Crazy Robot Inspection Stories

FIRST General Forum
#41

We had bright yellow painted numbers on our bumpers because we had a nice mom who was happy to work with two students to do the numbering. The problem turned out to be that they were over 1/2 inch wide but not 3/4 inch wide. You also can’t have two colors so we couldn’t just make them wider with a sharpie. The mom felt so bad that she drove an hour to the school got the paint, drove an hour back and made the numbers bigger. Hope she still volunteers next year. I know the rules are clear but no one caught the mistake.

Another team put on numbers from the hardware store. They were black and white and really easy to read. You can’t have two colors so they had to take the numbers off, cut off all the white and put the numbers back on. At least the numbers were black so they could make them wider with a sharpie. Without the contrast it was hard to see them on the blue but they met the rules.

#42

Last year at NYC one team showed up with their KOP and a bunch of plywood. They refused to accept the help of us or any other team because they believed that every team was out to get them. They did however borrow a circular saw from one team.

Their mentor was cutting plywood with the circular saw and did not realize that the wire was on top of the piece of wood. When the saw stopped running he became very confused. The team who the saw was burrowed from was upset to say the least.

By the end of the day they had a drive train with some wooden thing on top that didn’t really do anything but hold the balls in the bot the entire match. When they went to get their robot inspected I saw piles of saw dust in their pit, it was quite a site.

#43

I thought some of the bumper rules were too strictly enforced this year. Yes, I know the rules are very specific, but some of the things that were being enforced provided no advantage to the team that goofed them. One rule that got us was having the bumper flush with the exterior vertex of the robot. We added a 2" x 2" x 1/8" reinforcing plate to the outside of the frame on the front corners of our robot (we cracked a gusset after a hard landing), and the polycarb attached to the frame also covered the plates. The inspector said that since the polycarb was spaced out another 1/8" over the plates that defined our exterior vertex, so as it was the bumpers needed to move out another 1/8". The solution was simple, we just cut the polycarb that was covering the plates, but it just seemed like such a nitpicky thing.

#44

Are you sure this is a rule? I’ve seen more than one team run with a white number outlined in black, or a yellow number outlined in black, etc.

#45

At the NYC Regional this year, 2836’s robot was fully assembled for the first time Thursday morning. First thing we did was throw it on the inspection scale- 124.1 pounds. We had anticipated being ~5 pounds overweight, and had the materials on hand to replace a number of steel pillow blocks and idler shafts with aluminum spares. All told, we ended up at 119.8 pounds in time for our first qualification match.

Over the course of the day, we tweaked a few things, adding and subtracting little parts here and there. To be prepared for the impending elimination match re-inspection Sunday, we weighed in again Saturday night (this being a Fri-Sat-Sun regional), and again were at 119.8.

So Sunday rolls around, and we make it to the elimination rounds. Being as far behind schedule as they were, event officials called for elimination robots to be quickly re-inspected- meaning a quick once over, and weight to be checked with batteries and bumpers installed.

The idea was, take the total weight of the robot, subtract the recorded weight for the bumpers (from the original inspection), and subtract a standard weight for the battery (something like 13.3 pounds). With bumper and “battery” weight subtracted, our robot was calculated to be 121.4 pounds.

Not understanding how we suddenly gained 1.6 pounds, I instructed our students to quickly remove the bumpers. Subtracting the “battery” weight still landed us at 121.4 pounds. I unplugged and removed the battery, and the scale fluctuated between 119.9 and 120.0 pounds.

Lesson learned- battery weight isn’t always standard, especially if you have a decent length of 6 gauge wire with the Anderson connector attached.

#46

Outlining for contrast purposes is fine, as long as the number itself meets spec. Q&A from last week:http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=15079

#47

and this is what engineers need to worry about? sounds pretty sad if the rules are that picky

#48

And… last years bumpers. I remember seeing that this year too, one of 397’s parents looked at it and got this confused look on their face.

2008 397 had problems with our launcher pushing our frame out of square. After 2 competitions where we were told that we didn’t fit in the box (because the frame was off by 3 degrees) We walked to the inspection box with a hammer. Proud to say we it into the box quite well after a couple good whacks. (For anyone who didn’t see that robot, its frame was made of bent 1" square tubing so it actually got unbent quite easily)

Speaking of weird looks, among the strangest looks I have ever gotten in FRC was when our forks in '08 got bent up. Ever see two people jumping on the robot to get the forks back in shape? Yup, it was fun. Turns out I don’t weigh enough to do it though.

#49

I thought it wa vry petty also. Our robot used orange numerals painted over
slighty larger white numerals, at the Wisconsin Reginal. Th inspectors thought that it looked really sharp, but disallowed it, until we painted out the white.

#50

While walking through the pits talking to teams I happened to see 339’s (our) driver and asked what all of the yelling was about. What started as “your wires are the wrong color” turned into a mess about voltage, gauge, and some obscure rule. In short, I ran away from that conversation.

Most of my inspection woes come from FTC (also 339) though. Here’s a few:

  • Our team number was just shy of being thick enough, they actually came out with a ruler and checked. We then were forced to outline the letters in ballpoint pen to get inspected.
  • An inspector didn’t believe we fit in the box, I got up and shook the box proving that the robot had not only fit, but had room on all sides. We ended up having to make it shorter anyway. :confused:
  • At the FTC Virginia State Championship, one inspector was laughing and carrying on with me after we passed inspection and asked if I wouldn’t mind giving one more demonstration of the shooter for a friend of his. It then fired outside of the allowed range and we had to get re-inspected.
#51

Exactly! Engineering is about the details. I hope that the engineer in training that will be designing the life support system that will save me in 10 years is a stickler for the details. I don’t want the last words I hear to be “Picky Picky Picky.”

#52

One year we were weighing in and the scale was bouncing between 120.0 and 120.1. After waiting about 30 seconds for the scale to “settle” and the behavior continuing the inspector just looked at us and said “The rules don’t say how LONG it has to be at 120”

Once at San Jose the scale was on a basket ball floor. We put our robot on the scale and it was a couple of tenths over weight. The inspector pointed to a spot on the floor next to the scale and said “somebody stand right there”. Viola! we dropped half a pound. Interestingly that robot dropped about 2.5 lbs between SanJose and Epcot. That crate sure must have been hot!

As a result I always make sure the scales are on concrete and calibrated.

#53

This year, we used duct tape to seal our suction system. So our mentor was still edgy on about the legality of Duct Tape, and to make sure that we weren’t headed for trouble, I sent a couple of guys to ask the inspector if Duct Tape was legal. I was almost 100% sure that they would come back with a yes.

Imagine my surprise when they come back with a “No”. So, the team leader and I walk over to the inspectors and graciously demanded to see the line number that outlaws duct tape.

Five minutes later we returned to the pits with a yes. :stuck_out_tongue:

#54

A few year’s ago, a inspector walked around our robot with a compass to find any electromagnetic emissions. Did he find any? No, but it remains to this day a good story.

-Tanner

#55

sorry- but this isn’t a life support system. It is painted numbers on a bumper. I think there are far more important design issues that most of our teams need to worry about than whether the numbers are outlined or not.

and yes- this is ridiculously picky about a trivial item with nothing to do with the function of the game and represents just one more “gotcha” kind of thing for the kids to worry about. If there needs to be one exact set of specs for everything why don’t we just get a prefab kit so the FIRST people will get the exact design they develop the rules for. It would save them the money for the Xerox Creativity Award.

WC :cool:

#56

We were weighing in towards the end of Wisconsin this year to see how much weight we could play with for upgrades. Apparently we were all of a sudden 20 pounds over. The inspectors realized that the air was compressed, so let that out and it dropped to ten pounds over weight…

Then the inspector took his foot off the scale. :slight_smile:

#57

Actually, having a prefab kit for bumpers come in the KOP would be pretty handy. Or you know, getting rid of bumpers all together.

While I agree it is a trivial nit-picky type thing the rules clearly state it. I think many inspectors are being too lenient with bumper colors and contrast this year though. I have seen blue bumpers that I swear were black. I also saw bumpers that there was no contrast between the numbers and the bumper color. Im sorry but it really isn’t that hard to make sure your numbers are easy to read and your bumpers are the right color.

#58

Awesome thread. :smiley:

I must say, sometimes the inspectors are a little over their heads. Especially when they’re younger and out to prove themselves. I understand rules are rules, but sometimes they push it, rules aside!

#59

The tricky part was for Chris to only let off some of the weight after I told you guys to let the air out…

And Kevin Kolodziej’s reaction when you figured out what was going on was priceless :slight_smile:

#60

In 2009, 339 mounted their battery and electronics on a pneumatic slide that would shift the entire assembly left or right six inches to decrease our moment of inertia when turning on the slippery field. We not only passed inspection, but won Delphi Driving Tomorrow’s Technology…in Atlanta. :smiley:

This is hilarious. Good to know inspectors have a sense of humor, too. The funny thing is, I probably would have been shocked: “I didn’t know air weighed so much!” :stuck_out_tongue:

It also reminds me of earlier this year when we weighed our crate. The rest of us had to leave the room to avoid bursting out laughing as we watched three engineers scratch their heads wondering how they had miscalculated the weight by 240 lbs, when one of them was standing inside the crate on the scale. :stuck_out_tongue: