FIRST Robotics 2026 - Odds and Ends

We 3D print our own robot wheels.  They are made of some magic stuff called TPU.  Super grippy when you are running on carpet.  You do have to swap them out after a certain number of matches.  Used red one on the left, new black model on the right.

Our driver from a few years ago was a ferocious young lady who loved to play defense.  She sent a video message to the team for our pack up to State night.  Basically she said: "Stop being so wimpy on defense.  You have TPU wheels for a reason!!"

So at State our robot had a rather vigorous series of interactions with other robots and with solid objects.  The front bar (top one) took enough force that the 1/8 inch thick box tube deformed about 3/4 of an inch in its center.  Impressive, but it still did its job.  Below is an undamaged section of the same stuff sans powder coating.  Of course we carried a spare, but also straightened out this damaged part.  It has become a souvenir. 

Mascots of course.  State had more of them than the smaller district events.  

I suppose my new Facebook profile picture needs a little explaining.  The game pieces were these yellow balls.  They were produced by various suppliers, and in testing we found differences.  Weights were anywhere from 7 ounces to 8.5 or so, and they also differed a lot in "compliance", the degree to which they compress under pressure.  We labeled them for selective use when doing various shooter testing.

Being non compliant in various ways, and remarkably resistant to going squish under pressure, I of course had to mug with one of these.....