291’s 2017 robot, Alpha, all dressed up and ready to spread some Christmas joy to a women and children’s shelter!
Despite his current appearance, Alpha is not actually a reindeer. He is indeed a robot and doesn’t appreciate the cold and snow.
Wow, you guys are brave… I certainly wouldn’t be putting my teams robot in the snow…
Nice robot costume!
It looks like just the wheels are in the snow, so the only water would be on the wheels. If there was no battery in the robot and the small amount of water it collected was allowed to dry, there shouldn’t be a major issue. Water only damages electronics because it’s conductive, which causes shorts if they’re powered, unless it sits long enough to rust.
I assume this explains the lack of an electrically illuminated nose. 
Don’t give people ideas for next year’s game.
I shoveled the snow away before putting it down. Even though the snow looks deep, it is only a thin covering of ice directly under the robot. It is just as cold in my garage, and it’s not allowed inside after last time :rolleyes:. The snow did indeed only get on the wheels, and I was very careful to clean them off. Our head coach wanted a festive picture of it.
Unfortunately, the poor thing was dropped in the snow while loading last week, crushing my fingers in the process (the mentor that was carrying it with me slipped, he is fine). I cleaned the ice out thoroughly, and repaired the minor damage to the bumpers.
Despite his current appearance, Alpha is not actually a reindeer. He is indeed a robot and doesn’t appreciate the cold and snow.
I programmed him to think he is a reindeer… 
*No robot was harmed in the making of this picture, and I swear we don’t abuse our robots.
I left Erie when I went off to college (a long time ago.) I don’t miss that lake effect snow at all.
We had quite the snow storm for several days, resulting in the approximately 10" you see in the picture… we aren’t going to be seeing the sun anytime soon 
And it all melted away in 24 hours
Can it throw snowballs instead of fuel balls?
(Not that there’s much point for either. :rolleyes: )
The robot would not be happy about that… at all. But throwing snowballs at 5-6 per second would be epic!
Now I’m really glad I don’t live in Erie anymore…
https://weather.com/storms/winter/news/2017-12-26-erie-pennsylvania-record-snowstorm-christmas