Competition Maintenance
The critical role of the bot is to perform on the field. The easiest way to fail this task is to have unexpected failures on critical bot systems. The easiest way to prevent these failures is careful monitoring of systems over time. This requires commitment and dedication, but it's not a painful process if done right.
Many issues are persistent across all bots; Damaged gears, loose bolts, damaged gears, cracked rollers, etc. Many checklists can be started without any specialized bot-specific knowledge.
However, as the robot undergoes programming and drive practice, you'll notice additional wear, unexpected failure modes, and quirks. Things like unexpected contact, frame bends, or specific bolts being particularly prone to loosening. Make note of these quirks, and add them to your various checklists.
Whenever possible, work to design out these various failure modes. This can be as simple as changing a gear ratio, or as complex as reworking a mechanism to move motors around.
For items that cannot be designed out, consider the severety and frequency. If a failure mode is severe or frequent, it should go on a per-match checklist. If something minor and infrequent, just check it daily.
These lists should be living documents, reflecting the robot's current physical state. As additional failures are identified, they should be added.
If a design change is proven to resolve an issue, the check frequency can be reduced or even removed entirely in some cases. However, never remove an item that simply "hasn't occoured recently", unless there's been a fundamental change to the system.
For practice sessions at school, do "once a match" checklists every battery change.
- Mark bolts to align the bolt, nut, and reference line on the robot. This gives immediate visual feedback on loose bolts
- Mark rivets too; While they don't have specific tension targets, damaged rivets will rattle loose, giving feedback via mismatched markings.
- Work with your robot member teams to have a consistent routine to efficiently hit your check marks.
- Split the checklist appropriately, so you only spend time monitoring relevant items.
Procedures and checklists go hand in hand, while being seperate notions.
A procedure is intended as a routine for involved humans to follow. These can be step by step walkthroughs, or simple guidelines for certain interactions with the bot. By writing them down, it ensures that members can self-train in the case of abscence, or if they simply need a reminder. In many cases, procedures are read, understand, and no longer need to be continously referenced.
A checklist instead defines a bullet point list; To complete a checklist, every item should be validated, as every item represents a potential failure mode we want to avoid. Because of the importance of each item, this is to be continously referenced regardless of familiarity.
There's of course, some overlap: Some checklists may include "complete a process", some processes will include "complete a checklist".
2024 has had one of our most effective lists yet, and can be seen here: 2024 Bot Checklist