This was the scene on the side of the field at GLR. We got it fixed, but did not get to compete again.
Such a great scene! It’s unfortunate that your alliance didn’t go all the way to the top!
I love this picture. Call it an illustration of teamwork. Although it seems like it would have been easier to lower the arm to work on it. Care to relate the story behind it for those of us who were unable to make it to Michigan?
This was the first match of the quarter-finals for the TechnoKats. Fifteen seconds before the end of the match, the Kats Klaw robot was about to cap the blue alliance’s stationary goal for a win. Ten seconds before the end of the match, the gripper fell off the end of the arm. Without the multiplier ball, the score wasn’t enough.
Wires to a motor and a limit switch got pulled apart; that’s what the group at the top end of the arm is trying to repair. You can’t see it well in the picture, but at the bottom right people are working on the motor at the “elbow” of the arm. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but it looks like the arm was in an unfortunate position at the end of the match, and when the arm lift pneumatics were deactivated, the elbow motor got damaged.
I assume the arm was frozen in its extended position until the elbow was repaired.
I was pretty shocked when I saw that happen on the field. It was a tough break for the Technokats.
(haha… tough break… I crack myself up)
Yeah, I’m pretty sure that I busted the drill motor by accidently crashing it while the arm lift was down :ahh: to complement the broken wrist. A very stupid mistake that I’m very frustrated that I made. The worm gear used in the elbow prevented us from moving it down.
The TechnoKats in the picture (Left to Right):
Amy Przybylinski (AmyPrib on CD, rumored to be possibly the only female engineer drive coach?)
Steven Jones, (Freshman TechnoKat)
Kyle Love (holding up Steven, highly spirited TechnoKat 
)
Greg McCoy (yours truly, crimping the wrist wires back on)
Andy Baker (Wrist)
Steve Butler (Elbow)
Mark Koors (Elbow)
Notice that we all had our safety glasses on. wooo!
Andy B.
My first thought when I saw this picture was the Marines on Iwo Jima raising the flag… perhaps someday when there is a great FIRST monument somewhere… a great bronze rendition of this moment will be erected …
oops I guess that’s probably not a great idea eh?
We sure wish we were competing with you guys this year in Chicago…
Your team brings so much to the competition and helps make being from Indiana that much better Andy (and the crew) You make all of Indiana proud to be part of Indiana FIRST
GOOD LUCK!!!
What’s really cool is that there are many other people helping with the robot that aren’t even in the picture, running as fast as they can to get tools and parts so that we might just get the arm fixed. It’s amazing how the team pulled together at this moment…this has never happened before on our team (at least in the past two years). Normally it’s just the drive team plus one or two people trying to frantically fix the 'bot. In this instance, I am proud to say, the Drive team was the minority group.
I was standing on the outside of the field watching all of this occur. I was in shock from a combination of a few things, first seeing the arm fall and then that. Totally incredible that they were able to work like that together and put it back and get it working so fast. Numerous times I’ve seen teams just give up in similar situations, but the Technokats really pulled together and got it fixed. If they would have had another 2 minutes or so they would have been ready to run the 2nd match. This is another great reason why I’ve enjoyed the last 5 years of my life with these guys. Oh and Brandon Martus was there too watching this and offering his observations:
“Uhh thats not good?” 
Since I can’t be at the competitions, I saw this picture and I realized how badly I wanted to be there…it seemed like it would be cool to represent our team.