DEWBOT VI Duel on the Delaware

Largest Toolbox (Screwdriver) Award

16-October-2010 at Salem Community College, Carney's Point, NJ. Sab-BOT-age's 4^th time participating at Duel on the Delaware. First "official" FRC competition for 5 new students (although Jack participated in IRI in a VEX role).

All new FRC students had the opportunity to participate as Human Players.

We finished 10^th out of 28 teams in the qualifying matches. Team 007, the 8^th alliance captain, invited us and team 433 (Firebirds) to join their alliance. Alas, we did not make it to the semi-finals.

The Team Screwdriver, however, did win an award.

Check out the Event Website.

Who was there

Students: Andrew, Ian, Josh, Garrison, Yahya, Jack, Matt, Ben, Selina, DJ, Carly

Mentors: Clem & Faith McKown, Mike Rizzo, Siri Maley, Sue & John Weissman

Parent: John Hamilton

Alumni: Jen, Paul

Driver: Carly

Operator: Andrew

Human Players: Jack, Yahya, Ian, Garrison, Josh

Coach: Siri Maley

Scouts: Josh, Ian, Yahya, Garrison - Siri Maley

Strategists: Carly - Siri Maley

Referee: Mike Rizzo

Pit Crew: Matt, Jack, Andrew - Faith McKown, Siri Maley

NEMO Representative: Faith McKown

Problems Encountered

The left-side possessor bottom roller actuator failed (again). This caused a failure to possess on several occasions before the problem was identified and repaired before match 23. Photographs show that the bottom roller deployed slowly during the practice match (causing a delayed autonomous kick). Deployment at the start of DEWBOT's first three qualifying matches approximately was on-time.
On at least one occasion, the possessor appeared to possibly begin carrying a ball. (The referee present at the time could not definitely determine one way or another, nor could the coach.) This may have happened more than once before the pit crew determined that the bottom possessor roller was canted. This is an easy fix, but needs to be checked regularly.
Pivot transfer axles and wheel axle collars need to be checked after every match.
During the final 30 seconds of the practice match, the drive-train ceased operating properly. Wheels were stuck in an "X" configuration. We could not move. The problem was attributed to a bad battery (#7), which was retired from competition and is now a pit battery only.
On several occasions, photographs caught the pivots in unnatural positions (position which the software should not drive them to). More on the discussion page.
In playoff match 1, all pivots started rotating uncontrollably at the start of the competition and did not stop doing so until the main breaker was shut off manually after the match ended. Ben offered the following hypothesis: After the robots were placed on the field and turned on, we were told to turn off robots for award ceremonies. Following the ceremony, the robots were turned on and competition immediately started. Thus, the controller did not have sufficient time to go through its startup sequence during the abbreviated start. This seems plausible, though the drive motors also appeared to be behaving erratically.
We became stuck in the goal during playoff match 2. Could not escape. May be due to new rear treads (bicycle treads) having lower friction coefficient. These will likely be switched back to the roughtop treads. The bottom possessor roller also appeared to be stuck on on the goal/ramp lip, despite repeated relaxing/arming, etc attempts.
The compressor is beginning to show its age. We gave it quite a workout trying to get out of the goal in playoff match 2. This could use switching.
Anecdotally, it appears that the drive motors may not behave as normal when the kicker is relaxing and/or re-arming. We should check this.

Lessons Learned

The pit checklist needs to be consistently followed and practiced.
The list should include closer kicker and possessor (especially bottom roller) inspection. It would not hurt to pit test this regularly.
Our post-competition analysis is relatively strong. We need to work on identifying these issue earlier, not the least by observing a more meticulous post-match brief from the coach/drive team and photographer/videographer/observers.
We can clear a ball from the far zone into the near during autonomous (albeit clearing the first bump and then rolling it through the tunnel). We, oddly enough, did this consistently. Very cool, let's keep it up.