But over the course of the day people started to figure out that we were shooting accurately and that it was a really good idea to prevent us from reaching the end game zone. So they started to hit us. Hard and often.
Recall that we have a robot made of sheet steel. I'm told we had several people visiting our pit ask us in puzzlement why we powder coated our (presumably aluminum) robot black. Well after a while we started having issues with the frame warping and bending. We displaced one wheel in a match. And then, in a match were victory was near....disaster. We clobbered three of our four wheels, could hardly move and could not escape a zone where we incurred penalties. Cool concept meets harsh kinetic reality.
So what do you do when all of your wheels are basically shot, the frame is buckling and you have exactly one pound margain to work with on weight?
This photo is blurry because all concerned are working with a dispatch that would have served them well in the early part of the season. Swap all four wheels. Bolt in a section (0.6 pounds) of aluminum angle bracket. Get reinspected. Done in under an hour and, we hope, ready for the first match of the day tomorrow.
I'm feeling considerably more optimistic now than 24 hours ago. We have debugged a lot of issues, really the sorts of things that should and would have been detected and fixed weeks ago had they applied themselves a bit more. The machine seems solid and even with our 2-4 record we are middle of the pack in the competitive field, because we are probably the best climber in the competition and are picking up bonus points for that.
And we've had more fun and learned more that 2-4 would suggest, so a good day.
Onward.
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