So I am curious as to some traditions or superstitions that other teams have that they feel are unique. I am interested in more than “we name our robot ______ every year then a number”.
For example:
Every year since 1902 Exploding Bacon has had their “squishy pigs” we have attached them to our robot in some form.
A graduating senior of 4 years always receives some part of their final robot as a gift. (2007’s Unused Ramp, 2010’s shattered wheel, 2011’s minibot launcher, etc.)
And here is one that some members of my own team don’t know about. Every year somewhere on our bot is “Thank You 179” since without them our team would not have survived our rookie season
Garden gnomes. We always keep one around for good luck. Unless things are going poorly, in which case we…sacrifice…the gnome and get another one. Some years, we go through a lot of gnomes.
This year when we were practising shooting, our team captain complained at how bad the shooter was. Somehow it began to perform way better after he said that. It continued to shoot well when we complained, and shoot badly when we stopped complaining. That led us to always complain whenever we wanted the shooter to work well. Other teams looked at me funny when we were in queue yelling “Our robot is SO bad. The shooter sucks soooo much!”
“The robot shall have no painted parts”
S.P.A.M’s first robot became known as “Kenny”. The actual name remains unspoken to this day. Painted in S.P.A.M colors, it was lucky to move in a match. I understand many motors and speed controllers gave up their magic smoke, during competition. In the darkest corners of S.P.A.M lore, it is said that “Kenny” was dismembered at the end of our first season, and all evidence of it’s existence scattered. To avoid the “Kenny” curse, no painted parts have, since, been allowed on a S.P.A.M robot.
Lately, as M.A.R.S. does, we also include an Exploding Bacon pig on our 'bot for good luck.
Before every match me (the driver) and our coach rub the human players head. Last year we also started the tradition that the coach always grabs the robot from the side with the main breaker. I convinced him this was out of superstition but in reality that was the more uncomfortable side to hold and i didnt want to do it. We still follow that rule today.
A new tradition on 1511 is every year we take a game piece from that years game, draw and color in an awesome face on it, and name it Wilson. So far we have a basketball and disc named Wilson.
Our robots are always named after something in greek mythology. Usually a god or goddess that fits the character of the robot or the game being played.
Our practice robot is always named Tartarus for obvious reasons if you know your mythology.
We have the fur from a large pillow that we began using 2010 on Cerberus. We try to incorporate it into our design somewhere. 2011 - Hermes has armpit hair under the tube lifting arm. 2012 - Iris has a mohawk. 2013 - Discobolus has a magnificent handlebar moustache.
We also have a giant pancake/egg/bacon breakfast every Saturday morning of the build season.
One tradition 930 has followed the first few years (which admittedly, is a bit creepy) relates to a clown.
We work out of the basement of a church, and one day back in 2011 we found this weird Clown in a cone type puppet. (Like one shown below, but less decorated… wish I could find a picture of ours)
When we were crating the robot up for championships that year, someone put it in the crate and it was a pretty funny surprise when we opened it up a few weeks later (having forgotten that we had put it in there).
Each year since then, we have always packed the clown in the robot bag, and then proceed to have it up somewhere in our pit to keep an eye on things during the competition. It is an incredibly weird tradition, but team members just keep on doing it.
Wielding rod. Team 2410 always has to have unused wielding rod on the robot somewhere. This year was the first year we didn’t have it as a pin somewhere and it went poorly. Obviously there is a direct correlation between the two.
Also, we’ve named the robot after a horse, and have been shifting over to geeky horse names. Trigger, Shadowfax, Epona, and Pegasus (the robot “flew” up the pyramid.). Also, we’re looking for an excuse for an 8WD so we can name the robot Sleipnir…
At least one member of the usual pit crew (when we’re doing well) has to stay in the pit during our matches because there is a clear correlation between them being in the pit and us winning.
We have the superstition to not let our drive team members know where we are ranked. It is less superstition, and more not wanting our drive team to worry about anything except for the match we are about to play.
There’s a running joke on 79 that my parents (who still live in Michigan) coming to our regionals helps us win… well that and picking a team from Brazil. But hey, it’s the only time I get to see my parents from January until May so I’m not complaining that they like traveling to our regionals.
For the past few years, our team has always gone to at least one regional that requires us to stay in a hotel.
A few years ago a senior member of the team took the hotel’s complementary bar of soap and bit a chunk out of it. A note was then left for the hotel staff with the mutilated soap placed next to it. The note read “Sorry, but your cookies are not very delicious.”
A team member has been required to preform this ritual soap procedure every year since. Although we forgot it this year at the Washington DC regional, getting off the waitlist for St.Louis has ensured that we will be able to carry on this honored tradition.
