Mistakes

FIRST General Forum
#25

I was driving the robot at a demonstration, and the Victors were in coast to make the driving a little smoother (we had really bad driving code that year, with no speed scaling whatsoever). It was heading a little fast towards us, so the other driver hit the E-stop. Unfortunately, E-stop wasn’t wired to switch the Victors to brake mode, and it almost hit our table.
Lesson: while E-stop prevents you from moving the robot, it also prevents you from stopping it.

Also, during a test of a Victor, I supplied power to the wrong side, and blew out one direction. (it was unfused, but it probably would still have happened with a 40A fuse). EVERYTHING should be labeled and color-coded (nail polish works well. A dab of white on the fan blade also helps tell if it’s moving or not).

#26

We installed a sonic sensor on the front of the robot to detect objects and stop before a major collision.

I believe I may have been the person who suggested that we have a student holding a piece of cardboard stand in front of it to make sure it was working.

#27

Ever see a CNC machine try to tap 2 inches of threads into a 1.75 deep hole?

:ahh:

#28

449’s mistakes

-Leaving a flashlight in the drivetrain (Trenton)
-Removing programming cable while downloading, and assuring programmers that the light turned green (Cheaspeake)
-leaving critical sensors unarmored (Chespeake)
-designing easy-to-break armor for sensors in question (Chesapeake)
-cutting steel on a chopsaw with a light metal blade (no one was hurt, but the blade makes a great clock)
-making a chat system connecting the pit and the stands (freshmen…)
-scuff up floors at school
-scuff up ceiling!

#29

we had a couple of small metal shavings fall into the victor, it didnt move very far when we put the robot on the field.
The programing team also forgot to put an absoute value into the mecanum programing, That robot only went left, and later we decided to name it lefty

#30

!!!

Explaination?

#31

We had this happen a couple times at RUSH, after spending 3 hrs trying to figure out what the error was (this is why you should always consult the manual FIRST kids) I had a nice long chat with one of the mechanical mentors about how he is never to drill without covering the brain again. I just reminded him that if he did it again we might not be so lucky and something could of been damaged.

Always the fault of the programming team eh? :stuck_out_tongue:

#32

Always shave down the metal AWAY from the RC!!! And then we learned that its not always the programmers fault…

Also, 2 days ago at Cage Match in Indianapolis. Make sure you use a insulated tool when working on batteries. It turns out that the negative side which was taped up had been pulled out slightly, and i did not see the revealed wire. So the all metal multitool that i was using made contact with both polarities and sparks flew. Then i pulled the tool away from the battery. Only then did i realize how hot the tool had become. Now it has burn marks on the tool i was holding, and i could not feel my fingers while driving in the elimination round. In order to remind me, i think i may make shirts that say “Samir, don’t electrocute yourself” with a pic of a body getting hit by a lightning bolt inside one of those red circles with a slash down the middle.

#33

I guess anyone at Silicon Valley in 2006 may remember this- our robot was doing really well, got picked by the Cheesy Poofs, and then in one after-lunch match, one of our wires connected with the battery and our robot literally burst into flame. Already one person on our team was running to the robot with a fire extinguisher, but luckily fire went out before extinguisher was necessary. Phlebas the Informer/Transformer was nicknamed Smoky Bear (our team name is M-A Bears, nicknamed Ma Bears in 2006).

Lesson- always recheck wires before quarters, semis or finals, because that’s when Murphy’s law really kicks into gear.

Oh yea, speaking of Murphy’s Law, there was a time a mistake qualified as Epic Fail. Also in 2006, we were doing well at Cal Games when during the semis, every single ball bearing broke at the same time. We only found out when our robot began leaking little steel balls everywhere… and couldn’t move.

Lesson- make sure your sizes are right! The whole season, summer and qualifying matches the spacers on the bearings were too big and ground into the bearings every time we moved. The final crash was just too much for said bearings.

#34

Murphy’s law always kicks in at the worst times doesn’t it?

#35

IRI was a real bummer this year. You guys broke your front forks, got it fixed in a miraculous 5 minute period, only to go out and find that a PWM cable had come loose. This past year was one of your best robots ever, and its a shame that it had to go out like that.

#36

I’ll pass on the compliments, I don’t work with RUSH that much anymore. You know that whole thing where the kick you out of high school for having accumulated too many credits? Yeah had that happen after the 2007 season. Let me tell you though, having the team I work with now (397) partner with RUSH at Kettering was possibly the highlight of my years in FIRST.

Story time from 397 now though, we were testing autons. In every auton the feather raises right at the start, well, we got tired of putting it back down manually so we pulled the power to it. The mistake? We never plugged it back in. And as anyone who has seen our machine can tell you, if the feather doesnt come up our entire machine is useless because the forks cant deploy. Which meant we were pretty well screwed that match.

#37

a few years ago at the Denver regional (rack and roll challenge) we made semi finals but our chain keept poping off, and we had no idea why. Our robot couldn’t compete, and we may have won the regional if this had not have happened… later, after the competition, we found a very very small 20 gauge (maybe) wire stuck in the gear box that was causing our gearbox to screw up and dechain our robot. (i don’t even know how…?) It sucked… :

we learned that it was all electricals fault and that those jerks should keep their wires organized! lol. jk. the whole team learned the importance of being organized…

the sad part is that we still are not organized.

#38

Oh yeah, thats probably one of the most important parts of being in electrical, keeping it all organized and understandable.

That’s why this year I’m laying schematics before we start.

#39

ya, seriously, you electrical people need to keep all your junk from the moving parts, i’m so sick of stuff like that happening!
lol. just kidding. XD

every year we make a schematic and it looks nice, but then we keep adding wires, we forget something, like a sensor that we added at the last minute (which never did end up wordking. lol) or something…

#40

Our lead electronics head last year was playing around with one of the circuit boards and somehow bridged two wires together and like the wires went crazy red and then melted like half of the board. No really bad injuries thank goodness, just a little cut on the finger.

#41

and that’s why we have fuses.:smiley:

#42

fuses… why I hardly know the meaning of that word. lol. you mean a piece of tin foil crumpled up???

lol. :smiley:

#43

No pennies, they fit nicely in the 40A fuse block.

#44

mistakes- how about your Robocoach making a perfect run and knocking down both track balls - and then suddenly realizing we are the OTHER color?

oops!!

WC :cool: