't, and someone gave us a safety token for "not endangering other teams."

At the same regional, I watched 339 and the inspectors argue for about 30 minutes over whether the red light proximity sensors from previous years were legal. The inspectors didn't think they were because they required a 12V supply but didn't have the necessary gauge wire for a 20 amp breaker. The problem is, there smallest 12V supply on the robot is a 20 amp breaker. Eventually, the inspectors found a clause in the manual that permitted the use of any wiring provided it came already attached to the device.

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."