Teams 1592 and Team 801’s trailer was rear-ended tonight on the way to the Orlando Regional load-in, only 3 miles from the venue.
Unfortunately, both robots are nearly destroyed and barely salvageable.
Thankfully, our student and mentor driver were okay and no one was hurt.
At this point in time, we don’t know much about what the next step in this situation is, but we would like to thank the Orlando Regional Committee, FIRST, and all of the gracious teams that were quick to step up and offer their assistance and parts in this time of need.
Team 125 has many spare parts, including a fully operational shooter. You guys are more than welcome to it. Anything we can help with, we will be happy to do, please come see us tomorrow morning.
Ouch, that looks gruesome! Did you have anything in the trailer (like protective padding) to protect the robots in case of accidents? Perhaps this is something other teams should think about for transporting their robots. Between this and 216/244/288 having their trailer stolen, it’s starting to look like trailers are bad luck this year. I hope you guys are able to get back on your feet in time for the competition.
Now is when you find your true future engineers on your teams.
This may look like a tragedy, but this really is an opportunity for the students to shine. Take some deep breaths and get fixing!
Three years ago, my team pitched in to help a neighboring school’s team, which had disintegrated the week before the Las Vegas regional competition. A single girl on their team was academically eligible, so we took her with us to the competition. When we opened their crate, it was apparent that their team had fallen apart well before ship. The carcas of their robot was in much worse shape than what you have pictured.
The girls from our team worked with the remaining member to rebuild her robot, from scratch, in the pits. Many great teams showed tremendous gracious professionalism helping with parts and tools. Eventually, the robot was put together, passed inspection, and hit the field. It was electric!
Ya, that’s what we were planning on doing; we were told to just not touch them until we get word from FIRST. Once we do, we will take photos and post them.
That’s really harsh. I’ll be pulling for you guys to get something together. In furtherance of that, I recommend you guys designate one or two crisis managers to organize and manage all the help that’s about to descend on you at the regional. There’s only so many people that can easily fit in a pit, after all. You might ask if some of your people can work on part of the robot in someone else’s pit to maximize productivity.
Sorry to hear about your bots! I’m glad everyone involved was OK.
Best of luck getting rebuilt! Many of the components could be salvageable given some blacksmithing. I’m sure we’ll find out when you unbag; I’m being optimistic for now.
Zac and team, I’m so so sorry this happened, but like Akash said, the driver and student are both ok, this could have been worse. I know if we were down there this year we would pitch right in in getting you guys back on top. I wish you the best of luck!
My initial thought was… if it’s going to happen, let it happen in Orlando.
By that I mean - a lot can happen in a day’s time and the Orlando Regional is known for making good things happen. Especially with the determination of the two teams involved and those attending who will step up to help. I’m also thinking of the amazing volunteers and organizers of this event and how they will help to make everything run smoothly, keeping the way clear for you to do what you need to do.
Back in 2006 on the last day of build season things were hectic and we were in a big hurry. That was when your robot had to be sent to a storage location in a crate. In the final minutes the robot (in it’s crate) was loaded on a flat bed truck for one of our mentors to drive it to the storage location. There was only one problem, in all the rush nobody tied the crate down. As the mentor was driving on the interstate at 70 mph, he noticed a strange object tumbling end over in the median. You guessed it, it was our robot sans crate. The good news it didn’t hit any other vehicles nor did they hit it. The robot parts were gathered up and when it arrived at the storage location they were shrink wrapped to a pallet. There was nothing like showing up the Thursday morning of the competition to see your robot in less than operable condition. Now for the good news. Everyone at the regional pitched in and by Friday morning we had a functioning robot. The people of FIRST are amazing and I’m sure we’ll see that again in Orlando.
